I think the success of Lauren Bacall made Howard Hawks believe he could cast any old person in a movie and get away with it - haphazard castings were a feature of many of his later films. He probably figured as long as he had one genuine star and a decent support or two he could prop up anyone else with his skill - so you've got Ricky Nelson in Rio Bravo and Jennifer O'Neill and Jorge Rivero in Rio Lobo and Michelle Carey in El Dorado.
This has a bunch of international names who can't really act - Elsa Martinelli as the girl, Gerard Blain as the new kid, Michele Girardon as another girl, Valentin de Vargas as some guy who is part of the group who just hangs around and doesn't really do anything.
Hawks gives them lots of Hawksian bits to do. Blain is meant to be a brilliant shot; Martinelli hangs on to a cigarette all the time and gets Wayne to kiss her, and has scenes with baby elephants and cheetahs - she even dons blackface to dance with the locals. Girardon does a lot of singing and dancing and being cute. But they're extremely awkward. You can ignore de Vargas, Girardon and Martinelli are at least pretty, Blain can barely walk.
There are some professional actors on hand at least. John Wayne effortlessly dominates the movie, as usual; Red Buttons zips around, looking spectacularly out of place but at least a pro; Hardy Kruger seems like someone who lives in Africa (making this did inspire Kruger to buy a farm there).
All the characters act as if they're, well, characters in in a Howard Hawks movie - they're tough, professional, jokey, loyal, fond of a drink (and drink driving, by the way); the women swap barbs with the men, and have sexy moments; the men pal around and are loyal to each other; there's a platonic love story between two men (Kruger and Blain) who start off hating each other, fall for the same girl, lose her and then go off to Europe together.
There are lots of "scenes" which are there pretty much just to be scenes. I like Howard Hawks movies and I did enjoy the scenes - I also felt that at two and a half hours running time, the film pushed its luck (especially in the rockets sequence).
The characters do a spectacularly low stakes job - capturing animals to put in a zoo. It does make for some interesting pictures - and location filming certainly helps - and at least they're not killing them, but I kept feeling for these poor old animals having fun on the veldt who were nabbed and shipped off to Salzburg or San Diego or wherever. It's certainly not a job worth risking life and limb - no Only Angels Have Wings.
The plot where Girardon falls for Red Buttons is yuck - she's like a teenager, he seems so old. The generation gap between John Wayne and Elsa Martinelli isn't much better. There was a similar gap between Wayne and Capucine in North to Alaska but I went with it in that film, because of story (Capucine played a prostitute, so it made more sense she'd grab the chance of a new life) and acting (Capucine was surprisingly good, whereas Martinelli isn't). Hawks gives Martinelli plenty of chances and protection - aforementioned scenes with baby animals and cheetahs, Wayne commits as always - but she never quite sells it.
Still, the movie has a lot of charm. I liked Wayne, there is some terrific location filming, Henry Mancini's music is catchy and I can't help but smile in moments where baby elephants run down the main street. I just wish it was shorter and had a better supporting cast.
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