Alcoholism is a hard topic to tackle - most take the humorous route and this film not an exception - having addressed that subject I shall move on. I have fond memories of this film it being screened in the UK in the early Autumn of 1970 on a Saturday mid evening slot. As to the actors, it seems Patrick McGoohan relished the role of being a Number 2 to Alan Alda rather than Number 6 or Number 1 as he was in The Prisoner; as for Richard Widmark and Lee Hazlewood, the plotting goes rather old fashioned - that isn't to say it's disappointing. Alan Alda IS dull and boring here - but is that not that because his fame making role in MASH two years later had him mugging off like Shakespearean thespian screaming into the rafters to be heard? The film does descend into the depths of a Whitehall farce when both the well dressed man at the diner and McGoohan are shorn of their trousers (that's pants in America) a-la Brian Rix cutting Leslie Phillips' braces (suspenders) allowing his trousers (pants) to fall to his ankles causing a massive explosion resulting in the death of everyone unpleasant in the film - a la Tom and Jerry or Laurel and Hardy. Richard Quine is unjustly criticised for this film - witness the very offbeat Bell Book And Candle and the performance he elicits from Jack Lemmon. As to the illicit distillation of alcoholic beverages - there are regular TV showings of a show called Moonshiners available on SKY TV.
Review of The Moonshine War
