I'll tell you why so serious

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

I really liked this when I was a kid, but seeing it again after a couple of decades gap it looks a lot thinner than I thought it was. It's still enjoyable only the padding is painfully obvious as such.Story of light-hearted murdering sets of gangsters battling it out in Prohibition Chicago in a jovial and frivolous manner. Uncredited Edward G's brutal cartoony slaughter at the beginning sets the tone for the rest of the movie - humour, violence and a few brash songs. There are good production values but it's only worth watching for the few Ratpack setpieces: Sammy Davis and Bing Crosby had their individual moments, Dean Martin was given a rather dozy solo and Frank Sinatra shone through it all as usual. But the truly sublime bits are Style with Crosby, Martin and Sinatra – the title and lyrics say it all - it's a complete obfuscating joy to watch and hear because everyone has style and class; and My Kind Of Town, which is a perfect triumph. If you took those two sections out it would leave the film looking and sounding rather threadbare; you can't really have a reasonable film consisting mainly of padding. As dull as the pointless humourless demise of bigger-baddie Peter Falk was the climax and end of the film itself was rushed and bodged – lucky it was still quite funny though. So if you don't like dry black humour or music you're probably in the wrong joint!

According to a Trivia entry on this film, much gloom hung over the production of "Robin And The 7 Hoods", on which filming had commenced just prior to the assassination of President Kennedy, followed closely by the kidnapping of Sinatra's son, Frank Jr. Camelot was dead, and the effects of that showed through here.What was intended to have been a frothy, witty fable of Chicago mobsters in the roaring 20's instead sadly comes off as forced and overly contrived. That's not to blame the cast, who surely carried on as best they were able to. But still, everyone looks embarrassed, and most of them seem to be phoning-in their performances. Some of the dialog is badly wilted even by early '60's standards.Overall production quality is good though, with colorful and clever sets, and the proceedings manage to rally around a few memorable, well-executed songs. Motion picture studios did not consider Sinatra to be especially easy to work with, and the influence he wielded had already dictated cast changes early-on. Conspicuously missing are fellow Rat-Packers Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop, who's roles were filled by Bing Crosby and Peter Falk. It's still enjoyable if you're a fan of the cast, but try as they may, the film is lacking something vital, having become a victim of history.

Those who don't like this film (and that's okay), don't really "get" the film (and that's okay, too). It's a spoof. It's all tongue in cheek. And it stars 4 tremendous stars -- Frank, Dean, Bing, and Sammy. No, it's not Shakespeare. Nor is it supposed to be. It's just supposed to be fun with some cool songs thrown in for good measure. Nothing more. Nothing less. And, if you don't like the stars, this wouldn't have been a movie for you to go see. But for the fans of those four big time operators, this film is a ball.Attention to detail sometimes makes a movie, and starting out a film about Prohibition Era gangsters with a cameo of Edward G. Robinson...well, that's paying attention to detail. The first musical number ("All for One and One for All") is a hoot as sung by that man with the velvet voice -- Peter Falk. Of course he's a lousy singer; that's the point. I don't even like Peter Falk, but he's perfect for his role in this film.Dean Martin's primary solo ("Any Man Who Loves His Mother") is hokey...and it's supposed to be...I'm not particularly enamored of it...but it does show off his mellow voice nicely. It's also interesting to watch Dean's subtle facial expressions in some of the scenes, and you'll notice that he is often focusing all his attention on Bing Crosby.Sammy Davis' primary number ("Bang Bang") shows off his vocal and tap dancing abilities very well, although Sammy got a bit short-changed in this film...and you'll note that he's the only main character without a love episode.But the best role of all -- though he doesn't appear until just about halfway through the film -- belongs to Bing Crosby...a "do-gooder" with some intentions that may be less than honorable. Crosby has 2 notable numbers, one with some kids and the other the lead in "Mister Booze". One can still see the old pro excelling even late in his life, and it's a pleasure.Of course, Frank Sinatra's big number here is "My Kind Of Town", one of his signature songs.Additional cast members do their jobs. I especially liked Robert Foulk as the original sheriff. But the cameo appearance of all time -- short lived though it was, was Edward G. Robinson -- a classic touch. You need to watch for little touches in the dialog that are quite clever. For example, the telephone number at one point is Garfield...", in homage to John Garfield. Lots of little thing like that.If there's one criticism I have is that the boys (Dean, Frank, Bing, and Sammy) didn't take enough care in lip-syncing the songs, and even some of the dialog. It's really quite noticeable and distracting. This is a good film. Not one of the great musicals of the 40s or 50s, but a rather pleasant romp with the Rat Pack. Have fun watching it.The Warner Brothers Blu-Ray disc I purchased was an excellent transfer.

Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) ** 1/2 (out of 4) The Rat Pack take on gangsters in the 1920's Chicago in this spoof of the genre, which is also mixed with the Robin Hood story. After the top gangster is killed at his birthday party, Guy Gisborne (Peter Falk) takes over the mob with the help of a corrupt cop but this doesn't sit well with Robbo (Frank Sinatra). Instead of joining up with the other mobs, Robbo decides to team up with some buddies (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby) and take the city over with charity work. This movie starts off very well but slowly runs out of gas and in the end it becomes a rather drag, which is a shame since the movie started off so well. I think the biggest problem is the running time, which just keeps the moving going and going when it should have probably ran only 90 or 100 minutes. The first half of the film is extremely fast, loose and fun and it offers up plenty of nice laughs including a hilarious cameo by Edward G. Robinson. Sinatra, rumored to have had mob connections, fits his role extremely well and delivers a fine performance of "My Kind of Town". Sammy Davis, Jr. is also very good in the film and gives one of the highlights in his performance of "Bang, Bang" and he also does a great impression of James Cagney. Martin is also very funny as is Crosby but Falk really steals the show as the rival gangster. For the most part the music is good, although I think the song "Mr. Booze" runs too long and really brings the film to a standstill. The history behind the making of this film is rather interesting since Kennedy was assassinated during production and Sinatra's own son was kidnapped and held for ransom, which also had the filmmakers cut a kidnapping scene from the film. There's a joke early in the film about the Lincoln assassination and I'm shocked this was left in the film after what happened to Kennedy. At any point, this is a fairly entertaining comedy that has a lot going for it but an editor really would have helped things.