ALL IN A NIGHT'S WORK (1961) **1/2 Yeah, we all know what kind of work that Dean Martin's up to! Period madcap chock full o' suggestive behaviour and confused misunderstandings. There are a few people who have come along that America's desperately needed (Babe Ruth, Louis Armstrong, JFK), and I've got to wonder if Dino isn't one, if on a more minor scale. He even demonstrates how being subjected to the yolk of corporate CEO might be made in some way entertaining (amortization projections on golf scorecards and cocktail napkins). Of course the problem with being a dedicated trawler of the night is that you're dependent on destiny to provide a worthy catch. Waal , Dino's ship musta came in because there's Shirley MacLaine matching him jibe for jibe, and just generally demonstrating the way to keep such characters under control. Dean was terribly underestimated as an actor. His sense of timing is wonderful, and if his long suit's a natural cool he deploys it brilliantly in support of exasperation and antagonism. It's a nice film, not nearly as big as its leads but Dino just didn't take cinema as seriously as all that. Probably all for the best, lots of big spirits don't fit into small screens.
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