JOHNNY COOL—-before Frank Sinatra bounced him from The Rat Pack, professional hanger-on Peter Lawford had a hand in producing this $500,000 1963 tomato of a gangster flick.  #3 Rat buddy Sammy Davis Jr. contributed a cameo. Associate Pack rat Henry Silva stars, playing a remorseless one-man vengeance machine on the loose, killing his way through 103 dreary minutes.

“While you are here, you’ll go through a process of polishing designed to make you “civilised”. A little, not too much. On the surface, not inside. When I decide you’re ready, you’ll do a job for me, a job no other man could do. I want you to go to those who betrayed me, take back what they stole and make them dead. Do that and what is mine, is yours. You will be my son….You will be, you have no other choice. I put you in the streets, you’ll be dead within the hour. Or you’ll do the job I picked for you and you’ll become rich. More money and wealth than a peasant could dream.”

Directed by William Asher, on a break from his Beach Party fests. He didn’t dig drama, you’ll notice, if you bother to chisel this from his debris pile.  Elizabeth Montgomery draws the female lead. They married on the day this was released, went on to Bewitched  immortality. She’s not bad, but it’s such an ugly downer, and Silva is one-note all the way.Though ranked #104 on the boxoffice stats for 1963, the $1,500,000 gross paid off the low budget.

Written by Joseph Landon (Rio Conchos, Von Ryan’s Express). Notables convinced by Lawford to have walk or die-on’s include Rat packer #5 Joey Bishop, Telly Savalas, Jim Backus, Mort Sahl, Richard Anderson, Marc Lawrence, Brad Dexter, John McGiver, Joseph Calleia, Joan Staley, Wanda Hendrix, Elisha Cook, Robert Armstrong, Frank Albertson, John Dierkes, Hal Baylor, Joe Turkel and Victoria Vetri. Watching the preview (often available on You Tube) is good for laughs. Too bad the movie is so lousy.