The best part of this movie is the five minutes of screen time given to The Three Stooges. It's hilarious, and a welcome relief from the rest of the boring, exhausting, confusing film. After the Stooges leave, unfortunately, the movie returns to the normal terrible pace.Dean Martin steals one hundred thousand dollars from Frank Sinatra in a stagecoach, but Frank steals it back, but then Dean steals it again and rides off into the sunset. The next we see, Frank Sinatra is prospering in Galveston, Texas, waited on hand and foot by scantily clad French maids, and doted on by Anita Ekberg. He's in cahoots with banker Victor Buono, but Buono has contracted Charles Bronson out to kill Frank. Dean Martin comes to town, and his stolen money attracts everyone's attention, including Ursula Andress. It's a very complex plot, and to explain the rest of it would take a lot of time, and it would bore you.I thought 4 for Texas was going to be a silly Rat Pack comedy, but besides the cameo by The Three Stooges, there weren't any jokes. Or if there were, they weren't funny. This movie is terribly boring, and the acting is as uninspired as the script. Even if you're a Rat Pack fan, watch Ocean's 11 instead. This one will grate on your nerves.

4 for Texas is directed by Robert Aldrich who also co-writes the screenplay with Teddi Sherman. It stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg, Ursula Andess and Charles Bronson. Music is by Nelson Riddle and cinematography by Ernest Laszlo.Plot follows the shenanigans of two rivals played by Sinatra and Martin who have designs on a waterside casino. Bandido Charles Bronson is on their tails while Ekberg and Andress file in for romantic interests.Aldrich disliked the film (the director famously couldn't get on with Sinatra), its reputation is decidedly lukewarm and The Three Stooges make an embarrassingly pointless cameo, 4 for Texas is a distinctly average comedy/western. The star power keeps it watchable, with rat packers Deano and Frank constantly trying to score machismo points - Ekberg & Andress lighting up the screen with natural beauty - Bronson in solid villain role, and it's pleasingly photographed by Laszlo. Yet it's a mundane screenplay and the run time needed to be cut by at least half an hour. It's also such a waste to not have Aldrich (is this the same guy who directed Ulzana's Raid and Vera Cruz?) show his skills at action construction, especially since the soggy story needed some perk- me-ups!One to chalk off of your Aldrich/Rat Pack film lists, then, where once viewed, it's unlikely that anyone but hard core fans of the stars will want to revisit. 5/10

I recently read "Rat Pack Confidential" by Shawn Levy, and it turns out to be a nice backdrop for the antics of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in this picture. The book lists Anita Ekberg as one of the Chairman's real life conquests, although Andress doesn't seem to have made his unofficial cast of thousands. Never one to let a good day's work interfere with having a good time, I'm sure the picture had to make do with Sinatra's availability and not the other way around.As if to memorialize Frank and Dino's womanizing, there's a line in the picture stated by Zack Thomas (Sinatra) in response to Joe Jarrett's (Martin) boastful claim of having twenty five kids as a reason for not marrying Max Richter (Andress). It's the 'fastest horse' line summarized above, and all the while I'm thinking that Sinatra wouldn't have minded having a race with Dino.The picture is a generally amusing if uneven one, with the principal players backed up by a cool cast including Charles Bronson, Victor Buono and Mike Mazurki. I would like to have seen more of Jack Elam in the story, but he didn't make it past the opening sequence. Too bad. I have to wonder who's idea it was to bring the Three Stooges into the flick doing their slappy face gag; it seemed like everyone wanted to take a crack at it. While they were on screen, it looked like the rest of the cast went out of character to laugh at their routine, but seeing these guys well past their prime seemed a bit embarrassing. But as they say, it helps pay the bills.Ultimately the picture's not very memorable, and if not for the stagecoach and horses from time to time, it wouldn't even qualify as a Western. This was basically Frank and Dean knocking down some pocket money, and for all we know, their co-stars along the way.

Bronson—in this supposed comedy-western—as outlaw leader Matson who works for crooked banker Victor Buono, helps start the film off on a high note of action… He and his henchmen attack a stagecoach whose passengers include Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra… After repulsing the bandits, Zack (Sinatra) discloses a bag containing $100,000, and Joe (Martin) unexpectedly relieves him of the money at gunpoint… In Galveston, Joe deposits the money in a bank run by Harvey Burden (Buono), a thief who has supported Zack's efforts to become the town's gambling king… When Zack arrives in town, Matson tries to kill him, but Joe interferes, saving Zack's life…Then Zack learns that Joe intends to compete with him by converting an abandoned riverboat into a gambling saloon… Outraged, he raises a gang, intending to take over the boat on opening night… But Burden has plans of his own… Much of the plot, such as it is, is taken up with the comic rivalry between Martin and Sinatra, involving with womanizing and gambling… The three Stooges doing one of their ancient routines provide a gay moment… Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress are an absolute pleasure to look at… And if you want to know the answer of Joe to Ursula's commentary: "You didn't notice what I'm wearing," don't miss this nice, civilized picture