An oddity from the 60's that has more the look and feel of a television show of the period such as "The Untouchables" or "77 Sunset Strip" only not as good.
There are few reasons to watch "Johnny Cool" these days, certainly not for Henry Silva; he made a great heavy when he was four or five down the cast list – just fine in "The Manchurian Candidate" – but he's deadly as the lead in more ways than one.
The main attraction for me was in spotting the host of familiar faces that pop up throughout the movie. It's almost a who's who of character actors of the time; Joe Turkel, Elisha Cooke Jnr., Brad Dexter, John McGiver; the list goes on and on. There is even Mort Stahl, Jim Bacchus and Joey Bishop, mainly as gangsters who get whacked by Johnny Cool. Most interesting are a couple of stars before they made it big on television: Elizabeth Montgomery and Telly Savalas. Sammy Davis Jnr. gets some scenes too, and sings the title song.
The story of a young Sicilian outlaw who is mentored by an exiled American gangster, then sent to America to wreak vengeance on his enemies, actually seems to have too much plot, which isn't helped by a choppy script – nothing is developed before we move on to the next plot point.
Director, William Asher, was the king of the TV sitcom. The shows he directed, produced and wrote read like a catalogue of TV shows of the 1950's through to the 1980's but his approach seemed pretty flat when translated to the big screen ("Beach Party" doesn't count). Despite being packed with incident, "Johnny Cool" generates little tension – "The Godfather" it is not.
Asher may not have had the eye of an Elia Kazan or a Francis Ford Coppola, but he had an eye for beautiful women. This is where he met and married Elizabeth Montgomery; a year later, her career took off with "Bewitched".
Now it's difficult to see her in anything without the memory of Tabitha, but she is stunning in "Johnny Cool" playing a naïve divorcée who gets caught up in the titular character's criminal activities. I think Elizabeth Montgomery was not unlike Grace Kelly, and like her, attracted men like moths to a flame – seeing her here, it's easy to see why. Although she gives it everything she's got in "Johnny Cool", it was tough going with the erratic script.
The film is full of violence, which probably bucked against the censorship of the day, but now looks tame. There is a touch of irony at the end, but I can't help feeling that the central character is so one-note that it cancels out the good performances that surround it. However, "Johnny Cool" is just quirky enough to be watchable, but maybe just once.
There are few reasons to watch "Johnny Cool" these days, certainly not for Henry Silva; he made a great heavy when he was four or five down the cast list – just fine in "The Manchurian Candidate" – but he's deadly as the lead in more ways than one.
The main attraction for me was in spotting the host of familiar faces that pop up throughout the movie. It's almost a who's who of character actors of the time; Joe Turkel, Elisha Cooke Jnr., Brad Dexter, John McGiver; the list goes on and on. There is even Mort Stahl, Jim Bacchus and Joey Bishop, mainly as gangsters who get whacked by Johnny Cool. Most interesting are a couple of stars before they made it big on television: Elizabeth Montgomery and Telly Savalas. Sammy Davis Jnr. gets some scenes too, and sings the title song.
The story of a young Sicilian outlaw who is mentored by an exiled American gangster, then sent to America to wreak vengeance on his enemies, actually seems to have too much plot, which isn't helped by a choppy script – nothing is developed before we move on to the next plot point.
Director, William Asher, was the king of the TV sitcom. The shows he directed, produced and wrote read like a catalogue of TV shows of the 1950's through to the 1980's but his approach seemed pretty flat when translated to the big screen ("Beach Party" doesn't count). Despite being packed with incident, "Johnny Cool" generates little tension – "The Godfather" it is not.
Asher may not have had the eye of an Elia Kazan or a Francis Ford Coppola, but he had an eye for beautiful women. This is where he met and married Elizabeth Montgomery; a year later, her career took off with "Bewitched".
Now it's difficult to see her in anything without the memory of Tabitha, but she is stunning in "Johnny Cool" playing a naïve divorcée who gets caught up in the titular character's criminal activities. I think Elizabeth Montgomery was not unlike Grace Kelly, and like her, attracted men like moths to a flame – seeing her here, it's easy to see why. Although she gives it everything she's got in "Johnny Cool", it was tough going with the erratic script.
The film is full of violence, which probably bucked against the censorship of the day, but now looks tame. There is a touch of irony at the end, but I can't help feeling that the central character is so one-note that it cancels out the good performances that surround it. However, "Johnny Cool" is just quirky enough to be watchable, but maybe just once.