Comedy

Western

Sam Whiskey

Brighton Pictures

United Artists

Levy-Gardner-Laven

United States of America

English

Burt Reynolds

Angie Dickinson

Clint Walker

Ossie Davis

William Schallert

Woodrow Parfrey

Rick Davis

Anthony James

Del Reeves

John Damler

Robert Adler

Chubby Johnson

Ayllene Gibbons

Sidney Clute

Wallace Earl

William Boyett

Tracey Roberts

Virgil Warner

Forrest Wood

Leroy Johnson

George Sawaya

Loren Brown

Richard Farnsworth

Fritz Ford

Murray Pollack

John Quijada

Edwin Rochelle

Tom Steele

Jack Tornek

George Tracy

Arnold Laven

Harvey Clermont

Herschel Burke Gilbert

John Woodcock

William W. Norton

Arthur Gardner

Robert C. Moreno

Loyd S. Papez

Charlsie Bryant

Charles S. Thompson

Cherie

Frank Griffin

Dan Greenway

Jules V. Levy

Bob Bone

John Baron

Phill Norman

Robert Bertrand

Paul Baxley

Marilyn Fiebelkorn

Ben Bishop

Burt Astor

Jake Jarrell

Stan Barrett

Diane Dandeneau

Doug Mathias

Ernest Hughes

Helen Colvig

W.T. Zacha

***Fun Western Caper with Burt Reynolds, Angie Dickinson and Clint Walker***

After being enlisted by a hot widow (Angie Dickinson), a former war spy (Burt Reynolds), a blacksmith (Ossie Davis) and an inventor (Clint Walker) team-up to salvage a treasure in gold bars from a sunken ship in the Platte River, a treasure the woman’s husband stole. They then have to return the gold bars to the Denver Mint before the phony bars are discovered and the woman’s family name is tarnished. But how will they get all those gold bars into the Mint without anyone noticing?

People tend to dub this a Western Comedy, but it’s not in the silly sense of "Blazing Saddles" (1974) "Texas Across the River" (1966) or "The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox" (1976). It's more of a Western Caper with amusing flashes, mainly due to Reynold's fun-loving title character. 

The same plot was later used in John Wayne’s “The Train Robbers” (1973) with Ann-Margret in the Angie Dickinson role, minus the caper in the third act. They’re both worth checking out, but I favor “The Train Robbers” because, to me, the caper in the last act gets kind of tedious, not to mention unbelievable. Nevertheless, “Sam Whiskey” features a great cast with fun-lovin’ chemistry and quality Western locations.

It is presumed that the story takes place circa 1870-75 since it is detailed that Sam was a spy during the Civil War and he appears to be around 30-35 tops. Actually, the earliest the story COULD have taken place would be 1906, which is when the Denver Mint began minting coins, but this would make Whiskey about 65 years old, which he obviously isn’t. Adding to the problem, the Carson City Mint shut down in 1893. So the timeline is all fudged up.

The movie runs 1 hour, 36 minutes and was shot at Universal City, Burbank and Lake Camanche, Ione, California (with underwater scenes done in Silver Springs, Florida).

GRADE: B/B- (6.5/10)

Sam Whiskey (1969) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

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Sam Whiskey

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Burt Reynolds

Angie Dickinson

Clint Walker

Ossie Davis

William Schallert

Woodrow Parfrey

Rick Davis

Anthony James

Del Reeves

John Damler

Box office

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