The Big Gamble

Plot

Vic Brennan is a sailor from Dublin who decides to use his family's fortune and move to Africa to open a truck-hauling business. He is accompanied by his wife, Marie, and a meek cousin, Samuel, who loses their documents, causing customs agents to seize some of their cargo.

As they proceed along the Ivory Coast, a plan occurs to Vic to purchase 300 cases of beer and deliver it to thirsty natives for sale. A German they encounter along the way, Kaltenberg, attempts to hijack it.

A feverish Samuel needs to be nursed back to health. He bravely dives into a raging river to save Vic from drowning. Their misfortune continues when the truck's brakes fail, causing it to race dangerously down a cliff road. Just as all seems lost, though, they safely reach their final destination.

Cast

Stephen Boyd as Vic Brennan

Juliette Gréco as Marie Brennan

David Wayne as Samuel Brennan

Gregory Ratoff as Kaltenberg

Sybil Thorndike as Aunt Cathleen

Fernand Ledoux as Customs Official

Marie Kean as Cynthia

Harold Goldblatt as The Priest

J. G. Devlin as The Driving Instructor

Philip O'Flynn as John Brennan

Fergal Stanley as Davey Brennan

Jess Hahn as Ferguson

Alain Saury as Lieutenant Francois

Jacques Marin as Hotel Clerk

Reception

Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote the movie doesn't work "despite the vigor and desperation that the tireless director, Richard Fleischer, has got the actors to display. Once we have found that Gregory Ratoff, in the role of the drunken German guide, is a sneak in a comedy character's get-up, there is no more flavor or hope. Not even the volcanic Miss Gréco can maintain her inner smoldering fire.

There's some good stuff early along, however. There's that wonderful trip through the surf from the side of an offshore freighter. And there's a delightful meeting along a jungle road with a band of gaily dressed natives who trade some heavy wood-chopping for some cases of beer."