Sinful Davey

Director: John Huston
Year Released: 1969
Rating: 2.0

Davey Haggart (John Hurt), a Scottish soldier, realizes he wants to live in his rogue father's footsteps, so he sets off on a life of crime: he deserts his fellow troops, robs everyone and gets in a lot of trouble with the law ... but a young woman named Annie (Pamela Franklin) keeps following him around to get him to change his wicked ways.  I'm guessing this was Huston's attempt to make his own Tom Jones, except it's a sub-par facsimile, without genuine gusto and hedonistic joy ... that is, until the charming conclusion, in which Davey's spared the rope and (hopefully) sticks with the woman who actually cares about him.  The road to the end is corny, and the physical humor doesn't work: Huston, a larger-than-an-elephant figure, just didn't have the temperament for light comedy ... and neither did the great Mr. Hurt.