Search - The Sergeants 3 on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1962 DVD Release: 05/13/2008 Format: DVD - Color,Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 53 mins Studio: United Artists Members Wishing: 5 Genres: Western, Adventure Comedy, Cavalry Film

The 1939 adventure classic Gunga Din is transferred from British India to the American West, courtesy of Frank Sinatra's "Clan." Sinatra, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford play three cavalry officers, always ready for a brawl but willing to die for each other if need be. Sammy Davis Jr. a cavalry bugler who has aspirations of being a combat soldier. The three officers and the bugler take on a Napoleonic Native American chief, who plans to unify all the tribes and kill every white man in sight. Davis does his "Gunga" bit by blowing his bugle and warning the approaching cavalry that they're riding into a trap. About all that isn't pilfered from Gunga Din is the death of the noble bugler; Davis survives being shot up by the Indians with little more than a flesh wound! Sergeants Three also stars another Sinatra crony, Joey Bishop, playing the role originally essayed in Gunga Din by Robert Coote. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Frank Sinatra - First Sgt. Mike Merry
Dean Martin - Sgt. Chip Deal
Sammy Davis, Jr. - Jonah Williams
Peter Lawford - Sgt. Larry Barrett
Joey Bishop - Sgt. Maj. Roger Boswell

John Sturges's Sergeants Three (1962) was a staple on network television for much of the mid-1960's through the 1970's, and then it disappeared. Perhaps its absence, coupled with the rising appreciation for Sturges's work, helped the movie's reputation, which was never that great to begin with. Its reissue on DVD, letterboxed to its proper 2.35-to-1 aspect ratio (something it never offered on broadcast television) was considered a major event among fans of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr., the four stars. But as the disc reveals, it's little but a fairly good action-western, distinguished more for its cast and its source (George Stevens' 1939 Gunga Din) than for anything that we see on the screen. The producers have tried to impart some value and significance to the movie by including a commentary track by Frank Sinatra, Jr., who was a production assistant on the movie, but his work consists more of gee-whiz enthusiasm than any serious insights into the picture, its content, or its maker. Indeed, in the first three minutes of his audio track, he manages to mis-identify John Sturges as the son of Preston Sturges (the two were not related). In fact, the sheer superficiality and unfocused nature of his commentary only points up the movie's lightweight nature -- some pictures can carry a commentary track, and some can't, and this is one that shouldn't have been asked to. The only other bonus feature is a theatrical trailer. The disc opens automatically to a simple two-layer menu, which makes accessing (or shutting down) the audio commentary very easy. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide