![\"Action](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action-of-the-Tiger.jpg\" "\\"Action")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mercenary attempts to smuggle ex-Communists and children to Greece from Communist Albania.<\/p>\n
Before he brought James Bond to the big screen with 1962’s Dr. No<\/a>, Terence Young was a British action and thriller director. Young’s films often featured world-weary heroes reluctantly forced into action by women and circumstance.\u00a0 Action Of The Tiger<\/strong> is one such film.<\/p>\n Taking place in the era of which it was filmed, there are a lot of anti-Communist propaganda elements.\u00a0 The citizens of Albania are living in destitution among ruins, too proud to leave but more than willing to send their children off to capitalist societies.\u00a0 Our hero, played by Van Johnson, is no less a contradiction.\u00a0 Basically a smuggler or mercenary (his occupation is only described as “will do anything for money”), he seems to gravitate toward good deeds.\u00a0 Still, he doesn’t seem all that sympathetic when a woman is struggling for her virtue against his brutish first mate aboard his boat.\u00a0 This topsy-turvy morality continues throughout the film, building an air of uncertainty almost up to the end.<\/p>\n The film itself is a small epic, bringing us to exotic locales and introducing us to various different cultures.\u00a0 Young almost glorifies the lands depicted, but then instills us with a sense of dread and danger, having devious villains and hordes of bandits attack.\u00a0 Allies can’t be trusted and objectives are seen to be as elusive as they are difficult.\u00a0 Every step of our characters’ journey is plagued with setbacks and mounting obstacles.\u00a0 They try to rescue the female main character’s brother, and find him to be blind; as they attempt to escape, they gain more and more child refugees in their group; bandits who help them turn out to be possibly more dangerous as allies.\u00a0 One can never be sure if our protagonists will make it and, if anyone does, who will be left alive by the film’s end.<\/p>\n The action, for its time, is handled pretty well.\u00a0 Violence is emphasized, but not in a gory fashion.\u00a0 There are a lot of people shot and blown up here, but some of it is meant to be pure entertainment.\u00a0 There’s even a bar fight at one point, and this is played for laughs.\u00a0 007<\/a> fans will be interested to note that along with the director of future Bond films, the suave British agent himself appears in the film.\u00a0 Sean Connery plays Mike, Carson’s right-hand man.\u00a0 He’s drunken, unshaven and decidedly non-sophisticated.\u00a0 Still, I find him much more interesting when onscreen than our leading man.<\/p>\n The plot’s been replicated a few times since, but the movie still manages to hold up.\u00a0 Van Johnson’s performance stands out as a bit of a weak point in an otherwise fairly entertaining feature.\u00a0 It’s got plenty of cool plot twists, and it’s 90-minute running time allows for a less than boring viewing.\u00a0 On top of that, Connery’s presence (though in a very limited capacity) makes it a bit of a nice catch for fans.<\/p>\n Van Johnson is Carson<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The guy apparently has a pretty bad-ass (or whorish, depending on how you read into it) reputation for doing anything for money.\u00a0 It’s implied that he’s gone and done some very dangerous stuff in the past.\u00a0 There’s a funny moment when the heroine places some money on the table he’s playing poker at.\u00a0 It’s to show him she’s serious, but he just uses it in the game he’s playing and promptly loses it.<\/p>\n As far as acting goes, I can’t say I’m a fan.\u00a0 He seems to be an old school actor, tough because the script says so and never having to prove it.\u00a0 He barely changes his facial expression and in one creepy moment, seems to laugh without smiling.\u00a0 Still, he climbs up a mountain ledge to drop grenades on an outpost of villains.\u00a0 So that’s pretty bad-ass.<\/p>\n There are several battle scenes in the film, and my count here seems fairly close.\u00a0 Van Johnson manages to kill four or five and Carol Martine even gets one in.\u00a0 While most of the deaths are faceless bad or good guys during the battle scenes (including the one Connery kills), there is still one main character that falls prey to the great many bullets whizzing about onscreen.<\/p>\n All in all, it’s a fairly bloodless film, but I suppose the quantity makes up for the lack of quality.<\/p>\n Trifon.\u00a0 I can’t think of a single character in recent memory that has turned me against him so fast.\u00a0 Upon meeting the bandit captain, I immediately took a liking to the guy.\u00a0 Three or four rape attempts, a couple moments of cowardice, and a blackmailing subplot later, and I was more than willing to see the fucker go.<\/p>\n So when our heroine, Martine Carol, kinda talks Trifon into rushing the machine gun-equipped enemy on horseback, I almost gave the film a standing ovation.\u00a0 Almost.<\/p>\n All the main characters seem to hunger for female touch.\u00a0 In particular, they want Martine Carol.\u00a0 So there’s nothing here.<\/p>\n Twice, our main female character is nearly raped.\u00a0 Both times by supposedly good guys, too.\u00a0 Connery attempts to rape her in Carson’s boat, with Carson looking and not really giving a shit.\u00a0 Afterwords, the Scotsman merely apologizes and the issue is never again mentioned between them.<\/p>\n Still, there is an old “Countess” whom all characters treat with respect until the bad guys arrive.\u00a0 She stubbornly holds her ground when questioned, but then gets a gloved backhand for her pride.\u00a0 Conversation ended.<\/p>\n Without giving too much of the plot away, I liked the entire climactic escape sequence.\u00a0 Terence Young crafts a very tense series of events, all leading to one moment.\u00a0 Everyone’s nearly gotten away, been captured, and are now nearly away again.\u00a0 Everything must go “without a hitch”, but a shadow of an Eve’s dropper shows us that someone has overheard their plan.\u00a0 Will they make it?<\/p>\n The one-liner, I got from the exchange between Carson (Van Johnson) and Tracie (Martine Carol):<\/p>\n Carson: “My usual fee is five thousand, but –“<\/strong><\/p>\n Tracie: “I don’t expect favors from a cut-price Galahad!”<\/strong><\/p>\n Carson: “You didn’t let me finish. I was going to say for you, TEN thousand.”<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Rape is hilarious if you’re drunk.\u00a0 And no matter how mercenary you may be, a hot woman and children in need are all it takes to get you to change your ways.<\/p>\n Action Of The Tiger (1957) <\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong>\u00a9 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [THE CHALK-OUTLINE] Action Of The Tiger (1957): Breakdown by Kain424 Mercenary attempts to smuggle ex-Communists and children to Greece from Communist Albania. [THE EXECUTION] Before he brought James Bond to the big screen with 1962’s Dr. No, Terence Young was a British action and thriller director. Young’s films often featured world-weary heroes reluctantly forced into … Read moreAction Of The Tiger<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/allouttabubblegum.com\/new-home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Old](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action5.jpg\" "\\"Old")
<\/p>\n![\"Surprise](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action1.jpg\" "\\"Surprise")
<\/p>\n[HOW BAD-ASS IS THE MAIN CHARACTER?]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Van](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action3.jpg\" "\\"Van")
<\/p>\n[THE BODY COUNT: 29]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
[MOST SATISFYING DEATH]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"Trifon](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action7.jpg\" "\\"Trifon")
<\/p>\n[DUDESWEAT AND MACHISMO]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
[EXPLOITATION AND MISOGYNY]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"End](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action4.jpg\" "\\"End")
<\/p>\n[EPIC MOMENT AND BEST ONE-LINER]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"It's](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action8.jpg\" "\\"It's")
<\/p>\n[THE MORAL OF THE STORY]<\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
[THE CHECKLIST: 14 outta 25]<\/span><\/h2>\n
[X] Athlete(s) Turned \u201cActor\u201d
\n[X] Clinging To The Outside Of A Moving Vehicle
\n[\u00a0 ] Crotch Attack
\n[X] Dialogue Telling Us How Bad-Ass The Main Character(s) Is\/Are
\n[X] Ending Featuring An Ambulance, A Blanket or A Towel
\n[\u00a0 ] Factory\/Warehouse
\n[X] Giant Explosion(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Heavy Artillery
\n[X] Improvised Weapon(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Macho Mode(s) Of Transportation
\n[X] Main Character Sports Facial Accessory(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Manly Embrace(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Notorious Stunt-Man Sighting
\n[X] Passage(s) Of Time Via Montage
\n[X] Politically Fueled Plot Point(s)
\n[X] Senseless Destruction Of Property
\n[X] Shoot Out(s) and\/or Sword Fight(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Slow-Motion Finishing Move(s)\/Death(s)
\n[X] Stupid Authoritative Figure(s)
\n[X] Substance Usage and\/or Abuse
\n[\u00a0 ] Tis The Season
\n[\u00a0 ] Torture Sequence(s)
\n[\u00a0 ] Unnecessary Sequel
\n[\u00a0 ] Vehicle Chase(s)
\n[X] Vigilante Justice<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h3>\n![\"Happy](\"http:\/\/www.allouttabubblegum.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/11\/Action2.jpg\" "\\"Happy")
<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nHeeeeere’s Seanny!<\/span><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h1>\n