PlatinumRead Just so...so bad

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Jakoba True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . so he jumped at the chance to make THE CROUPIER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH there during the waning days of the Bautista Regime. Not yet fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Castro Boys as he shot his final flick, CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, a few months later, Flynn plays a patsy or pawn of a bigger game throughout THE BIG BOODLE. As Mr. Flynn settles for a screen lover slightly older than his 14-year-old Real Life preference, he appears oblivious to the fact that shadowy figures were beginning to coalesce around him off-screen, in an eerie parallel to the men constantly tailing his "Ned Sherwood" character from the start to the finish of BOODLE. Frankly, I'm sort of shocked that John Garfield's Ghost did not appear to Errol at 3 AM some sultry Cuban night, warning him that if the McCarthy Boys could get away with snuffing HIM out at Age 39--no questions asked--then Errol himself risked being shuffled off to a similar fate (now that he was pushing the geriatric age of 50) UNLESS HE CHANGED HIS WAYS. But Errol seems to focus on Ned's problems here, clueless to the fact that In-Like-Flynn did not appeal to I-Like-Ike Americans, who'd prefer Out-Like-Flynn.

secondtake The Big Boodle (1957)Errol Flynn is most known for his swashbuckling pizazz in the 1930s, of course, but as his career dwindled he became embroiled in all kinds of controversies, including sleeping with underage girls, sympathizing with the Nazis, and becoming drinking buddies with Fidel Castro.The last of these matters here, for "The Big Boodle" might be the first film made entirely in Cuba by a US film company, and Flynn is clearly at home. Two years later he would make a now famous odd film, "Cuban Rebel Girls," where he befriends the rebels in their uprising. So this is an important precursor, and it's truly interesting in many ways. It's a crime film with shades of a late film noir infecting most of it. Flynn plays an American who gets in trouble, and has to go it alone with a couple of dangerous women around him. Classic noir stuff. But of course it's late in the cycle, just before "Touch of Evil" which is the symbolic end to the classic noir era.So there are lots of scenes outside in Havana (great architecture and American cars), some cuban music (nothing totally memorable), and a general mood of that amazing pre-Castro era where Americans and Cubans mixed like oil, water, and rum. For that alone it's worth seeing. But it's worth saying the Flynn is actually terrific in his role as a tired but determined American out to clear his name and save his life.The other key player in this whole enterprise (a low budget movie with big budget looks) is the cinematographer Lee Garmes, a true veteran and the man who shot "Detective Story" and "Caught" which are both cinematically brilliant. Garmes and Flynn make an unlikely collaboration (and I have no idea whether they were friends) but they make this movie actually rather workable. Is it"When you want something done right, you do it yourself." IN a way that's what these filmmakers did. The story is the biggest hurdle--there isn't much to worry about or get involved in as it goes. Even the final climax at a famous old fort above town is more about the photography and movement of characters than any sense of who might shoot who. A curiosity and not a waste of time, but nothing remarkable.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- The Big Boodle, 1957. An American casino card dealer in Cuba gets involved in accidental passing of 'funny money'. He doesn't want to be included and does his best to protect himself.*Special Stars- Errole Flynn, Rossana Rory, Pedro Armendariz, Jacques Aubuchon.*Theme- Sometimes life takes you for a ride despite your protests.*Trivia/location/goofs- Film Noir, B&W. Second to last Flynn film made before his early death at 50 years old. Filmed entirely in pre-Castro Cuba.*Emotion- Film Noir was all the rage in Hollywood and so was Cuba as a exotic island film location. Mr. Flynn wad his sailing boat and some homes in the local are around Cuba. The script is extremely well written, acted, and casted with Mr. Flynn. This film is a gem despite it's strange title.

Art La Cues I recorded "The Big Boodle" when it played on TCM and expected to see a "train wreck" of a movie based on articles and books I have read. I was most pleasantly surprised to see a very entertaining film. I thought that Errol Flynn and the supporting cast were uniformly good. Errol again showed what a great star and actor he really was. The plot was plausible and the pace of the movie moved right along. I am surprised by the negative reviews. "The Big Boodle" is a more substantial film than many more critically acclaimed films... and,by that,I mean mainstream movies that are supposedly "A" quality. Errol brings a worldly weariness appropriate to his role. I was surprised to see how fit he appeared and how involved he was in his portrayal. I believe that he would have been magnificent as Rhett Butler in "Gone With The Wind" which he lost reportedly, due to Betty Davis' refusal to make that movie with him in the leading role. "The Big Boodle" shows what a serious and outstanding actor he was in even a modestly budgeted film