Sergeants 3

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Sergeants 3
Directed by	John Sturges
Produced by	Frank Sinatra Howard W. Koch
Written by	W.R. Burnett
Starring	Frank Sinatra Dean Martin Peter Lawford Sammy Davis Jr Joey Bishop
Music by	Billy May
Cinematography	Winton C. Hoch
Editing by	Ferris Webster
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	February 10, 1962 (United States)
Running time	112 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Sergeants 3 is a 1962 remake of Gunga Din (1939) set in the American West, directed by John Sturges and featuring Rat Pack icons Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. It was the last film to feature all five members of the Rat Pack due to Sinatra's falling out with Lawford and later Bishop.

Plot synopsis

Mike, Chip, and Larry are three lusty, brawling U. S. Cavalry sergeants stationed in Indian Territory in 1870. Mike and Chip are determined to prevent Larry from carrying out his decision to leave the Army at the end of his current hitch and marry beautiful Amelia Parent.

One night the three cronies befriend a trumpet-playing former slave, Jonah Williams, who dreams of someday becoming a trooper. A tribe of fanatical Indians begins terrorizing the area, and the headstrong Chip decides to attempt the capture of their leader. Accompanied by Jonah, he sneaks into the Indians' secret meeting place while they are conducting one of their mysterious rites, but he is discovered and taken prisoner.

Jonah escapes and races back to tell Mike and Larry. When Larry insists upon going to Chip's rescue, Mike makes him sign a reenlistment paper "just to make his help official" and promises to destroy the paper after the mission.

Mike, Larry, and Jonah make their way to the Indian stronghold, but they too end up as prisoners. As the Cavalry rides into a trap where a thousand warriors are waiting to ambush them, Jonah blows the regiment's favorite tune on his trumpet as a warning. The ensuing battle ends in victory for the Cavalry; the three sergeants are decorated, and Jonah is made a trooper.

Thinking himself discharged, Larry drives off in a buggy with Amelia, but the crafty Mike shows the post's commanding officer the reenlistment paper he had promised to destroy. Larry, it appears, will be forced to serve another hitch with Mike and Chip.

Production

Directed by John Sturges, written by W. R. Burnett, and produced by Frank Sinatra, the movie features Sinatra in the Victor McLaglen role, Martin in the Cary Grant part, Lawford replacing Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Davis in Sam Jaffe's originally titular supporting part. It was filmed in Kanab, Utah. The Thugee cult is replaced by the Ghost dancers with Michael Pate and Henry Silva appearing as Indians.

Sinatra wanted to use the title Soldiers Three but couldn't get the rights as the title was owned by MGM for another Gunga Din-inspired story set in India.

Rat Pack

Each of the Rat Pack's films contained a numeral in its title. The others were: Ocean's Eleven (1960), Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964, with Joey Bishop missing and Bing Crosby replacing Peter Lawford), and 4 for Texas with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Anita Ekberg and Ursula Andress as the four in the title and Charles Bronson as villain. Sinatra said of these Rat Pack films: "Of course they're not great movies, no-one could claim that... but every movie I've made through my own company has made money." The only Rat Pack film not produced by Sinatra was Ocean's 11, which earned $4.3 million in rentals at the North American box office, being ranked by Variety as the 14th highest-earning film of 1962.

"The Lost Sinatra Film"

Seldom seen after its initial run in cinemas, never granted a release on home video, it seemed as though only a major event could bring Sergeants 3 to DVD.^{[neutrality is disputed]} A DVD was finally released on May 13, 2008, both as a single disc and as part of a new Rat Pack box set, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Frank Sinatra's death.

Critical reception

Sergeants 3 was met with middling reviews on release. Variety labeled it as "warmed-over Gunga Din in a westernized version of that epic, with American-style Indians and Vegas-style soldiers of fortune. The essential differences between the two pictures, other than the obvious one of setting, is that the emphasis in Gunga was serious with a tongue-in-cheek overtone, whereas the emphasis in Sergeants is tongue-in-cheek with serious overtones."

Cast

Frank Sinatra ... First-Sergeant Mike Merry
Dean Martin ... Sergeant Chip Deal
Sammy Davis, Jr. ... Jonah Williams
Peter Lawford ... Sergeant Larry Barrett
Joey Bishop ... Sergeant-Major Roger Boswell
Henry Silva ... Mountain Hawk
Ruta Lee ... Amelia Parent
Buddy Lester ... Willie Sharpknife
Phillip Crosby ... Cpl. Ellis
Dennis Crosby ... Pvt. Page
Lindsay Crosby ... Pvt. Wills
Hank Henry ... Blacksmith
Dick Simmons ... Col. William Collingwood (billed as Richard Simmons)
Michael Pate ... Watanka
Armand Alzamora ... Caleb
Rodd Redwing... Irregular

External links

• Sergeants 3 at the Internet Movie Database
• Sergeants 3 at the TCM Movie Database
• Sergeants 3 at AllRovi
• Variety review