It is dedicated to the proposition that the world would be a happier place if we all lived in a big, jolly whorehouse run by Warren Beatty.
Unfortunately there are wicked men out there, who share Warren's love of money but not his principled devotion to whiskey and fine women, and they want to put him out of business.
Cue gunplay.
It would be a better movie if our hero didn't have such mean, calculating little eyes.