Given that a conch is a sponge and Sinatra, as the eponymous Concho, spends the first half of the film more or less sponging off the good burghers of Cripple Creek I think it is realistic to rename the movie Johnny Sponger. Before proceeding I think we should remind ourselves that this film was made post-From Here To Eternity, in other words Sinatra was now arguably at the peak of his career both as a singer and an actor and more or less cherry-picked his projects - he is listed on the credits here as 'producer' so clearly he was happy to play a man with absolutely nothing going for him; not only a coward, but a bully, with no regard whatsoever for ordinary people. That said it is difficult to believe - as so many here have pointed out - that an entire town would be happy to kowtow to a man who is basically a weakling on the strength that his absentee brother, Red, has the town firmly under his thumb even from miles away, or that Sinatra would experience a 'Road to Damascus' moment so dramatically. That apart there are still good things to savour; not least the deadly duo of William Conrad and Christopher Dark. Reasonable time-filler.
Review of Johnny Concho
