You Can`t Win `Em All (film review)

 You Can`t Win `Em All 

Is a 1970 adventure movie set during the Greco - Turkish War 1920 - 22

Directed by Peter Collinson, starring Tony Curtis, Charles Bronson and French actress Michele Mercier.

Josh shows Adam a Thompson

The film starts just after the end of WW1, it is the end of the Ottoman Empire and two American mercenaries – Adam (Curtis) and Josh (Bronson) have journeyed to war torn Turkey to make their fortunes. Adam hopes to reclaim a ship seized by the Germans during WW1, now interned in the Turkish port of Smyma. Josh leads a band of heavily armed ex-soldiers who are simply interested in loot.

The two men and the mercenaries find themselves forced to work for an Ottoman Governor and tasked by him to help smuggle his daughters to safety out of the country via Adam`s ship – the Governor knows an American flagged vessel is not subject to the international blockade. However Adam and Josh soon realise that all is not quite what it seems and something else is going on. The Governor sends an experienced colonel and a troop of cavalry as additional escort to protect his daughters and their guardian Aila (played with style by Michele Mercier).

Aila introduces herself

What follows is a wild ride of plot twists and attempted cons and deceptions with some great set-pieces – an armoured train (and attack on it); a set-piece attack by Greeks on a Turkish village; an air attack on a Greek camp (which uses the same replica aircraft used in the film Blue Max 1966) and finally the remaining mercenaries desperately fighting against overwhelming odds to get away on the ship as it is stormed be equally desperate Greeks and Ottoman Turks hoping to flee the country and the vengence of Ataturk and his followers!

The Colonel offers Adam a deal

The action scenes are fun, the three main actors have good chemistry together and the mix of weapons and uniform/outfits seem period (at least to me).

The end of the Star of Islam

Finally our two heroes are captured and brought before “The General” (based Kemel Ataturk), played by British actor Patrick Magee (probably best known for his portrayal of Surgeon Reynolds in the movie Zulu 1964). The General is convinced by Aila (who it turns out was his spy all along) to let the Americans go – no harm, no foul.

Another cool shot of Michele Mercier

A fun hour and a half if you have time to kill, a boys own adventure story with some interesting ideas which could transfer to games on your tabletop if you fancy something a bit out of left field. Maybe another different use for those Early War Miniatures Circassians? 

Raventhorpe - a photo catalogue (updated 17/05/2026)

 Raventhorpe

First off I should confess that I have dealt with Tony Raven (Chadburn) for more years than I`ve been married - so 30+ The company`s service has always been second to none, in the days of hand written orders (pen & paper sent via the post office, for our younger readers 😁), I`ve known orders to arrive before the cheque was cashed (a cheque was a piece of paper allowing someone to remove a writen amount from your bank account 😁) Yes I know - sounds insane, but that was how we did things before Paypal, etc......

The companies range is vast, the figures have an old school style which I like and enjoy painting; they also do a range of white metal models and a range of resin models called Ready to Roll. 

Raventhorpe also sell resin buildings many designed by legends of our hobby - Mick Sewell, Colin Rumsford, Richard Marsh and Don Mchugh to name a few. Like a lot of long standing, older companies Raventhorpe never grew beyond the family buisness level in our modern internet age, but whilst this may bother those of you who like the instant gratification of click and book, it doesn`t bother me and never will.

This post is in direct response to a comment posted on Raventhorpe`s FB page to a recent post of mine showing some recently finished Raventhorpe British - 

"Really like those Richard - it does help to see the figures - thanks" 

This post will be a photo list (I know my photography is crap, but what can you do) of Raventhope`s various ranges that I own (including codes if I can work out who-is-who) and will also include Ready-to-Roll vehicles and Sentry Models buildings. You will also find my conversions using Raventhorpe`s range of seperate heads, and some out of the box thinking over uses of some figures. Hopefully this will give the reader some idea of what is possible, even when someone paints as poorly as me 😁

British and Commonwealth

BUA08- charging rifle, BUA12-kneeling firing rifle, BUA03-Advancing rifle and bayonet, BUA13-kneeling firing at ready

BUA11-standing firing rifle

BUA70- Medic

Same figure with Punjabi turban head

BUA73- Bush hat advancing with Piat, BUA74- Bush hat advancing with rifle 

Head-swapped with British helmet head

Same figures with Punjabi turban head

Prone Piat team 

BUA49 casualty, BUA50 rifleman aid for BA49

BUA 53 soldier helping wounded

British gunners

SPEC25 French Goumier

US medics with casualty

US soldier firing pole mounted .50cal

Seen here crewing a half-track

US Naval gun crews

US gunners

LCVP Boat Teams

IMHO very useful as US Assault Infantry for bunker busting, etc

Moving mortar team

Moving .30cal team

Bazooka, bangalore torpedos and sachel charges

Flame-thrower

US .30cal water cooled MMG (the loader is Platoon20)

US infantry in greatcoats

German cyclists

Mediteranean Theatre Germans

I`m pretty sure the kneeling guy with the MP40 in Kelly`s Heroes (sorry)

Italian motorbikes and combinations

Raventhopre also do sun helmets and helmets with cockerel feathers for Bersaglieri

Deployed Breda MMG

RTO

Cowboys and Boers (painted up as cowboys)

US Cavalry

MEX39 Rifleman firing, MEX38 Rifleman advancing, MEX37 NCO with pistol

Mexican Peons & Federales

Mounted Federal trooper (Raventhorpe do two styles of horse)

Mounted Villista/bandit firing (this is the second horse variant)

Federal mounted officer

Federal infantry

Seated driver and passenger with peaked cap heads (the officer is Britannia)

Rurales created by using Aussie hat heads on Raventhorpe`s British colonial bodies

Ready-to-Roll Vehicles

Italian M14/43 tank

Fiat 626

Fiat Dovunque

US 75mm Pack Howitzer

Shown here with a mixed French colonial crew

Russian T-26

US M15 SP AA
Converted by me to a captured T28E1 based on a photo from Tunisia 1943

GMC CCKW 6x6Radio Truck

Studabaker 2.5 ton 6x6

Dodge 6x6

Sherman Dozer

French Dodge Tanake

Conus SP 75mm

Note the gunners heads have been swapped from British tin hats

Italian Lancia IZM

Horch Kfz15 car 

Pictured here with with a Raventhorpe white metal general service trailer, mixed crew and loads of stowage

French T-23 truck

Panzer IVH 

Humber IV

Daimler A/C

White metal kits

Chevy 30cwt truck

Converted by me with a 20mm Breda AA and crew for 2/3rd Lt. anti-aircraft Regt RAA in Syria, The driver is also Raventhorpe with a bush hat head

Vickers 1pdr (37mm) Pom Pom 

(pictured here with a mixed plastic crew)

US 105mm short howitzer

Crew also from Raventhorpe

Maxon quad .50cal turret (resin with metal parts)

Pictured here on salvaged old Matchbox M16 half-track

Morris 15cwt with Bofors 37mm AT gun 

For 2/2nd anti-tank Regt RAA, Syria 1941

Truck, gun and crew all Raventhorpe

Horch with twin AAMG and trailor

Mixed crew and lots of stowage

French `75 (in my opinion a bit over scale - sorry)

Crewed by Raventhorpe WW1 gun crew with a mix of heads, serving with my Federal Mexican Army

Autocarretta Tipo 36P

Early 25ldr and limber

Seen here being towed by a Britannia Sdkfz10 

Pak36(r) 

Seen here towed by a Britannia Sdkfz10

German horse drawn ambulance

Buildings

John Frost`s Arnhem HQ

Lots more photos here:

https://baberonwargames.blogspot.com/2016/10/john-frosts-arnhem-hq.html

Sentry Models raised churchyard

Pictured here witha ruined Hovels church (sorry)

More images here:

https://baberonwargames.blogspot.com/2016/08/european-church.html

Raventhorpe heads and conversions

Shako "tall kepi" used with Warrior Miniatures figures to create French Chasseurs d`Afrique circa 1900

  

Raventhorpe Mexican Federal officer with head-swap to create thier officer

Raventhorpe British and German sailors converted to French with help of Tam o`shanter heads

Platoon20 Egyptian NCO converted to French (Algeria or Indo-China) using a "Digger" hat head

Same figure now a Legionnaire with white kepi

Same figure with his SMG swapped out for a G3 and the kepi slightly altered to create a Spanish mech-infantry NCO from the 1980s

Combat Miniatures Chinese cavalryman with a kepi head to make him a French NCO

Moroccan turban heads (and plasterscene cloaks 😁)converting Raventhorpe Federal cavalry into French Spahis cavalry

Other Spahis conversions using turban and kepi heads

Quad 13.2mm AA mounted on CC60L truck manned by Fusiliers Marins in the desert, crew converted to wearing the Bachi cap using the Tam o`shanter head once again.

Britannia US officer converted to command my 2Dble force using the Kepi head

Warrior Miniatures SCW mounted infantrymen converted to  a Mexican Rurales using the Aussie heads

An EWM French artillerymen mounted on a ancient Citadel Minatures pony (bought when I was in school some 40+ yrs ago) converted with a kepi head to a French officer

The US water cooled .30cal simply converted to a .50cal by swapping out the gun

Side cap head turned this rather ugly plastic Russian into something more interesting

Raventhorpe telephone OP (from the WW1 range I think?) I gave this one a side cap head and painted him up for my colonial French for Syria

Same figure but this time with a cap/helmet comforter" head, he is part of my SCW militia HQ, I also have the same figure serving with my late-war Volksgrenadier HQ with a feldmutze head.

The kepi head gives this Elheim senior French officer a bit more class and elan I think 😁

The Aussie hat converts this Hat Industrie British colonial officer to a Mexican Rurale

Mediteranean Theatre Germans painted up as Spanish in Spanish Sahara (Ifni War 1958) 

I weapon swapped these with Raventhorpe STG44s which look a bit like early CETME rifles at 4ft across a tabletop 

These are Liberation Miniatures Iraqi with MG3 and G3s converted to Spanish using a variety of Raventhorpe heads - German Feldmutze, side cap, modern bush hat, Aussie style bush hat and modified kepi.

A slightly modified kepi and a little modeling turns this Britannia Cold War Brit into a Spaniard