Memorable, crazy movie

Good movie but grossly overrated

Fresh and Exciting

It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

Set against the backdrop of the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) Soldiers of Fortune tells the story of two opportunist former U.S. Army soldiers Adam Dyer(Tony Curtis) and Josh Corey (Charles Bronson). The two joins a group of Turkish mercenaries to protect the daughters of an Ottoman sultan and a train that carries gold. This is the first movie in cinematic history that portrays Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (even briefly by Patrick Magee) who is the founder and the first president of modern Turkey. Believe it or not, the rumor has it that one of the Turkish journalists wanted to interview Charles Bronson after the production of the movie but he was just vehemently rejected by Bronson. So the embittered journalist just started a smear campaign against the movie, that's why the movie has never been available on DVD here and unfortunately the only way that you can watch this movie in Turkey is to get hold of a pirate VHS copy. You Can't Win 'Em All may not have sounded realistic or historically accurate but it would not be fair at all to expect complete historical accuracy from an adventurous western movie. The filming locations do not really follow a logical order either. For instance, the mercenaries set out their adventurous odyssey in İzmir (formerly Smyrna)At first they camp in the Cappadocia region (east-central Turkey) Later on you see them in Ephesus and Didim (which is at the far west)I guess Peter Collinson must have thought he should show a few places that a tourist must see in his/her visit to Turkey. You Can't Win 'Em All may not be the best movie but if you like westerns and if you are real fans of Curtis and Bronson there is not a reason why you shouldn't like this one.

This exciting story is set in 1922, Turkish War of Independence, in revolutionary days during fall of the Ottoman Empire . The War resulted the defeat of Greece in Western Turkey (Greco-Turkish war), on the East, Armenian state and Britain, France and Georgia. It begins at the Aegean sea when a shipwrecked of a boat called Achiles is rescued . Then two former US soldiers (Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson) along with a band (Leo Gordon who also wrote the script, Horst Janson, Tony Bonner, among others) and wielding several Thomson machine-guns join forces a group of Turkish revolutionaries. They are contacted by Osman Bey (Gregoire Aslan), to escort his daughters accompanied by a gorgeous servant (Michelle Mercier). They're commanded by the colonel Elch (Hakan), while some rebels pursue them and attack the train. The film is set in 1922 , following the defeat of Ottoman Empire that led Mustafa Kemal, Attaturk (role well played by Patrick McGee), he commanded the Turkish national movement in the war of independence. His successful military campaigns led to liberation of the country and to the establishing of Turkey. He transformed the former Ottoman Empire into a democratic, modern, secular nation-state , his reforms are referred as Kemalism. Ankara became the new capital and Kemal abolished the Caliphate and Sultanate. Later on, the treaty of Lausana ,signed July 24, 1923, established most of the modern boundaries of the country and also led to the international recognition of the new Republic as the successor state of the defunct Ottoman Empire under government of Attaturk.The picture is packed with adventures, shootouts,noisy action, tongue in cheek , well developed characters, and wonderful outdoors from Turkey. This is an old-fashioned and grand adventure about some mercenaries who travel from a port until Smyrna in order to rob a loot. Splendid characterization from Tony Curtis as joker,sympathetic adventurer and Charles Bronson as tough,two-fisted mercenary. The producers wish to thank the government and people of Turkey without whose help and co-operation this motion picture could not have been made. The entire filming of this production took place in Turkey with the interior of the Osman Bay palace photographed at Said Halim Pasha Manor.This moving film is well directed by Peter Collinson. Collinson's royal directorial treatment provides it with action, gun-play, humor and majestic sweep. He was an expert on thriller (Sell out, Target on assassin), suspense (Spiral staircase, Ten little Indians, Open season), terror(Straight on till morning), Warlike-adventure(You can't win ém all), his biggest hit was ¨The Italian job¨ , until his early death by cancer at 41.

Another reviewer has called this "better than it had to be", which I think is right on the money. This is not a history lesson, nor is Shakespeare, but it uses an obscure period of history to tell an adventure story without insulting anyone's intelligence.It is a remake of "Vera Cruz", the 1952 Western with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster. Except Curtis' character is much wittier than Cooper's, and Bronson's character is not a psychopath. Both changes make it easier to watch, although not as dramatic. Both movies have anachronisms, but I think many of the anachronisms in "You can't Win 'em All" are sardonically recognized.There are easy parallels between the chaos of 1867 Mexico and 1922 Turkey. In both there were uncertain loyalties at the end of an Imperial rule and a major conflict had ended nearby, leaving a pool of unemployed killers. In both a nationalistic regime replaced the Old Order, and neither Juarez nor Attaturk were choirboys. But the movie is neither history lesson nor moral polemic, just a cheerful adventure story.

My instant reaction on watching this in 2003 is the portrayal of the Muslim faith . Without giving too much away the plot centres around protecting a Muslim icon , while Muslims who are not exacatly treated with total reverance aren`t shown as being blood thirsty killers calling for jihad against westerners either . Compare this movie with something like TRUE LIES and you`ll see how differently Hollywood treats Islam these days . That said I don`t want anyone to think this is a piece of must see cinema . YOU CAN`T WIN `EM ALL is basically a buddy B movie made to shown before a main feature , if you`re under 35 you won`t be able to remember the days when you paid money at the box office and got to see TWO feature films . Charles Bronson plays a world weary skipper while Tony Curtis - Who shocked cinema audiences in THE BOSTON STRANGLER two years before - plays an irritating smart ass similar to his role in THE PERSUADERS in early 1920s Turkey . Watch out for the anachronism when someone mentions " Starting world war two " which is strange because no one ever spoke about " World war one " in those days , not even the cast of PEARL HARBOR