A different way of telling a story

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Released by Howard Hughes three years after its filming, "Double Dynamite" is a pleasing comedy starring Jane Russell as Mibs Goodhue, Groucho Marx as Emile J. Keck, and Frank Sinatra as Johnny Dalton.The crux of the story is a coincidence--the disappearance of $60,000 from a bank and Dalton winning $60,000 at the track. He can't spend his winnings without alerting the suspicions of the authorities.The film features a couple of very enjoyable tunes by Jule Stine and Sammy Cahn that leave the viewer wanting more.Except for Russell's portrayal of her character being tipsy, she does a fine job. Groucho is his usual incorrigible self and Sinatra is charming. The three of them make the most of this small film.

Deadly. Jane Russell, Frank Sinatra and Groucho: how anybody could assemble three such talented people and do almost nothing of value with them singly or together boggles the mind; they look as if they are waiting in a Motel 6 lobby for paychecks.Although he didn't direct this film, Howard Hughes was a force behind much of it, hence the title, which refers mainly to his lady friend Russell's well-advertised physical attributes--that's about the level of humor here, given the year 1951. The great Groucho looks tired, worn-out and put upon, and Frank sings his big number to a blank wall while lying in bed; he and Groucho have a weird musical number together that is completely forgettable, as is the tepid plot--it isn't a real stinker, but for early Frank, rent the zippy STEP LIVELY, which is really a delight, a farce full of charm and fun, and for Jane Russell at her best, rent GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES or one of the crime noir she made with Robert Mitchum.Groucho Marx is better in almost anything you can find, and was just waiting around for his quiz show "You Bet Your Life;" any five minutes of of that is better than all of this. I am usually not such a curmudgeon with early films, but this one never achieves lift-off.

Frank Sinatra's last role under his contract with RKO was this slight comedy Double Dynamite. It was also the last time he played a milquetoast schnook. Double Dynamite was started in 1948 but Howard Hughes in his infinite wisdom kept under under wraps for three years, not releasing it until Christmas of 1951. In a backhanded way he may have helped Sinatra because in 1951 the film offers were not coming and at least his name was kept before the public eye.Hughes could read the trade papers though and the Sinatra who had box office clout in 1948 had little in 1951. Probably Frank was going to be billed below Jane Russell in a Hughes production in any event, but he was third billed below Groucho Marx in this one.If this had been done at Paramount you would have seen Eddie Bracken and Betty Hutton in the roles Sinatra and Russell have. They're both bank tellers at Howard Freeman's bank, but Freeman's in retirement and it's run by his playboy son Don McGuire and manager Harry Hayden.Frank and Jane make $42.50 a week, not a princely sum even back in 1951 and poor Frank goes and asks for a raise from Hayden. Personally I thought it was his best moment in the film. The way Hayden just jawbones him out of the raise reminded me of Branch Rickey negotiating salaries with baseball players. Right around the time this film was being made, there was a campaign against Rickey being orchestrated by New York Daily News sports columnist Jimmy Powers. One of the tags Powers hung on Rickey was El Cheapo. Based on the stories that Powers and others told about Rickey beating down every dollar a player might ask for, I have no doubt Rickey was the model for Hayden's character.Anyway Frank lucks into a windfall when he saves a notorious bookmaker, Nestor Paiva, from a beating being dished out by a rival mob. In gratitude Paiva 'lends' Frankie a thousand dollars and he bets on several 'sure things' with Paiva and he walks away with $60,000.00.But as Frank returns triumphantly from Paiva's betting parlor, he discovers Hayden making a speech to the staff about someone embezzling a lot of money. Not even Russell believes him. His only ally is their good friend, a waiter at a one arm spaghetti joint, Groucho Marx.At this point Groucho really takes over the film. He gives Sinatra and Russell all kinds of advice, romantic and financial, about how to deal with this perplexing situation. One of them being put all the money in his name. They do that and Groucho does live it up in grand style.Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn wrote two of their most forgettable songs. With the release held up for three years, Sinatra never even bothered to record them for Columbia Records where he was at the time. Kisses and Tears is a duet with Jane Russell and there's a comedy patter number, It's Only Money for Groucho and Frank. Sinatra was usually given some great songs by Styne and Cahn in the forties, but they definitely failed him here. If it wasn't for Groucho Marx, Double Dynamite might very well be several notches lower in my estimation. When he's not on the screen you just wait for him to come back. I have a funny feeling that Groucho stole the film from Jane Russell who Hughes was trying to build up and that that was the reason it was held up for three years.I marvel that Jane Russell had any career at all considering Howard Hughes's obsession with her two weapons of mass destruction. Double Dynamite is the third film that I know of that he held for years before releasing that starred her, The Outlaw and the noir classic His Kind of Woman were the other two. Good thing she did The Paleface with Bob Hope over at Paramount and out of his reach.Besides those mentioned look for a nice performance by William Edmunds as Groucho's suffering employer, Mr. Baganucci. And Don McGuire is really quite the wolf in wolf's clothing as he keeps sexually harassing Jane.It's not a great film, it might have been better had it been in the hands of someone like Preston Sturges at Paramount.

Ms. Russell, contradicting expectations from this leering title, plays a prim young woman given to high necklines. (OK, she does take a shower that looks identical to the one she takes in "The Las Vegas Story.") The dynamite? That seems to have nothing to do with the plot.Like Russell, Frank Sinatra is cast against type as meek bank teller -- who pretty much stays meek. He is likable.The only possible reason to watch this is Groucho Marx. He is a waiter in an Italian restaurant who masquerades as a millionaire. (Oi, don't ask.) My favorite of his jokes is this: Russell says to him, "You would choose the bridal suite. What are you going to do with three bedrooms?" "I don't know, Groucho replies. "What would a bride do with them?"