Dreckiges Gold

Mrs. Lowe (Ann Margret) is the widow who enlists the help of Lane (John Wayne) in finding a gold shipment that had been stolen five years ago…

In that time ten men rode away with half a million in gold… The fellow that was running the show figured they better hide it until things cooled off… So he took the Fargo box and rode south into Mexico… He had the misfortune of getting shot… But before he died, he told his wife—the mother of his little boy— where the gold was…

But his widow decided to get the gold, return it to the train company for a $50,000 reward, and clear her husband's name… The reason: she doesn't want her kid growing up thinking his old man ran around robbing trains…

In mid way, and as 'gold has a way of bringing out the larceny in all of us,' Wayne, with his old-times pals and two young helpers, find themselves followed by mysterious riders who also want the buried loot…

"The Train Robbers" features plenty of gorgeous vistas, from rocky scrub to a sea of rippling sand dunes… Also Wayne delivers one of his most memorable lines addressing Margret, 'I've got a saddle that's older than you are, Mrs. Lowe.'

The Train Robbers is written and directed by Burt Kennedy. It stars John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson, Christopher George, Bobby Vinton, Jerry Gatlin and Ricardo Montalban. Music is by Dominic Frontiere and cinematography by William H. Clothier.

Mrs. Lowe (Margret) hires Lane (Wayne) and his assembled crew to retrieve half a million U.S. dollars that her late husband stole during a train robbery. If they can find it and return it to the railroad, Mrs. Lowe will clear the family name and the Lane crew will pocket the $50,000 reward. However, there's also a considerably large posse out searching for the gold, and who is the strange man travelling alone observing things from afar?

A Technicolor/Panavision production filmed out of Durango in Mexico, The Train Robbers is small in plot but huge of entertainment heart. Gorgeously photographed by the highly skilled Clothier, director and writer Kennedy blends action, suspense and comedy as he straight out focuses on characterisations being expanded among the landscape beauty. With under ten speaking parts in the piece, and man made property kept to a minimum, it's very much a pared down production. This in no way hurts the film, in fact it's refreshing to see such an airy Oater, one that is made in the 70s but feels very much like a throwback to the 50s production line of Westerns.

The town of Liberty, Texas, forms the starting point for the movie, a near ghost town of a place, the arrival of the train bringing Mrs. Lowe and Lane feels like an intruder and accentuates the sparseness that will dictate the tone of the movie. Once the group head out into the wilderness it becomes about conversations and characters reacting to revelations born out by those conversations. In the distance is the heavy numbered posse out for the gold as well, but we only glimpse them like they are shifting ghosts of the terrain, they themselves intruding on the Lane group who as the journey unfolds start to bond and learn about life and each other.

Once the group locate the site of the stolen gold, it allows Kennedy and Clothier the chance to showcase some more striking imagery. Here out in the sand swept desert is what ultimately looks like a locomotive graveyard , the image is strong and it also signals the point where the film goes up a gear and the action enters the fray. All dusty paths then lead to an explosive finale and even as the dust settles we get a narrative twist that's very very cheeky. The cast are having fun, and hats off to Margret who manages to let her Mrs. Lowe character be more than just a honey-pot in the middle of mucho machismo.

I love The Train Robbers, I really do, it's beautiful to look at and features cast and characters that are so easy to warm to. Sure there's flaws and it's routine and hardly treads new ground at a time when the Western was on its knees and struggling to stand up. But it's made with love and respect for those genre fans willing to whisk themselves back to the heady days of the Western. While those moaning about The Duke's girth are very much missing the whole point of it all, both thematically and as a hat tipper to genre tropes. 8/10

The picture talks about a widow (Anne Margret , though Wayne felt she had stolen too many scenes) who contracts as employer to a motley group of cowboys (Jon Wayne , Rod Taylor , Ben Johnson, Christopher George , Vinton and Jerry Gatlin replacing Jack Elam) to help her retrieve the robbed gold of the Well Fargo in order to delete her late husband's bad name who had previously stolen it . The gold is located on a far desert and they'll have to cross various places until achieve their objective and being pursued by some cutthroats and a detective of Pinkerton agency (Ricardo Montalban) .

The highlights of the film are the imposing attack by the bunch of baddies on the train remains where the protagonists are sheltered and , of course , the final confrontation results to be pretty exciting . In the motion picture there is western action , continuous riding , emotion , tension , adventures , relaxed acting and results to be quite entertaining as well as fun . John Wayne's and Ann-Margret's character names , "Lane" and "Mrs. Lowe," are the same as Wayne's and Geraldine Page's characters' names in ¨Hondo¨ by John Farrow . The storyline is simple and plain but the final plot line has an astounding surprise that turns out to be the best part of the movie . Good support cast , such as : Ricardo Montalban , Ben Johnson , Jerry Gatlin , and Christopher George who played along with Wayne in "El Dorado" (1967) and "Chisum" (1970) . Excellent musical score by Dominic Frontiere , author of various enjoyable western soundtracks , thus : ''Barquero'', ''Chisum'' and ''Hang high'' . Glittering and impressive cinematography by William H. Clothier at his last film , habitual photographer of John Wayne films , it is colourfully shown on the numerous outdoors that are stunning location shots . This low-key pic was produced by John Wayne and his son Michael G. Wayne , proprietaries of the Batjac Productions . The movie was professionally directed by Burt Kennedy , author and screenwriter of a few classic Western mostly performed by Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher . The flick will appeal to John Wayne fans and western moviegoers . Rating: Nice and good . It's worthwhile seeing.

Whilst the Western genre for movies has died out since the sixties, most, if not all, John Wayne films are good and enjoyable today. However, with that said, this film (to the seasoned Western viewer) feels like nothing new and exciting. And again, with that said, it is not a bad film by any means. John Wayne puts up, yet again, a stellar performance with the backdrop being a decent adventure film with enough action to entice you for its duration.

Whilst nothing brilliant, The Train Robbers is just an easy film to watch and make time fly. If you are not a Western fan, then give this one a miss because it will not promote you to watch another one, but for the more fans of the genre, this will not be so hit and miss for you.

I find The Train Robbers to be a surprisingly under-appreciated western. The more times I see it, the more I appreciate it myself. Sure, the feel and the look may be old-fashioned for its time but I don't care. Kennedy, Wayne and the rest of the group have obviously settled to make a fine basic western romp, not a new-styled masterpiece, and have reached the goal with very satisfying results. There can be seen a few little touches of Leone's 'Once Upon a Time in the West' (the first scene of Ben Johnson waiting at the train station), Siegel's 'Two Mules for Sister Sara' (a sister Sara-type treatment of the female character) or Hill's 'Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid' (the pursuing gang of riders). It also brings to mind Peckinpah's 'Ride the High Country'. But after these slight touches it's always back to the good old' Wayne stuff and I have nothing to complain about that.

With the music underlining heavily the handsome photography makes some highly iconic and beautiful pictures. There are frames that look a lot like classic western paintings. The nature and the people are seen beautifully during the long ride through deserts, rivers and storms. Sometimes it almost feels like watching 'Easy Rider' of the Wayne generation on horses. "Let's go to Mexico."

The action works fine like it always does when these old times film pros have been on the job. The men might be saddle-weary, but still gutsy enough and well worn like good saddle leather. You can tell the experience and good times as well from their voices. There is also a lot of warmth shining out of them, specially from Wayne's side. Ann-Margret has no real competition being the only woman in the picture. Besides "sticking out from the right places" she holds up pretty well especially with Wayne, who easily blew other actors aside with his strong presence on the screen.

With appropriately ironic note to its end the whole raid for the lost gold serves as a very good early seventies western and a decent one in Wayne's canon.