My main memory of the film, having seen it when it was first released on the big screen, is one of a highly enjoyable comedy Western with lots of laughs and a great soundtrack by Elmer Bernstein. In the cold light of day, however, it\u2019s still got a great soundtrack but not much else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I actually watched it all the way through again for the purpose of this article but only scratched down a couple of pages of notes which means this review will not be going into as much detail as usual. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Filmed in Ultra-Panavision and marketed under the Cinerama banner, making \u201cThe Hallelujah Trail\u201d one of a dwindling number of \u2018event\u2019 movies Hollywood was so fond of back in the day, the story is set in the year 1867 and tells of a time when Denver City ran out of sippin\u2019 whiskey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film is accompanied by a voice-over narration provided by actor John Dehner that serves to inform the audience of the movements of specific groups of people \u2013 the Sioux, the cavalry, the citizens of Denver, the teamsters \u2013 who are involved in solving the problem of how to get their hands on the whiskey being shipped to the town.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Winter is going to be closing in soon so the goods need to be delivered as quickly as possible. The aforementioned factions, however, have their own plans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Sioux want it for themselves naturally, because, as we all know, Native Americans were apparently only ever interested in one thing, and that was to consume as much \u2018firewater\u2019 as they could get their hands on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Irish teamsters are intent on getting their hands on the cargo as well because they\u2019re, well, you know, Irish, and of course, the Irish do love their whiskey. Into the mix arrives a feminist temperance movement who want to stop men enjoying themselves because they\u2019re women and of course, that\u2019s what they do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, the military is there to keep order and to make sure the consignment of whiskey reaches its proper destination and does not fall into the wrong hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only time the film came close to reminding me of why I thought it was so entertaining back in 1965 was the scene near the beginning when the townsfolk seek advice from their local oracle, a man coincidentally referred to as Oracle, and played with relish by British actor Donald Pleasance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He is plied with what remains of the dwindling supply of whiskey left in Denver City in order that he can foresee something everyone knew all along, which is to order a consignment of hooch before winter comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Burt Lancaster plays the put-upon commander Colonel Thaddeus Gearheart as if he\u2019s appearing in a serious film as opposed to a comedy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So does Brian Keith as Frank Wallingham, the man who arranges for the delivery of the whiskey, whilst everyone else plays it for laughs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Everyone else includes Lee Remick as temperance leader Cora Massingale, Jim Hutton as Captain Paul Slater, Pamela Tiffin as Louise, the love interest of Slater and daughter to Gearheart, and Martin Landau and Robert J. Wilke as Sioux warriors Walks-Stooped-Over and Chief 5 Barrels respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Apart from the aforementioned soundtrack the only other saving grace of \u201cThe Hallelujah Trail\u201d is the spectacular stunt sequence towards the end where the Sioux lose control of the wagons loaded with booze, after which, somehow or other, the whiskey disappears beneath a load of quicksand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The end result is that Wallingham and Oracle await the reappearance of the lost whiskey as the quicksand slowly gives up the barrels one by one whilst in the final scene Gearheart and Cora plight their troth along with Slater and Louise in a double wedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess it\u2019s too much to expect that what was so entertaining to the mind of a fourteen-year-old boy back in the mid-1960s would still be as amusing nearly sixty years later but, to me anyway, \u201cThe Hallelujah Trail\u201d just doesn\u2019t hit the funny bone anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I assume, seeing as John Sturges also produced the film, that he knew at the time what he was doing, particularly after his overwhelming success a few years before with the superlative WWII movie \u201cThe Great Escape\u201d, but success eluded him this time around, \u201cThe Hallelujah Trail\u201d flopping big time at the box office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you consider the lukewarm reception of \u201cSergeants 3\u201d a few years before one can only conclude that John Sturges was not that adept when it came to comedy and leave it at that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Hour of the Gun <\/strong>(1967) United Artists, Dir: John Sturges, Colour, 100m <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast:<\/strong> James Garner, Jason Robards Jr., Robert Ryan, Albert Salmi, Charles Aidman, Stephen Ihnat<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n \u201cHour of the Gun\u201d, a welcome return to Western movie form for Sturges, takes up where his previous film on the subject, \u201cGunfight at the OK Corral\u201d finished. This time it\u2019s the turn of James Garner and Jason Robards Jr. to star respectively as Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, the story following in the aftermath of the showdown at the OK corral. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film starts with the famous gunfight as a reminder of what happened, the credits proclaiming \u2018This picture is based on fact. This is the way it happened’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A decade on from the earlier film, Sturges now has the freedom to adopt a more open attitude towards the depiction of violence in the old West, Garner\u2019s interpretation of Earp a sight more callous and menacing in tone than that of Burt Lancaster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At one point, as they pursue Ike Clanton, played by Robert Ryan, and his gang of killers, Earp declares to Doc that he \u201cdoesn\u2019t care about the rules anymore\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The film then goes on to chart the previously moral and upright Earp\u2019s descent into lawlessness, eventually disregarding due process of law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is demonstrated when a ruthless Earp starts tricking his adversaries into shooting first, knowing he\u2019ll always beat them to the draw.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The climax of the film is a tense showdown between Earp and Clanton. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earp takes off his badge, indicating he\u2019s not going to go for all that \u2018hands up and unbuckle your gun belt\u2019 stuff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earp shoots Clanton dead \u2013 which is factually incorrect thus negating the claim at the beginning of the film \u2013 but it brings matters to a satisfactory conclusion as far as the audience is concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Choosing to gloss over the relationships that Earp and Doc indulge in with the opposite sex as depicted in \u201cGunfight at the OK Corral\u201d, Sturges concentrates instead on both the friendship between the two men, with Robards giving a great portrayal of Doc, as well as the war between Wyatt and the Clanton\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my humble opinion, it scores a pretty high rating in the list of the best Earp \/ OK corral movies ever made, coming very close to stealing the number two spot from \u201cTombstone\u201d, which starred Kurt Russell in the role of Wyatt Earp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Number one goes, as always, to John Ford\u2019s \u201cMy Darling Clementine\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Stating the obvious, \u201cGunfight at the OK Corral\u201d and \u201cHour of the Gun\u201d would make a great double bill if you\u2019ve got nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon. A welcome return to form for Sturges as well in terms of his Westerns after the disappointment of both \u201cSergeants 3\u201d and \u201cThe Hallelujah Trail\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/span>Joe Kidd<\/strong> (1972) Universal, Dir: John Sturges, Colour, 88m <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<\/span>Cast:<\/strong> Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, John Saxon, Don Stroud, Stella Garcia, Gregory Walcott<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\nClint and director Sturges make a great team in this very entertaining \u2018landowner versus the revolutionary peasants\u2019 tale. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kidd is an out-of-work bounty hunter turned-town-drunk who finds himself embroiled in a dispute between land-grabbing Frank Harlan, played by Robert Duvall, and a Mexican revolutionary, Luis Chama, played by John Saxon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harlan puts together a posse to hunt Chama down and offers Kidd a job, which he declines. Then Kidd finds out Chama has attacked his ranch \u2013 although how Joe manages to keep a ranch going with all that boozing is never explained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He subsequently throws in his lot with Harlan and the fuse is then set for a showdown between all parties concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I saw this film for the first time an acquaintance told me how delighted he was to see that this was the first Western to correctly show how a bullet can leave a rifle and hit the target before making a sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
How he knew this I never found out. Sometimes it\u2019s best not to ask. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Anyway, the scene in question features a long-range telescopic rifle shootout between one of Harlan\u2019s men and Kidd, with Kidd winning the day on account he\u2019s the best shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also manages to get the upper hand on another Harlan acolyte, played by Don Stroud, the thug Clint has to hunt down in \u201cCoogan\u2019s Bluff\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the end of that film, he feels sorry for Stroud and offers him a smoke. This time though, Clint must have run out of cigarettes and just offers poor old Don a broken neck instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the climax to \u201cJoe Kidd\u201d, Clint gets to ram a locomotive through the wall of a saloon, after which he polishes off what\u2019s left of Harlan\u2019s men in deadly quick-fire Man With No Name style. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He then puts paid to Harlan\u2019s real estate development plans by plugging him as well, bestowing upon Robert Duval the distinction of being shot on screen by both Eastwood and John Wayne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kidd then hands Chama over to the sheriff, prior to which he punches the sheriff for an earlier infraction of etiquette. To really rub salt into the wound, he then rides off into the sunset with Chama\u2019s girlfriend Helen, played by Stella Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clint brings much more of a relaxed and laconic air to his performance in \u201cJoe Kidd\u201d, in contrast to the occasionally overwrought thespian talents of co-stars such as Robert Duvall and John Saxon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His performance is also aided and abetted with a great script from Elmore Leonard. It\u2019s safe to say that for his last Western Mr. Sturges went put with a bang.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let\u2019s not forget that John Sturges didn\u2019t just direct Westerns. He was equally adept working within other genres too, as films such as \u201cThe Great Escape\u201d, \u201cIce Station Zebra\u201d, \u201cMcQ\u201d and \u201cThe Eagle Has Landed\u201d attest to. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, it is his Westerns that show him at his best, especially the amazing quartet of oaters Sturges directed between 1957 to 1960, \u201cGunfight at the OK Corral\u201d, \u201cThe Law and Jake Wade\u201d, \u201cLast Train from Gun Hill\u201d and \u201cThe Magnificent 7\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If he\u2019d only ever helmed those four movies alone John Sturges would still be rightly celebrated as a master of the Western form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We may revisit this article at some point in the future in order to rate all of the Westerns directed by John Sturges in order of preference. In the meantime, thanks for reading it and hope you enjoyed our take on the films we covered in the article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Director John Sturges began his career in 1946, helming a number of popular film noirs in the early years with titles such as \u201cShadowed\u201d and \u201cThe Sign of the Ram\u201d. Despite his eventual recognition as a director of Westerns, he … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6497,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[322],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6485"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6602,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6485\/revisions\/6602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostlywesterns.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}