This presumably standard little western has a touch more to it than one might expect. For one thing, it has the unusual pairing of towering western figure Walker and lean British actor Moore (sporting a grating Irish brogue.) Additionally, despite continual references to "pretty girls" and a showy role for lifted and separated Italian actress Roman, the movie is rife with homoerotic images and subtext! Walker and Moore play fur-trappers who have recently acquired 125 lbs of gold. Once word gets out that they're packing it across the desert, villains come out from under every rock to steal it. The pair have a sort of Batman and Robin dynamic with Moore (referred to as "kid" by Walker even though they are only months apart in age) trying hard to be a good partner, but inevitably running into trouble. Walker, as the wiser and stronger hero, must come to his rescue. Walker's first appearance in the film presents him as a monument that nearly dwarfs the surrounding Utah scenery. His beefy body is regularly placed in various Greco-Roman positions. He sprawls out under a rock for a nap while Moore lays his head at his feet looking upward. Later, in a scene with Wills (as a questionable doctor who's come to get in on the gold), Walker wields a phallic gun between his legs. He tells Wills that there is no one besides Moore who he'd rather "have my back." When the trio lands at Middleton's hacienda, Walker (in the film's highlight) takes a bath in a huge barrel and is scrubbed down by Roman as Moore looks on longingly (supposedly due to butt-swinging Roman, but the audience knows better!) A publicity shot for the film actually shows Moore spooning in this tub with Walker snugly behind him! This (probably staged just for fun) shot isn't in the movie. If it had been, the flick would have outgrossed "The Guns of Navarone" that year! A later shot of an ostensibly nude Walker asleep on his bunk has him lit like an archangel taking a nap. By now, Walker has crossed the line into the gay cowboy fantasy stratosphere! By the time Moore is stripped to the waist and tied to a rock (in another Batman-esque move...one can almost hear an announcer ominously asking what will happen to our Boy Wonder) waiting for Walker to come and rescue him, Walker comes upon three skinny-dipping varmints, and then is asked to get on his belly with his granite behind on display, the film has taken on a whole new aspect. Moore (who should never be allowed to sing on film again) ekes out the final ditty (something to the effect of "if marriage is in store, I'm outta here") as the duo rides off together contentedly. The one major drawback to the film is its lack of color. The striking scenery and Walker's polar blue eyes deserved to be shot in vivid Technicolor. This was director Douglas' third time at bat with Walker, so he knew the value of Walker's treasure chest. Did Walker realize his own appeal and understand the way he was being presented? His gentle, "aw shucks" personality in interviews would suggest not. Thank God, however, that he exists on celluloid for later generations to appreciate.
