Good clean fun with Brian Keith and Dean Martin. Who could ask for more than that? A well-written story line and a musical backdrop that sounds like "Love American Style". With an on-site western camera shoot and good cinematography, it's campy and funny, and thoroughly enjoyable. It is what it is.

This particular western must have somewhat bewildered the few people who initially saw it in theaters when it was released in 1971. While the previous few years had had the western genre shook up by the spaghetti westerns from Italy and violent American westerns like "The Wild Bunch", this particular western seems to come from a earlier time. It's an old fashioned kind of western. Nothing really wrong with that, as long as the execution is done well. But sadly, the movie is a big letdown. The main reason why it fails is that most of the movie is really boring. The little story there is moves at a snail's pace, with abundant padding throughout. Things could have still been saved with an extra ingredient like action or comedy, but the movie is a letdown in those areas as well. There is very little action up to the violent climax, and the violence in the climax is not worth the wait. As for the comedy, it is pretty lame, with the only laugh being an unintentional one (a character has the name "Emilio Estevez".) Small wonder that headline star Dean Martin seems alternately bored or somewhat bewildered with what is going on around him. By the way, he's also offscreen for long periods of time, which he was probably thankful for.

Something Big is directed by Andrew V. McLagen and written by James Lee Barrett. It stars Dean Martin, Brian Keith, Carol White, Honor Blackman, Albert Salmi and Ben Johnson. Music is by Marvin Hamlisch (title song by Burt Bacharach) and cinematography by Harry Stradling Junior. Dull as dishwater, Something Big is the very definition of a star vehicle where the star sleepwalks for the paycheck. The plot for what it's worth has Martin as Joe Baker, an ageing bandit wanting to do something big before retirement. He strikes a deal with Jonny Cobb (Salmi), to exchange a Gatling Gun for a woman, you see Cobb just wants to get laid, apparently. With Joe's fiancée on her way to the Territory to make an honest man of him, and Colonel Morgan (Keith) determined to stop Joe achieving his criminal ambition before he himself retires, Joe has it all to do to do that something big. What follows in the one hour and forty five minute run time is, well, nothing of any note. There are a whole raft of characters in the mix, and a dog, but they never serve any purpose other than being dressage or to deliver some unfunny dialogue. The intention is to make Martin's lovable scallywag the axis for some mature daft shenanigans, building to the "big" finale before everyone settles down in the sun and shouts hooray! But Martin isn't interested, and McLaglen isn't clever enough to knit all the loose ends together. While the "big" finale consists of a five minute boring shoot-out that is essentially just Martin going around in a circle firing the Gatling Gun at bad guys we have not met, seen or had time to be intrigued about. Some nice costumes, cleavage and Technicolor photography stop it from total damnation, but this is only recommended to easy going Western fans who simply have no other genre choices to pick from in their nuclear fall out shelter. 3/10

I loved this movie when it came out! Dean Martin made a suave cowboy. I loved the comedy lines all throughout the movie. Don Knight did a great straight man to Dean's comedic one. But Dean Martin and his little dog stole the show. This movie had a killer cast with Ben Johnson, Brian Keith & Honor Blackman. Dean Martin came out west to do "Something Big" before he married Don Knight's Sister from the old Country. Well, he was having so much fun in the old west...the Sister came looking for him. With time running out he needed to trade a woman for the big gattling gun so he could get the treasure from the "Bad" Mexican Bandiditos! So what does he do, he accidently get's the wife of the Army Fort's Commander. Now everyone is after Dean!!! You can't rent this one...because it was never released to be taped! If you want to see it you will have to wait until some movie channel decides to show it...when ever that will be!!!!!!!!