The Adventurers (1970) User Reviews (31)

Not great, but not as bad as its reputation

[frankfob · 6/10 · 23 April 2002]

I had read Harold Robbins' book "The Adventurers" on a cross-country flight when it first came out, and found it to be a bit more enjoyable than his usual trash--somewhat better written, a more interesting story than usual, different types of characters. So when the movie was released, I figured, "Ah, what the hell, I'll check it out." I must say that I enjoyed this film in spite of itself. The dialog is laughably inane, the acting by pretty much the entire cast is abysmal (star Bekim Fehmiu, a Yugoslav heartthrob, only made a few more films before he deservedly disappeared), if you expected Candace Bergen to do her usual embarrassingly inept job you won't be disappointed, Ernest Borgnine hams outrageously, and there are a host of cameos--none of them particularly noteworthy--by everyone from Olivia De Havilland to John Ireland, most of whom probably took the parts in order to get a free trip to Europe. The film does, however, have a few things going for it. One is the luminous Leigh Taylor-Young. She is absolutely exquisite; her part, though essential, doesn't call for a lot of screen time, but every time she does appear on-screen she lights it up. Also, the battle sequences are exciting, well staged and very convincing; they pick up the film's pace tremendously (the action scenes were shot in Colombia and the extras were Colombian soldiers, who knew a thing or two about what happens in battle). A lot of money was spent making this picture and, unlike many big-budget European co-productions made at the time, it shows on the screen. The photography is outstanding, the European scenery is beautiful, the jungle scenes in "Corteguay" (which were also shot in Colombia) are stunning and the costumes and production values are sumptuous. Besides, it IS an interesting story (the son of a man murdered by a corrupt and oppressive government returns to overthrow that government, only to find that the new government he's helped to install is just as corrupt and oppressive).

All things considered, it's not a bad way to spend a couple of hours. The picture got savaged by reviewers when it first came out, but it's really not all that bad. It's somewhat overblown and overheated, but enjoyable nonetheless. Check it out.

Watchable Soap-Opera

[claudio_carvalho · 5/10 · 3 July 2005]

After many years in the exile, marrying and having affairs with wealthy and beautiful women, the son of a former revolutionary and futile play-boy Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) returns to his country invited by the corrupt president to a homage to his father. He finds that he has a son living in the country, and decides to raise funds to help the life of the people of his country. However, the money is used to buy weapons, and he decides to fight together with the revolutionary El Lobo against the corrupt president.

I saw this movie many years ago, and at that time I liked it. However, I have just watched it on VHS, and now I found it a corny soap-opera. The story is a complete mess, and it is difficult to understand the motivations of the lead character. The contact of a few moments with an unknown son would be enough to change the behavior of a futile person to a revolutionary? Is the intention of the novel of the writer Harold Robbins to say that South American countries are supposed to live with successive revolutions and corrupt president and leaders? The beauty of Candice Bergman is one of the worthy parts of this forgettable movie. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "O Mundo dos Aventureiros" ("The World of the Adventurers")

No charisma for this lover

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 17 December 2016]

Porfirio Rubirosa was a man of many parts, part time diplomat, part time polo player, part time race car driver, and most definitely full time lover. He's the man on which lead Bekim Fehmiu's part is based. In that lies the tale of The Adventurers.

Harold Robbins up to this point had done reasonably well on the screen with successful adaptions of novels like The Carpetbaggers, Where Love Has Gone, King Creole, etc. But Paramount spent a fortune on this film with a few name players in supporting roles, but came up real short with Yugoslavian actor Bekim Fehmiu in the lead. Sometimes casting an unknown works, the best examples being Peter O'Toole in Lawrence Of Arabia and Errol Flynn in Captain Blood. But here the distinctly uncharismatic Fehmiu just had no chemistry with any of the women he was to wed and/or bed. When you're basing the lead character on a notorious lover of the flesh, that's kind of essential.

Rubirosa in real life had an on again off again relationship with Rafael Trujillo dictator of his native Dominican Republic. Alan Badel plays the Trujillo figure who did not come to as glorious an end as he does here. Badel was certainly as treacherous as Trujillo in real life.

Rubirosa was married 5 times in real life and one of those wives was Barbara Hutton who got around herself pretty good as another of her husbands was Cary Grant. Here her role is played by Candice Bergen who likes a good time, but also wants a family.

The girl from Fehmiu's mythical country of Corteguay is Leigh Taylor-Young. Anna Moffo stands in for fellow opera singer Maria Callas. You'll recognize a few other players on the international scene.

The climax is the revolution against the duplicitous Badel and the battle scenes are staged well, a lot of the film's budget certainly went there.

As for Bekim Fehmiu international stardom was not to be, but it looks like he had a respectable career in his native Yugoslavia.

If you like to stargaze and note some of the names that are present in the cast or if you are devoted to the novels of Harold Robbins then I would recommend The Adventurers. Otherwise it's pretty mediocre.

A guilty pleasure for Harold Robbins fans

[rdh7182373 · 13 August 2001]

If I were to subscribe to the notion of 'guilty pleasures', then this film would fall into the category. As a teenager, I enjoyed reading Harold Robbins well written trash novels. After seeing "The Carpetbaggers" and several other adaptations, I'd have to say "The Adventurers" is the closest in spirit to Robbins original. This is in part because it was made in the 'Post-Code' era (after 1968) and is very explicit regarding the sex and violence. The trailer was narrated by Rod Serling and the tag line was 'Nothing has been left out of The Adventurers' which was true.

Although they updated the story by a decade (so they could include sixties' pop imagery), it follows the novel closely. Many criticize BenKim's performance but his deadpan libertine is similar to Mastroianni's in "La Dolce Vita" and appropriate for the story. The rest of the cast is fun with Borgnine hamming it up and Candace Bergen sexy. Thommy Bergen was the star of "Elvira Madigan" a few years earlier and Rosanno Brazi the lead in "South Pacific". The production value is excellent and the action scenes well done with Lewis Gilbert's famous flying bodies that he utilized in "You Only Live Twice". Anne Coates was the editor and she repeated her sound overlaps she introduced in "Lawrence of Arabia". The cinematography and music were also top notch. The original prints were in Technicolor and Panavision. Some four track magnetic stereo copies were made along with a 70mm blow up print in Eastmancolor.

The original cut ran twenty minutes longer. The cut sequences can be assertained by reading "The Making of the Adventurers" paperback book. The film was released with an R rating and re-issued in a PG version with the nudity cut but violence intact. The video version is the standard 170 minute version but not the Preview cut. The premiere was quite unusual. They showed it on a new supersonic jet to the cast and press as it circles Los Angeles! A 16mm promo film was made of the event and is floating around collector circles. The astonished look on Ernest Borgnine's face and he enters the plane for the 'premiere' is amusing.

The film was not a bomb as is usually stated and grossed ten million which was quite good for 1970. Unfortunately, it cost the same amount although I'm sure Paramount is in the black with the network showings and videocasette release.

This type of film is an acquired taste but it's one of the best of this genre. I think it's a hoot full of unintentional laughs and great action and imaginative sex scenes.

Richard W. Haines

Overwrought Melodrama

[Lechuguilla · 3/10 · 27 October 2006]

Ten-year old Dax (Loris Loddi) watches as soldiers massacre his family in the war-torn South American country of Corteguay, in 1945. It's an experience that has a profound effect on the boy, and influences his actions and behavior as an adult. Dax grows up to become a European playboy (Bekim Fehmiu), who periodically returns to the ongoing national upheaval in his home country. The film's underlying premise is fine. But the screen story is a mess.

For one thing, Dax, the central character, is not very likable as an adult. He's too smug, too self-important, too haughty, and emotionally cold. If he's so concerned about the never-ending violence in Corteguay, why does he spend so much time hobnobbing with the rich and snobbish in Europe? His motivations don't really make sense.

Second, the plot contains too many secondary characters that come and go, throughout. It's hard to keep track of them. For its large cast, the film is almost devoid of characters with whom the audience can identify and become attached. For all their "importance" and "savoir-faire", these secondary characters are hopelessly shallow and cold.

Third, the film's dialogue is awful. It reminds me of one of those dreadful 1950's sword and sandal movies, with lines of dialogue so ponderous and so burdened with momentous gravity, you would think they should be delivered only by Hamlet. The film veritably drools with this overwrought melodrama.

Further, the film's plot irritatingly oscillates between South America and Europe. One minute we're in Courteguay watching two poor, starving children begging for food. The next minute we're at a gaudy fashion show in Europe, or at some highbrow party listening to some lady belt out an operatic aria. It's as if the writer couldn't decide what story he wanted to tell.

And the film's violence is excessive. The civil war subplot in Corteguay requires some brute force and destruction, naturally. But the violence here is much too personal, too graphic, and too gratuitous.

To its credit, the film does have good cinematography, especially outdoors with that beautiful South American scenery. And the costumes and indoor production design are lavish, almost too much so, at times.

Ultimately, "The Adventurers" is a pretentious bore that takes itself way too seriously. The characters are unappealing, the plot is muddled, the violence is excessive, and the dialogue is laughably ponderous. All of these liabilities are then magnified by the film's three-hour runtime.

Not that bad at all

[Boyo-2 · 3/10 · 19 October 1999]

This movie was a tad too long and not trashy enough, but its worth a look if you're in the right mood. The lead actor has no acting ability at all and I was wondering what the movie would be like with Omar Sharif instead. If you're looking for gloss and glitter and all that, see "Where Love has Gone" or "The Betsy", also by Harold Robbins and made into movies. This movie includes a lot of civil war involvement, set in a fictional country. The large cast includes Ernest Borgnine, Candice Bergen and Olivia DeHavilland.

Valley of the voodoo dolls.

[mark.waltz · 2/10 · 22 July 2021]

Perversion has never been so lavish in its depravity. This odd, extremely lengthy version of the Harold Robbins novel (allegedly a fictionalized version of Portofino Rubirosa's life) is a treat for the eyes yet painful at times to watch, mainly because of graphic sex and violence of the most sadomasochistic kind, showing murder and rape as if it was a daily occurrence for general audiences. No expense was spared in detailing the sinful nature of the bandits of this fictional South American country where the young version of the amoral hero Dax witnesses the atrocious slaughter of his family and community (even a pet isn't spared the violence!) and seeks revenge. Another brutal assassination follows years later, and by this time, Bekim Fehmiu (as the older Dax) is brought in to seek revenge, that is between the seductions of every young woman he meets as the people of his homeland continue to suffer from the injustice started decades before.

The carnage of this movie is often extremely graphic with gun shots to the head and knives in various positions piercing everywhere which is distressful because of the extreme numbers a close proximity. A moving mountain tram is the subject of another shocking moment, and the victims don't just get shot of stabbed. Their reactions and last moments of breathe are gruesomely documented. But the biggest travesty of the film is of its leading man with Fehmiu weaker than wooden in his emotions, or lack of them, even when dealing with rich and bored married women (such as Olivia de Havilland!) as their gigolo.

Then along comes the future Murphy Brown, the young and gorgeous Candice Bergen, who could be a combination of Doris Duke and Barbara Hutton, both of whom were married to Rubirosa. Still no passion from Dax who in bed with de Havilland resembles Barnabas Collins of "Dark Shadows" more than the great Dominican lover. Did anybody take his pulse while on the set? Bergen, still learning her craft, was along with Cybil Shepherd and Faye Dunaway one of the most beautiful women of the early 70's. Bergen doesn't get to emote much, but she's breathtaking too look at here. The one heartbreaking element of the film is that she knows that he's using her but lets him anyway. Her tears as he makes love to her and fireworks go off just adds to the continuing bad taste that overflows like flat champagne.

So you get a glorious piece of trash here, sometimes ridiculously juvenile (particularly in a love scene where the camera zooms in and out rather pervertedly) and while much of it is indeed sumptuous to look at, you know you're getting wooden nickels in the fountains of Rome rather than coins that look like diamonds. Ernest Borgnine is absurdly cast as the South American mentor of Fehmiu, with Rossano Brazzi also present for veteran marquee value. This is the type of film that if you get ahold of it, you may not want to part with it because it's a train wreck of a movie that is fun to share with other fans of bad cinema. While some moments are indeed eye rollingly funny, the film never descends into camp, a big shame because it certainly calls for camp.

Camp classic

[preppy-3 · 7/10 · 10 March 2008]

Hilarious mess based on a Harold Robbins novel. It starts in 1945 in the (fictional) South American city of Corteguay. A young boy named Dax sees his dog shot dead in front of him. Then he sees his mother stabbed to death and his sister raped and murdered. He then shoots to death several men responsible. He goes to another place and everybody there gets murdered too! This is all in the first 20 minutes--and the film runs three hours! Eventually Dax escapes to Rome with his father. He grows up and is played by that international star (cough cough) Bekim Fehmiu. The rest of the film follows him through his life and his frequent sexual couplings and desire to help Corteguay.

Wow--what a disaster! To say this is bad is putting it mildly. It's incredibly stupid but keeps throwing in so much sex, nudity and violence that you're never bored. Some of the things here are so badly done they boggle the mind. At one point Dax is romancing a young woman (Candice Bergen looking so young and beautiful) but the montage of the two of them falling in love is so clichéd it's hilarious. Then there's the scene where they first make love--with actual fireworks bursting overhead! There's a hospital scene between the two of them that was so stupid I actually laughed out loud! There's a fashion show about two hours in that's a real eye popper. Most of the dialogue sounds (and looks) badly overdubbed. Old pros Ernest Borgnine, John Ireland and Olivia deHavilland are shamefully wasted but still manage to give good performances despite the script. Leading man Fehmiu is (to put it mildly) a bad actor. He's totally expressionless throughout the whole movie. He's also ugly and not in good shape at all.

There are a few good things about this movie. The location shooting in Rome and South America is just great--there's some beautiful locations and cinematography here. Fehmiu aside everyone else gives pretty good performances. There's also some cool battle sequences too. As a serious movie this is a disaster. But, as camp, it's a laugh a minute! This was originally R rated mostly for the frequent female nudity. It was reissued a few years after its initial release and was cut to get a PG. The DVD says it's the PG version but it's not. The PG version runs 170 minutes--the R rated runs 177 minutes and that's the one on the DVD. Worth catching for laughs.

So-so

[grahamsj3 · 4/10 · 30 October 2000]

Bekim Fehmiu's acting career has not flourished in America; nor should it have. This man couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. He should never have been selected to play the lead in a film of this magnitude. Dax Xenos was a powerful role and he blew it badly. On another front, I was surprised at the amount of nudity in the film, given it's vintage (1970). There is also a lot of violence. The basic yarn is about an exiled playboy (Dax Xenos) from the poor Central American country of Corteguay. The country is in constant turmoil since it is run by despots. Our playboy ultimately becomes involved in a revolution. Also starring are Candice Bergen, Ernest Borgnine, Olivia DeHavilland and Leigh Taylor-Young. The story line is plausible and well-written. The rest of the cast all give decent performances. But due to the star's poor performance, I gave this film only a 4.

Good movie, edited for US market.

[TM-2 · 7/10 · 13 May 1999]

I liked this movie when I first saw it in the UK. It was R rated and deserved to be. Definitely for mature audiences. Don't know why it was released as PG rated in US. Lost some of its mature content and bite as a result.

This one is REALLY bad!

[bux · 1/10 · 22 November 2001]

I took my wife to see this one at the drive-in when it came out. I was only making $85 a week at the time, so three bucks to see a movie meant a lot. We left the theater about half way through this mess. Even the World News clips that they showed at intermission were better. My wife really loved the Robbins' novel, but had to admit that Wally Cox would have made a better Dax than the yahoo they had playing the part. The only reason we stayed half way through was because I wanted to see John Ireland...I reached for popcorn and missed his appearance in the film. This one is over-long, badly acted and bloody, extremely bloody considering when it came out. I was REALLY mad because I passed up "Vanishing Point"(1970) to see this klunker.

A newly released R rated version will definitely change many votes

[adstekservices · 10/10 · 8 October 2005]

I have read Harrold Robbins' book 4 times. When I recently viewed the film I expected to see all kinds of changes from what was in the book. I was actually amazed to see that the film followed closely to what was written except for a few story alterations that were obviously unavoidable. The book was a lot more decadent than was depicted by the film. However, the film was very well cast with excellent acting by everyone. I was really pleased that the film conveyed the spirit of the book to the end. I just acquired the DVD which is the original R rated version for international release. It runs a full 177 minutes. Obviously, this picture could not have been shown in American theaters in 1970 when the film was made. Even though the film is 35 years old it is not dated. My copy is a Panavision widescreen copy with full Dolby 5.1 Surround stereo sound and it plays as if it was a newly produced film. If you are lucky enough to acquire this version of the film watch it again. I'm sure you will be really pleased especially if you have a "Home Theatre" with a large wide screen.

Taught me a lesson at a young age

[tday · 7/10 · 9 January 2023]

Many others have reviewed this movie so I will cut to the chase. The whole basis of this story, besides the side stories and violence, etc., is to show the hypocrisy of government. The autocratical government depicted at the beginning of the movie---with a big parade as the "leader" sits on a throne waving to his people while he is clearly oppressing them---is distasteful to the revolutionaries, and they fight to overthrow him. But at the end, the revolutionary leader is shown doing the exact same thing the autocratic leader did, sitting on a throne with a king-like existence as the parade for him goes on beneath him, implying he is oppressing them, exactly like his predecessor. People say it happened in Columbia, but it reminded me of Cuba, Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Communism. Perhaps the Cuban people felt oppressed by the US (and the Mafia) using them for profit, but they were no better---and in fact, worse off---in Communism.

Full of sound and fury signifying nothing...pulp trash typical of Robbins...

[Doylenf · 5/10 · 18 May 2007]

Except for the color cinematography of Claude Renoir, this sprawling story of a selfish playboy son of a South American diplomat who has been murdered, is nothing more than a revenge story told on a scale that would be impressive if the story was worthy of being treated as an epic. There are huge crowd scenes, many explosions, awkward love scenes, terrible dialog and just a few moments where you can see an occasional moment of truth.

All of the actors are pretty well wasted and only occasionally is there a flash of good acting. The hero is played by BEKIM FEHMIU, a lean and muscular leading man who has only one expression no matter what the circumstances. His wooden performance seems to have affected everyone else in the cast, with the possible exception of OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND and JOHN IRELAND who at least acquit themselves without looking foolish.

There's also a charming performance from LEIGH TAYLOR-YOUNG, but CANDICE BERGEN, ROSSANO BRAZZI, FERNANDO REY, ERNEST BORGNINE, ANNA MOFFO and others do nothing that raises the level of the film to anything more than pulp trash--which, considering that it came from a Harold Robbins novel, is all that it could ever hope to be.

The striking photography cannot be praised too highly, but everything else crumbles under the heavy-handed direction of Lewis Gilbert. He never manages to make any of the characters appealing enough to really care about.

Summing up: At your own risk.

Chinese water torture for some, but manna from bad movie heaven for others!

[Poseidon-3 · 15 August 2005]

This notorious howler can be called many things: long, tasteless, idiotic, even dull to some folks, but it can never be called cheap. This is an expensive and often, visually, quite impressive saga with many glorious scenic views and jaw-dropping interior locations. The story concerns Fehmiu who, as a boy, witnessed the savage slaughter of his mother and sister at the hands of soldiers in his native country of Corteguay. His father (Rey), a revolutionary, assists new leader Badel in rising to power and taking over the nation, but pays the price when his family is slain. Cut to a dozen or so years later and Fehmiu is an idle, polo-playing ladies man in Rome who has practically forgotten about the events in Corteguay. However, when new events draw his attention, he sets out to earn enough money to exact revenge and begin yet a new regime in the endlessly war-torn country. What better way to earn dough than to rent himself out as a gigolo to rich American wives such as de Havilland?! That's actually only step one in his plan. He uses the money to help build a fashion house (!) with his dethroned, Russian-royal schoolmate Berggren. When even that takes too long, he sets his sites on pretty American heiress Bergen, but once again he falls off the track of his ultimate goal until he finds that he has more to fight for than just his homeland. His childhood sweetheart Taylor-Young displays to him what he needs in order to reignite his fighting spirit and rebuild Corteguay. This is a sprawling story from an even more sprawling book (a hunk of Fehmiu's life is skipped over and two of his marriages aren't even shown!), but it could have been whittled down just a little if the opening scenes had been streamlined and some of the battle sequences shortened a bit. As it stands, viewers tuning in for the actions scenes are bored by the soap opera histrionics while lovers of camp and over-the-top melodrama are bored by all the explosions and gunplay. However, for those willing to wait out the bad for the good (no matter which is which), there are a few things here worth seeing. The cinematography of the film is magnificent. The scenery, the production design, the lighting, the decor and the costumes are all eye-catching. The battle scenes are well-done and the amount of extras used is staggering to behold. Long before CGI came along, someone had to wrangle the thousands of people present in the various scenes shown here and it pays off magnificently. As for the acting... Fehmiu is legendarily bad. He has a few effective moments, but is nowhere near multidimensional enough to carry a role like this in a film like this! Considered by many to be an attractive and virile (if wooden) leading man, he is something of a hatchet face with a lean, well-defined body. The character is never completely likable, but is made even less so by having such an uncharismatic person in the lead. He has two love scenes that are riotous. One by a pool surrounded by statues and another in a steamy, exotic greenhouse. Bergen is very uneven. Her early scenes are a bit awkward, her middle scenes better, but her later ones are hysterically awful as she inexplicably affects a bizarre accent and wanders around as if lobotomized. She is undeniably lovely, however, most of the time. Borgnine, who plays Fehmiu's personal bodyguard and friend, is ludicrous in sound and appearance at first, but, fortunately, improves greatly as the film wears on. De Havilland does what is probably the closest thing she ever had to a nude scene with only a sheet thrown over one shoulder as she romances Fehmiu. She manages to get through the movie relatively unscathed, as does Brazzi in a smallish role as one of Rey's Roman contacts (though in one scene Brazzi has the dubious honor of having to traipse through a house full of strategically naked young people!) Taylor-Young is handed a fairly colorless role, but is able to bring a little heart and appeal to it. One hilarious camp highlight is Fehmiu associate Aznavour's secret den of iniquity which truly must be seen to be believed. Another sequence not to be missed by any fan of 60's culture is the preposterous, ludicrous and thoroughly irresistible fashion show (complete with it's "plethora" of seven outfits!) As the planet's funkiest song radiates across a flashing dance floor, the models thrash around in a wide array of styles which seem unlikely to be of a particular collection. Cinema fashion shows are always a riot because the style is antiquated sometimes as early as the film's release date and this one is high in the pantheon of rancidness and wondrousness. Reporting on the clothes is "Teen Magazine reporter" Smith in one of her very earliest roles. It's long, it's tacky, it's wacky and it's empty-headed, but it's also stylish, attractive, intriguing and quite a treat for fans of all-star casts and hopeless kitsch.

It is truly bad.

[rollo_tomaso · 3/10 · 20 February 2001]

I thought this was dreadful when I first saw it my freshman year at college, but since then had grown to appreciate Lewis Gilbert as one of my all-time favorite directors, and decided that this film couldn't possibly be as bad as I remembered. I was right. It was worse.

Behkim Fehmiu gives one of the worst lead-actor-in-an-epic performances of all time. The normally redoubtable Charles Aznavour seems bored stiff throughout the proceedings. Ernest Borgnine is absolutely gross. The cinematography is luscious, but in no other way does this resemble a Gilbert-directed film. Good for some laughs if you are drunk. Otherwise, avoid like the plague. 3/10.

A real treat...

[JasparLamarCrabb · 1/10 · 31 July 2005]

A real treat...if you're a masochist. Bekim Fehmiu is "Dax," the son of a counter-revolutionary from a fictional South American country who beds loose women, rich women, elderly women, and so on. All done in the name of keeping his homeland free from tyranny. In addition to Fehmiu, whose career seems to have evaporated, THE ADVENTURERS features the likes of Candice Bergen, Charles Aznavour, Olivia De Havilland, and Fernando Rey, all at their very worst. Ernest Borgnine, with jet-black hair and frito-bandito accent, plays Dax's bodyguard. Every lurid cliché in the book is assembled for this trashy adaptation of the Harold Robbins novel: murder, rape, assassination, lesbianism, miscarriage, adultery.

Not "so bad it's good." Just bad

[steven-222 · 2/10 · 26 December 2010]

I can't agree with those who rate this as one of those "so bad it's good" movies of its era, like Valley of the Dolls, Poseidon Adventure, Airport, etc. As trashy as they were, one thing those films were not: boring. Indeed, the very melodrama and bravura over-acting that made them trashy also made then compulsively watchable. But The Adventurers is very, very boring.

Nothing coheres. There seem to be at least three movies being made at once. There's the story of revolution and politics in the fictional Latin American country of Corteguay, which is competently filmed (big battle scenes, crowd scenes, etc.) but not very compelling.

Then there's the "racy" melodrama of Dax's days as a gigolo in Rome and his marriages to rich women; this part is really dull. The actors seem to be sleepwalking through their scenes (granted, the script gives them little to do); the result is neither trashy nor soapy, just shrug-worthy. We don't even get a scenery-chewing performance out of Olivia De Havilland, which should have been a given.

And then there are two scenes that seem to have wandered into this movie from some other sound stage at Cinecitta, the fashion show-a-go-go in the second half, and the bizarre torture chamber concealed in Dax's Manhattan apartment. Those scenes feature wild, over-the-top production design, but they go nowhere and don't fit with the rest of the film at all. (Mario Bava could have built a whole movie around that "groovy" torture chamber, and it would have been a hundred times more interesting than The Adventurers.)

This movie is just a long, boring misfire.

Shame the plot of the book

[thebigdishman · 4/10 · 4 March 2006]

Having read the book by Harold Robbins, I was looking forward to the film. But, oh dear, what happened to the main points of the plot? The principal point of the plot is the relationship between Dax and Fat Cat. As a boy, Dax is taken to safety by the guerrilla, and on the first night out on their journey Fat Cat cuddles the shivering boy to him, and says, "Take my hand and I will guide you safely through the mountains." In the final scene, when Dax has overthrown the despotic President helped to power by Dax's father, an embittered rival with a score to settle, shoots both Dax and Fat Cat in the gardens of the Presidential palace, and as they are lying on the ground dying, Fat cat reaches out his hand and says ... (you've guessed it!).

But it's missing from the film, the famous "scabbard" quote is transfered between two differing characters, Marcel's nefarious activities in Macau are totally displaced, and there is an unnecessary time-shift in the entire film.

Oh dear! It could have been so good, but it was fairly mediocre.

Robbins must have been very disappointed.

Not just trash..... LONG trash!

[barnabyrudge · 3/10 · 21 October 2004]

Lewis Gilbert had some great films to his name (e.g You Only Live Twice, Alfie, Sink the Bismarck!) when he signed up for this three hour all-star epic. Alas, the director came completely unstuck trying to film this Harold Robbins novel, and a hugely talented cast also sank with him amid permissive sex and violence, soap opera-like dialogue, hopelessly over-busy plotting, and general excess. The Adventurers is a famous film, but for mainly the wrong reasons. And anyone wishing to see it for curiosity value (after all, don't we all guiltily enjoy seeing good actors in trouble?) needs to be warned: at nearly three hours, this doesn't even have the saving grace of being brief junk.

The action centres around the fictitious South American country of Corteguay, where corruption and revolution seem to be high on the agenda. Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) grows up amid the chaotic history of his country, witnessing terrible atrocities from an early age, emerging into manhood as a wealthy and handsome playboy. He leaves behind his troubled past and lives a jet-set lifestyle in Europe, marrying the beautiful Sue Ann Daley (Candice Bergen). However, events conspire to bring him back to war-torn Corteguay - his wife miscarries a baby and eventually becomes a lesbian; his father is killed; yet another revolution brews. Dax returns to his troubled home nation and, amid carnage and combat, he seeks revenge on the man who raped and murdered his mother when Dax when just a boy.

Gilbert the director is usually a tasteful and thoughtful film-maker, but here the sensationalism inherent in the story has got the better of him. The film is not memorable for its performances nor its story but for its unsavoury aspects. The violence, the nudity, the killings, the rape, the vengeance and the macho posturing dominate the story without developing it in any way. Fehmiu is too wooden an actor to hold the film together, and his limitations are cruelly exposed by the dazzling array of talent surrounding him. Ernest Borgnine, for instance, as the revolutionary bandit Fat Cat steals his scenes, and Candice Bergen is good in a difficult role, but Fehmiu sails through it all with barely a credible expression on his face. This might've won some fans as a misunderstood cult film if it were an hour briefer, but at virtually three hours it becomes an impossible task to enjoy it and an effort of willpower to sit through it.

" Corteguay will always belong to the Revolution "

[thinker1691 · 9/10 · 25 November 2008]

It is with great imagination that one sees the movie " The Adventurers. " Trust yourself when you view it, as you are watching history in the making. Unlike the birth of the United States, some newly created countries never grow up. Some like the fictional country in the movie, with its two dimensional generals and leaders, become enemies of their own doing. The story is novel enough, it involves two young children, Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) and his girlfriend Amparo (Roberta Donatelli) who grow up in a war torn country. Witnessing the violent birth of his country, under the rebel commander and later president Rojo (Alan Badel), Dax is taken to Europe where under the watchful eye of his guardian, 'Fat Cat' (Ernest Borgnine) he experiences the pampered life of an ambassador's son. He enjoys the lax and frivolous life, which includes, fast cars, rich women and the carefree life of a European Playboy. Just as life begins to lay responsibilities on him, he is called on to investigate the emergence of yet another 'rebel general' who seeks yet another revolution in Corteguay. It seems his banker friend Marcel Campion (Charles Aznavour) has been transporting more than medical supplies and industrial tools to his country. The movie is filled with philosophical phrases which mean little unless you watch Dax grow up. Lines like, 'You don't make love to women, you make love AT them.' A fast film, for a quick life in a country in chaos. ****

Odd blending of Hollywoodized soap opera and Sam Peckinpah-ish nihilistic slaughter

[Wuchakk · 5/10 · 11 June 2018]

RELEASED IN 1970 and directed by Lewis Gilbert, "The Adventurers" chronicles the life of Dax Xenos (Bekim Fehmiu) who, as a little boy in 1945, witnesses the violent deaths of his mother & sister during a revolution in the fictional South American country Corteguay. Much later, as an ambassador's son in Rome, he's an emotionally cold playboy who marries solely for wealth (Candice Bergen), but he's haunted by Corteguay and maintains relations with the dubious dictator (Alan Badel). Ernest Borgnine plays Dax' spiritual guardian, Fat Cat.

The movie's based on Harold Robbins' book of the same title, which was loosely based on the real-life Porfirio Rubirosa, an oft-married wealthy playboy, diplomat and polo player who had a relationship with the dictator of the Dominican Republic, Rafael Trujillo.

"The Adventurers" is a curious amalgamation of Hollywood soap opera (e.g. 1967's "Valley of the Dolls") and Italo-Western-like slaughter with a Euro-robot as the leading man. The movie vacillates between starving children in South America, disco-a-go-go fashion shows in Rome or New York, machine-gun massacres, hedonistic sex romps and the disingenuous courting of rich women. It's basically a wannabe "Doctor Zhivago" (1965), but lacking that iconic picture's surreal and compelling artistry.

The spectacularly engineered battle sequences were created by the James Bond stunt-genius Bob Simmons, featuring hundreds of real men (played by actual Columbian militants), real tanks, real trains and real planes, all getting blown to pieces before your very eyes with absolutely no CGI.

The above reveals many points of interest, but I was well into the second half of the almost-3-hour flick when I realized that none of the characters interested me, particularly the protagonist. I'm not sure if the problem was the script, the story or the actor (Fehmiu), but the drama came across consistently flat. Another problem is the women. While there are several notables besides Bergen (Olivia de Havilland, Leigh Taylor-Young, Delia Boccardo, Jaclyn Smith, etc.) the camera either never captures their beauty or they're too anorexic to fascinate in the first place.

On the positive side, the action-packed conclusion is gripping and the message is timeless: Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

THE FILM RUNS 2 hours, 57 minutes and was shot in Colombia (Cartagena & Bogota), Puerto Rico, Italy (Rome & Venice) and New York City.

GRADE: C

An interesting time waster

[greene515 · 29 July 2011]

Bekim Fehmiu (Black Sunday) is Dax The wealthy playboy son of an assassinated South American diplomat who discovers that his father(Fernando Rey,Frog Number 1) was murdered on orders of the corrupt president (Alan Badel) a man who was his father's confidant and who, in fact, his father had helped put into power. He returns from living the playboy jet-set life in Europe to lead a revolution against the government. This is an overly long film at two hours and fifty five minutes! it is entertaining but some of the scenes could easily have been edited out! it's based on a novel by Harold Robbins, Ernest Borgnine has little to do literary! all he does is stand about at the beck and call of his charge! It's Directed by former two time James Bond director Lewis Gilbert, the action scenes are amazing if this was produced today it would feature CGI for the battle/crowd scenes, It is a dated picture due to the fashions and unrealistic blood! which looks like red paint.

Forget This Mess - The Adventurers

[arthur_tafero · 3/10 · 31 July 2023]

Cheap sexploitation and violence film written by the talentless Harold Robbins (who can't write about sex and violence?). Robbins was a Hemingway wannabe who exploited audiences for years with his simple-minded sleazy sex and violence formula, which worked well in the late 60s and early 70s, until audiences got bored with both elements of the formula, and turned to hard core porn instead of this junk. For violence, it is better implied than splashed all over the screen, unless you are going to do it well like The Wild Bunch. That film had professional actors, unlike this one, which only had Ernest Borgnine (who ironically was in The Wild Bunch). Candice Bergen is horribly miscast, and the storyline is scrambled more than the eggs at Cracker Barrel.

Wow, just wow. The acting in every scene is just incredibly bad

[holynosmoke · 2/10 · 5 September 2022]

It's like a whole bunch of people found a chest full of film budget and decided to film this abomination. Prepare yourself for three hours of the worst acting you've ever seen in great costumes amid big budget locations. It's almost as if they spent the whole budget on location and only then realized they needed actors.

Naturally I skipped through plenty of the film. I'm sure if I sat down through the whole thing, it would be Chinese water torture, as another reviewer offers. Everybody seemingly just reads their lines from a script, without any engagement, emotional investment or even the appearance of authenticity. You'll be taken across a sprawling vista of South America (somewhere), if you don't fall asleep.

Please, find yourself another film to watch, this is not worth it. I recommend "I Love You, Alice B. Toklas", also featuring the gorgeous Jennifer Leigh. She's actually the reason I wanted to check this out. She's okay here, but nothing like the dazed out stoned girlfriend she played there - her acting skill was perfectly matched for such a role, and I wish she played that character more.