Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

weezeralfalfa I liked it. If you never saw another A&C film, I'll bet you would like it's craziness. This was the first film the boys did after Lou's relapse of relapsing fever and gall bladder surgery. The story begins in a Brooklyn wrestling rehearsal between the giant Abdullah(Wee Willie Davis) and another. Abbott decides they should also wrestle a bit with Lou, who gets slammed around and pounced upon for an extending period. The repeated pounding of his head into the canvas was particularly brutal. Apparently, it was really Lou taking this punishment, not his brother, who was often a stunt double for him. Lou must have had a thick skull with all the head hits over the years. Abdullah is unhappy that he is scripted to lose this fight, as he has never lost a professional fight. Thus, he's going back to his tribe in Algeria, leaving the boys holding the bag for his $5000. long term contract.(Why didn't they just change the script for him to win??) A&C board a ship for Algiers, and ask around if anyone knows an Abdullah. This disturbs some of the residents, who are members of his tribe.Axmann(Walter Slezak), a traitorous Legionnaire sergeant is talking to bad man Sheik Hamud(Douglass Dumbrille) and others about a plan to kill construction workers building a railroad. Next, some menacing-looking Arabs with knives are intimidating Lou. A&C try to evade them by entering a room full of slave girls. Later, they encounter a slave girl market, where Lou unknowingly buys 6 girls for an exorbitant price. The boys skedaddle to the end of a line of marching Legionnaires, who take them to headquarters, where Sgt. Axmann tricks them into signing up for a 5 year tour of duty in the Legion. As in "Buck Privates", Lou is extremely inept in basic training, yet is not dismissed, even when he accidentally turns a non-stop machine gun on the compound, with no idea how to stop it. Some bullets knock a bunch of coconuts down which knock out a bunch of Legionaries. This whole segment is hilarious. At a desert camp, Lou's camel gets loose and runs away ,at night. Incidentally, as usual, Hollywood used 2 hump Camels, instead of the proper one hump variety appropriate for North Africa and the Middle East. Meanwhile, Sheik Hamud's Arabs attack and kill all the legionnaires, save for the absent A&C, who are starving and in serious need of water. They see several enticing mirages before finding an actual oasis, where they refresh and take a nap. Soon, a party of Arabs come along, but does not see them. One loses his false teeth when he takes a drink. They leave, and the boys decide to fish to satisfy their hunger. Abbott catches a few small ones, but when Costello washes them off, a big fish with the Arab's false teeth snaps them up, then squirts him in the face. Hilarious! This would seem an adaptation of the squirting oyster in Lou's oyster soup, in "Abbott and Costello Meet the Co-eds".The Arabs return, capture the boys and take them to the encampment of Sheik Hamud, where it's pronounced they must die. How? By being beat to death by Abdallah and another bruiser. Abdallah whispers that he won't harm them, as he needs them to get back to Brooklyn to escape having to marry the Sheik's obese daughter. During their fight, a general free-for-all erupts and the boys run out of the tent. They return in Arab garb, while 2 Arabs are wearing their clothes. Axmann has arrived in a jeep with Nicole Dupre(Patricia Medina), whom the boys have met several times as an Arab woman. Axmann says she is actually a French intelligence spy(and thus must die?). They plus Abdullah drive away in Axmann's jeep, with Arabs on horses pursuing them. They come upon a deserted Legion compound, and open the gate. The Legion arrives and fires at them, thinking they are Arabs. Then, the Arabs arrive and gallop into the compound. The boys close the gate, so they are trapped inside. I will stop here and let you see the conclusion for yourselves.

SanteeFats Not bad at all in my opinion. Two wrestler promoters with scripts for the match (gee I guess they are rigged, maybe?) are trying to set up a fake match between two wrestlers, one of which is an Arab who belongs to a rather aggressive tribe. For whatever reason he decides to go back to Africa. Bud and Lou must go after him or die. Looking for him ends up with both of them in the French Foreign Legion through the machinations of a corrupt Legion sergeant who is working with the rebel tribe. There is a French intelligence agent who is trying to dig up evidence about the rebels. Man is she cute. Anyway the movie runs through the standard Abbott and Costello routines with a couple of variations. There is the fish scene at the oasis and the harem scene at the end of the the movie. This is another funny movie by the duo.

classicsoncall Abbott and Costello created havoc in most branches of the U.S. military, so now they take their brand of mayhem to foreign shores, Algiers in particular, as members of the French Foreign Legion. The film opens uncharacteristically with a wrestling match of all things; the boys happen to be the managers of Abdullah the Assassin, the North African champion. Unwilling to take a dive, Abdullah decides to head back home, followed by Bud and Lou, who stand to lose their five thousand dollar investment in the grappler.When Lou accidentally wins a six girl harem, the boys find themselves in trouble, unable to pay, and earning the outrage of Sheik Hamud. Tricked into joining the Legion by Sgt. Axmann (Walter Slezak), the boys proceed to tear up the desert in their own inimitable style. With the desert backdrop, the stage is set for some clever mirages, along with a gag involving a fish with false teeth. Fans of the boys will know the fish routine was borrowed from a frog in earlier movies.Doglas Dumbrille is on hand once again as the all purpose Arab villain, and the pretty female chores are handled by Patricia Medina as a French Intelligence officer working undercover. Wrestling fans will recognize Wee Willie Davis as Abdullah; his opponent is none other than Tor Johnson, not as recognizable here as he would become in his more stellar efforts - "Plan Nine From Outer Space" and "The Beast of Yucca Flats". As expected, Lou is usually at the bottom when it comes to the wrestling pile ups, and when in an upright position, tries to have fun kissing the harem girls. Hey, he's not so dumb!

solongsuckers This movie is pretty much a combination of Abbott and Costello meet the Invisible Man and Lost in Alaska. A sheik/professional wrestler leaves the camp of Bud and Lou to return to his native Africa. Bud and Lou, on the verge of losing $5,000, follow him to try and bring him back. They get duped into joining the French foreign legion in the area and deal with a french spy and a traitor in the legion. For a former long time pro wrestling fanatic like me, this movie makes me laugh, mostly because I used to take wrestling so seriously. The intro is great, especially Bud Abbott, who shows passion that he would only show periodically in the team's later years. The chemistry is good in the scenes in Africa until the boys join the legion when the movie stalls slightly. There is a funny bit with Costello manning a machine gun and a hilarious miscounting scene that is the best bit in the film. Some great pro wrestling nonsense and a chaotic ending finish the film. This is one of the Abbott and Costello flicks that I missed seeing in my youth. Other then the wrestling bits and some really beautiful women, Abbott and Costello and their routines carry this one.