Viva Max! (1969)

Director

• Jerry Paris

Starring

• Peter Ustinov
• Pamela Tiffin
• Jonathan Winters
• John Astin
• Keenan Wynn

Last On

11:00-13:00 Fri 9th Jul 2021 115m
Talking Pictures TV

Synopsis

It's virtually impossible to ignore Peter Ustinov in this buoyantly played but sloppily directed comedy, adapted from a novel by James Lehrer and mostly shot at Cinecitta in Rome. He plays a Mexican general who leads a ramshackle band across the border in a bid to retake the Alamo. John Astin (coming off his career-making stint as Gomez in TV's The Addams Family) gives an admirably understated performance as Ustinov's doltish sidekick, and it's Astin's twitchy idiocy that stands in stark contrast to Ustinov's heavily accented showboating.