John Wayne was THE man when it came to starring in Westerns. He could carry a film with little more than a grunt, but you often got more from The Duke than you would expect when they gave him decent supporting players or an antagonist to spar with. Here he's both saddled as his brothers with Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, and Michael Anderson Jnr, and James Gregory, George Kennedy, and as the piece's villains a young Dennis Hopper. Unfortunately, it's not one of the better westerns of Wayne, but here is enough to warrant you time.
Her four sons are attending the funeral of Katie Elder in Clearwater, Texas, all four of them harboring regrets that they'd let down their mother. Wayne, the eldest, is a famous gunfighter, Martin is a professional gambler, Holliman is a store owner, and the youngest Bud is still in school. Their return home is not popular, and things turn sour pretty fast when certain things happen that make the brothers ask questions. They murdered their father, lost their ranch and land in a card game, and their mother died with little to their name. Some stinks, and John Elder from Wayne will find out exactly what has happened.
George Kennedy's got that gleeful grin from a baddie down here to a tea, and he's not disappointing here during his short screen stint. Unfortunately, Hopper is underused and James Gregory hams it up as well as the real villain pulling all the strings that the brothers were framed to kill the local sheriff. There are shootouts, there are unexpected deaths, and as they did in Rio Bravo back in 1959, Wayne and Martin make for a good team. The script isn't great, there's no interest in love for any of them, and Martha Hyer's small role is nothing more than a token female part that brings very little to the proceedings.It's a shame, this is one of those movies that I haven't seen for more than thirty years and seemed to remember having more action and certainly more Wayne dialogue. Unfortunately not, and director Henry Hathaway made much better movies than this one, scrubbing off the very long list of Wayne Westerns is just another.
Her four sons are attending the funeral of Katie Elder in Clearwater, Texas, all four of them harboring regrets that they'd let down their mother. Wayne, the eldest, is a famous gunfighter, Martin is a professional gambler, Holliman is a store owner, and the youngest Bud is still in school. Their return home is not popular, and things turn sour pretty fast when certain things happen that make the brothers ask questions. They murdered their father, lost their ranch and land in a card game, and their mother died with little to their name. Some stinks, and John Elder from Wayne will find out exactly what has happened.
George Kennedy's got that gleeful grin from a baddie down here to a tea, and he's not disappointing here during his short screen stint. Unfortunately, Hopper is underused and James Gregory hams it up as well as the real villain pulling all the strings that the brothers were framed to kill the local sheriff. There are shootouts, there are unexpected deaths, and as they did in Rio Bravo back in 1959, Wayne and Martin make for a good team. The script isn't great, there's no interest in love for any of them, and Martha Hyer's small role is nothing more than a token female part that brings very little to the proceedings.It's a shame, this is one of those movies that I haven't seen for more than thirty years and seemed to remember having more action and certainly more Wayne dialogue. Unfortunately not, and director Henry Hathaway made much better movies than this one, scrubbing off the very long list of Wayne Westerns is just another.