I shelled out for this dvd more as a Sinatra completist than a seeker of a successor to Citizen Kane. Any Sinatra fan is aware that when he wants to be a serious actor he is more than capable, witness The Manchurian Candidate, but against that he has a low boredom threshold and a penchant for schoolboy humour that only himself and Dino, Sammy etc find funny, witness Four For Texas, Sergeants Three, etc. Dirty Dingus Magee is definitely in the Four For Texas/Sergeants Three category in fact you could describe it as a Clan movie without the Clan. For reasons best known to himself - he couldn't have needed the money given that Catch 22 has never been out of print - Joseph Heller allowed his name to appear on the credits as a co-screenwriter but clearly saved his A-game for novels. There ARE laffs but essentially this is a one-trick pony.
Review of Dirty Dingus Magee
