Truly Dreadful Film

How sad is this?

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

***SPOILERS*** This'll be brief. The ONLY reason to watch this bomb is delectable Sophia. I saw it when I was twelve years old, she was hotter than any stupid old cannon that anybody wanted. I didn't understand why they didn't bump off Mr. Grant along with Mr. Sinatra; they were expendable, anyway. But Sophia? Gimmie a break, Hollywood. The lack of conscience in such an oversight is impossible to fathom, even now. A gross miscarriage of hotness. I give Sophia a 10+, and the movie a 7 - only because of her.

Here was Kramer's first chance to make a great motion picture and as a big classic-Hollywood-studio-epic-period-adventure he does a fine job: big, good looking, complicated crowd and action scenes. But...(Confidential!) The studio gave him Sinatra, who had no business being cast as a Spanish peasant and who only took the job (from a real actor) to be able to keep track of Ava Gardener while she was filming in Spain. In the meantime, Grant was distracted by heavy Sophia lust...(She says he never got any!) If you like the stars, if you like old fashioned Hollywood, if you like Napoleonic adventures, it entertains.

Really, you know; you lot are a hard crowd to please.Yes; the stars are miscast. Yes; they're often unbelievable. And yes; the dialogue is crass and wooden.But c'mon; it's still good for a laugh. There's some wonderful filming of the Spanish countryside. We have a cast of - well - several, if not thousands. And there's plenty of fun, if rather campy, high drama. There's Frank Sinatra in his prime. There's Cary Grant ageing gracefully. And there's Sophia Loren, arguably the most beautiful women in Hollywood history, at her ripest and most voluptuous. Now; whaddaya want? Yet the real star is mute. And that is the big, big siege-gun. We almost take it for granted because it's a bit of equipment that has no lines, yet it steals every take in which it is featured. The interesting conflicts of logic that it will be heavier descending a hill than going up is eloquently conveyed when it breaks loose and goes hurtling down and across fields, flattening everything in its path.The intrigue between this colossal cannon and its elusive nature, and the French inability to trace it is one of the fun issues of the movie.Gradually, a peasant army is attracted to the thing and the symbol of freedom it represents. Their gun assumes a personality cult as real as that of Lenin or Che Guevera. Simply by existing it generates resistance.World-weary 'Anthony' played by Cary Grant knows what's in store for these tragic idealists. Despite their huge weapon they'll be slaughtered en-masse. But they're idealists, and must take what comes.What comes is victory. Though as was evident to viewers all along, it's a very Pyrrhic one. The competition for the heroine is not only resolved by the death of a hero, but also the death of the heroine.If I have a gripe with the movie, it is with the depiction of the siege itself. Instead of firing directly at the wall, the gun is aimed obliquely, and the breach requires the attackers to run the gauntlet of the whole side of the undamaged facade with its cannons and marksmen. That's quite absurd. It should have been a head-on attack. Still, it provides plenty of red drama, which is undoubtedly its absurd purpose.There's an inspiring, equally melodramatic theme music pitched somewhere between 'March Of The Torreodores' and 'Bolero' that pipes it along, and despite the corn you can't help but get caught-up in this wonderful costume-drama. With Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, and one of the most phallic props in movie history, how could you do otherwise. This is the perfect mush for rainy Saturday afternoons.Wish for a wet weekend and cheer 'em along.

The movie is set in the Napoleonic era.The British officer Anthony (Cary Grant) leads a group of Spanish guerrillas across Spain to help in the capture of Ávila and with them they're hauling a big cannon.Anthony starts having feelings for the leader Miguel's (Frank Sinatra) girl Juana (Sophia Loren).Stanley Kramer directed The Pride and the Passion in 1957.It's not the best example of historical movies but works OK.Cary Grant's charisma alone could carry the movie.Then there's Frank Sinatra opposite him.There may be a little problem with Sinatra playing a Spaniard and he did a better job in many other movies but was there really anything Frank couldn't pull off.Sophia Loren looks very appealing as Juana so no wonder men fall for her.There's some chemistry there at the kissing scenes between Grant and her.Theodore Bikel plays General Jouvet.This movie looks quite handsome with the scenery and all.This is a movie that's good to see if you don't have anything better to do.