At this point in Sinatra's career, the "Rat Pack" collective (with the addition of fellow Clan member Joey Bishop) was a familiar one to movie and television audiences and Sergeants 3, despite its period Western setting, has a lot of the same feel as the Pack's film venture, Ocean's Eleven (1960); it's an entertaining romp that emphasizes personality over character and combines action with humor, a trait shared with the original Gunga Din. The major difference between the two is that, while Sam Jaffe's title character, a loyal Indian water boy, sacrifices his life to save the British troops, the former-slave-turned-bugler and Army hopeful played by Sammy Davis, Jr. is rewarded for his bravery with a promotion to cavalry trooper.
The film is helmed by one of Hollywood's best-known directors of Westerns from this period, John Sturges (Bad Day at Black Rock, 1955; Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, 1957; The Magnificent Seven, 1960). Sturges had directed Sinatra previously in Never So Few (1959), so he was used to the star's insistence on getting the shot in the first take, a practice he continued on this project. To Sinatra's credit, he was well aware that his first take was usually his best and freshest, and he allowed director and crew as much time as they needed to set up a shot so that technical gaffes wouldn't require retakes.
By all accounts, the production of Sergeants 3 maintained a party atmosphere typical of most "Rat Pack" gatherings, although location shooting in remote parts of Utah left them with little to do off the set besides card games, screenings of Laurel and Hardy movies, and late-night visits to the local Dairy Queen. To facilitate socializing, Sinatra reportedly had connecting doors installed in all of the hotel rooms where the cast was staying and billed it to the film's budget. Although most off-hours of the shoot were spent socializing in their hotel rooms, co-star Ruta Lee (in essentially the same role played by Joan Fontaine in the original) noted that the Rat Pack would occasionally be shuttled back and forth to Las Vegas, sometimes showing up on the set after only a few hours of sleep.
This hard-partying lifestyle apparently did little to impede the production or affect how its stars looked on screen, with the exception of Peter Lawford. After a few years of his "Rat Pack" fraternization, a period also marked by less frequent acting work and more socializing and campaigning on behalf of his brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, the once dashing Lawford looked puffy and unhealthy. To trim up for his role in Sergeants 3, he took diet pills; viewers may notice shifts in his weight from shot to shot.
After this project, which received tepid reviews but decent box office, Sturges and screenwriter Burnett moved on to the blockbuster adventure The Great Escape (1963). Although planned as one of five films to star the Rat Pack, Sergeants 3 turned out to be their last. Sinatra and Martin worked together in films three more times, and with Davis they made Robin and the 7 Hoods in 1964, but the legendary group as a whole would never appear together again on the big screen.
Director: John Sturges
Producers: Howard W. Koch, Frank Sinatra
Screenplay: W.R. Burnett
Cinematography: Winton C. Hoch
Editing: Ferris Webster
Art Direction: Frank Hotaling
Original Music: Billy May
Cast: Frank Sinatra (Sgt. Mike Merry), Dean Martin (Sgt. Chip Deal), Sammy Davis, Jr. (Jonah Williams), Peter Lawford (Sgt. Larry Barrett), Joey Bishop (Sgt.-Major Roger Boswell), Henry Silva (Mountain Hawk).
C-112m.
by Rob Nixon
