KnotMissPriceless Why so much hype?

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

bill-2315 Frank Sinatra starred in two memorable heist movies in the 1960s. The first was Ocean's Eleven (1960), which brought the Rat Pack together for a film that Sinatra is said to have remarked "Forget the movie. Let's do the heist!" The second was sci-fi writer Jack Finney's Assault on a Queen (1966). Despite its mediocre rating here on IMDb, it's actually a fascinating film marred only by rather cheap special effects (Sinatra's diving scenes look like they were shot in a backyard pool) and the sometimes ridiculous Rod Serling script. "She's so deep in my gut we breathe together" is the worst line, and one that Sinatra must have needed more than a few drinks to articulate.Meanwhile, Virna Lisi appears as little more than eye candy in the film, and Anthony Franciosa's character is rather repugnant and oily. However, there are some good scenes with Sinatra and fellow Rat Pack member Richard Conte, and the movie would have benefited greatly if their two characters had been given more time together.It's definitely worth watching, and Sinatra's acting is great as usual despite the weak script.

bobvend Were they really serious when they tried to make a watchable, entertaining heist caper that otherwise resulted in Assault On A Queen? I couldn't help but wonder the deeper back story to this production.This has the look and feel of what might have been intended to be a reuniting of the famous Rat Pack clan that Dino, Sammy and Joey wisely decided to pass on (we know Peter Lawford wouldn't have been asked with The Chairman at the helm). If that was indeed the case, Frank had to muddle on with a cast of substitutes, all playing below their game to live down to his expectations.The climax scenes are so laughably inept, with terribly executed effects...and dialog, that period audiences must have squirmed in their seats. There are far better fish in this sea to catch. Throw Assault On A Queen back.

Ed-Shullivan Hollywood was cranking out a ton of these type of crime movies in the 1960's. I found Assault on a Queen to be one of the better ones. In fact I liked Frank Sinatra's character better in this title than his role in the better known and received 1960's version of Ocean 11. The movie's plot was not as absurd as some critics would like you to think it was. Frank plays Mark Brittain a former navy officer who intends to raise a sunken world war II German submarine, clean it up and repair it then sail it out to the middle of the ocean, and wait for the Queen Mary to cross paths, then board the Queen Mary and steal the ships most precious cargo, cash and gold.Frank meets up with a couple who can underwrite the funding of the German submarine's salvage and repair and who are willing to join the crew to rob the Queen Mary on the high seas. Richard Conte plays an ex navy mechanic named Tony Moreno whose assignment is to get the submarine sea worthy. Virna Lisi is the attractive Italian financier and her male companion is a young and good looking Anthony Franciosa. Anthony plays a bit of a slime ball boyfriend named Vic Rossiter who treats Virna Lis's character Rosa Lucchesi as more of a possession than as his soul mate. Rosa invariably falls for the strong and true character of Mark Brittain which causes more than a little tension on the submarine between Mark and Vic.Without spoiling the ending suffice to say that there is some drama and danger on the high seas when Sinatra's crew board the Queen Mary. The plan was to go off like clockwork, but they encountered more than a bit of rough water if you get my drift. (No pun intended)I thought the movies criminal plot was very original and the acting of the three main characters played by Frank Sinatra, Virna Lisi and Anthony Franciosa was excellent. The movie moved along at a great pace because the story line was original, and the acting was stellar. Not a very big cast, and the scenery is limited to mainly life on the submarine, but I enjoyed the story line for a 1960's crime movie that is well worth watching if you like the adventure/crime genre.

djb896328 First of all, this poster for this movie is incredible. One of my all time favorites. This movie was really hard to find until recently (just came out on blu-ray April 2012) so years ago I found an old paperback of the Jack Finney novel and read it. Loved the story. Then, finally, I was able to see the movie ... disappointing. My biggest complaint is the direction: absolutely flaccid, dull and without any creativity. Not surprisingly the director, Jack Donohue, was a hack TV director almost his entire career and only directed a handful of movies - none of them good. And so Assault on a Queen feels soooo slow when it really should be fast paced and have high energy. The great Rod Serling wrote the script from a fun novel, so I'm not going to blame the writing. And the acting was fine too. The only other problem was the music: poorly used and sparse and never seemed appropriate for the scene. I suppose I can blame the director for this too since he'd be the one overseeing where it was used.Anyway, worth watching for fans of 60s heist movies. I like it, but wish it were better.