I have always been intrigued by the portentous biography of Henry Hathaway, who began his successful career as an assistant director in 1925 and 1926. The list of films, especially westerns directed by him, is enviable. And most are of proven quality. Here we have one of his last works - The Sons of Katie Elder, 1965 - which I consider one of his worst films, a really meaningless work. The script is weak, completely improbable, taking strange and meaningless paths. The cast is completely inappropriate. I come to believe that Hathaway has appointed someone to direct this film. I don't believe he did. It seems that they tried to repeat the success of the Wayne-Martin duo in Hawks' Rio Bravo, but the result is the opposite. The role played by John Wayne has nothing to do with his profile, his characteristics. And both Wayne and Martin seem lost in the film, not sure what they're doing there. Even Earl Holliman, who normally performs well, is terrible in this western. And young Michael Anderson Jr even worse. We don't even need to comment on the role of Dennis Hopper, developed without any credibility, as well as James Gregory. There remains Martha Hyer who seems to be busy with some other film and then suddenly walks past the set to appear on screen. Only that. The western genre is my favorite. I have more than 450 westerns cataloged, which I have watched more than once, so I consider myself in a position to say that "The Sons of Katie Elder" is a big mistake! Difficult to understand the score above 7 obtained by him here. If it hadn't been realized, no one would miss it.
Review of The Sons of Katie Elder
