Produced by Lewis F. Blumberg. A Monteflor Production, released through United Artists. New York opening at the Palace: 11 March 1957. U.S. release: January 1957. U.K. release: 20 May 1957. Australian release: 5 September 1957. 7,502 feet. 83 minutes. U.K. and Australian release title: a Night in Havana. SYNOPSIS: A dealer in a Havana casino (Errol Flynn) has some counterfeit money passed to him by the daughter (Rossana Rory) of a prominent Cuban banker (Sandro Giglio). The chief of police (Pedro Armendariz) suspects the dealer, but it is the banker's other daughter (Gia Scala) who has been involved in the counterfeiting racket. However, the chief of the ring... NOTES: A smash hit in some sections of Australia, where, even at the tail end of his career, Errol Flynn could do no wrong. Of course, part of his appeal was that of a local boy who made good. It was assumed that he was Australian born and bred. That was half-true anyway. Although he was actually born in Ireland, Flynn was raised in the Australian state of TasmaniaCOMMENT: Actually filmed in its entirety on location in Havana (with the co-operation of the Cuban government and its agencies), this is a routinely-plotted whodunit which has considerable value as a curiosity. Besides the interesting line-up of players (Flynn had only four more films to go, but though tired and jaded, he still carries conviction here as the rugged hero; Gia Scala and Rossana Rory make attractive foils while Pedro Armendariz is up to his old tricks as a police official)) there is the background - the streets and plazas of pre-Castro Havana, the seedy nightclubs, the gambling dens and various historical monuments including the climactic chase and shoot-out in the ruins of Morro Castle. This was the first film to be directed by Richard Wilson (a longtime associate of Orson Welles). Wilson is just feeling his way here, but he has a good eye for locations.

. . . so he jumped at the chance to make THE CROUPIER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH there during the waning days of the Bautista Regime. Not yet fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the Castro Boys as he shot his final flick, CUBAN REBEL GIRLS, a few months later, Flynn plays a patsy or pawn of a bigger game throughout THE BIG BOODLE. As Mr. Flynn settles for a screen lover slightly older than his 14-year-old Real Life preference, he appears oblivious to the fact that shadowy figures were beginning to coalesce around him off-screen, in an eerie parallel to the men constantly tailing his "Ned Sherwood" character from the start to the finish of BOODLE. Frankly, I'm sort of shocked that John Garfield's Ghost did not appear to Errol at 3 AM some sultry Cuban night, warning him that if the McCarthy Boys could get away with snuffing HIM out at Age 39--no questions asked--then Errol himself risked being shuffled off to a similar fate (now that he was pushing the geriatric age of 50) UNLESS HE CHANGED HIS WAYS. But Errol seems to focus on Ned's problems here, clueless to the fact that In-Like-Flynn did not appeal to I-Like-Ike Americans, who'd prefer Out-Like-Flynn.

I'm a huge Errol Flynn fan even buying and reading his out of print autobiography "My Wicked, Wicked Ways". I can definitely say that this movie is one of his worse. I think it has to do with it being the end of his career, not much money put toward his projects, and the lack of patience movie companies would have with him. Sorry to say but all that shines thru in this movie, which is a shame. He went from Robin Hood and Captain Blood to a B-rated movie like this. He still has his moments on screen but they are too far and few between. W/ his diminishing good looks and his "off screen" antics, Errol Flynn no longer got his pick of screen plays to read. He had to keep working just to pay the bills w/ his ever growing amount of debt he was in. I think some of his last movies were more for the paycheck than his love of acting.

For fans of Errol Flynn, this is a rather tough film to watch. That's because after a lifetime of wild living and booze, the once handsome actor looks pretty lousy for a 48 year-old. He's puffy, flat and lacks the spark and charm that made him a matinée favorite in previous decades. Here, he's just "phoning it in" in a low-budget and rather dull film and it's only of much interest to fans with morbid curiosity or who want to see every film this star made.The story has Flynn playing a lowly blackjack dealer in a Cuban casino--quite a comedown compared to other characters he'd played in the past. While it is interesting to see street scenes of pre-Castro Cuba, the rest of the film is a dull affair concerning Errol being tossed, quite innocently, into a bunch of murderous counterfeiters. Because he was no longer the glamorous hero, he spends most of the film being beaten up and hassled. The best fight for him is at the end when he barely manages to beat up a doughboy-like villain. Not exactly CAPTAIN BLOOD or ROBIN HOOD--it's really a shame Flynn's final films are generally of this low quality.