Opiniones de usuarios

Amusing take off on cavalry-and Indian movies in which a rambunctious temperance leader called Template (Lee Remick) out to stop cavalry-guarded cargo commanded by a stiff colonel called Thaddeus (Burt Lancaster) and an officer named Slater (Jim Hutton) en route to thirsting Denver miners led by Oraculo (Donald Pleasence) and an old man (Dub Taylor) . As a wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whiskey for the miners being attacked by Indians led by Chief Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau) , then chaos and wreak havoc ensue .

Overlong but fun Western parody in which satire goes on and on the same premise . This wacky spoof is packed with mayhem , lots of silly laughters and great entertainment and fun . Most of the laughs and sight gags galore work acceptably well ; humor is also bold and intelligent with a myriad of imaginative sketches . Demystified as well as amiable Western was one of a group of diverse characters changed the concept of this particular genre each bent on disproving a popular myth , yet tinged with humor , spoof and combining with anti-heroes , crazy Indians and many other things . John Gay's screenplay besides having more than its fair scraps of funny lines ,throws up rich personages . The formula deals to enhance the comics observations of the western originated on the decade 60 , being continued by the following filmmakers : Andrew McLagen and Burt Kennedy with ¨Support your local gunfighter (one of his better spoof Western)¨ , ¨Support your local sheriff¨ (his highpoint) , ¨Dirty Dingus Mcgee¨ and director Michael Gordon with ¨Texas across the river¨ ; a bit later on , Mel Brooks directed the indispensable ¨Blazing saddles¨ , a surrealist , extreme and gross-out spoof with the ordinary bunch of loonies and loopies . The picture is wonderfully amused and enjoyable with Burt Lancaster as a tough but agreeable officer , Pamela Tiffin as his rebel young daughter and Martin Landau steals the show as a deadpan but hilarious Indian . Special mention to Dub Taylor as the old brawler clearly relishing his comic relief . Colorful cinematography filmed in Ultra Panavision 70 , being rightly shot by excellent cameraman Robert Surtees , super-productions's usual . Jolly and enjoyable musical score by Elmer Berstein , in his ordinary style .

This very funny though lumbering motion picture was well produced and directed by John Sturges . He began his directing career at Columbia Pictures, where from 1946-49 he he worked on "12-day wonders" ("B" pictures shot on a 12-day schedule). From there he moved on to MGM where he filmed more "B" pictures, albeit on a larger budget . He established an independent production company in 1959, releasing through United Artists. From 1960-67 he worked under contract for United Artists. His first major hit was the western Dog Day at Black Rock (1955) , which he shot in just three weeks, wrapping up virtually every scene in a single take . He specialized in robust action pictures, particularly westerns. He excelled at bringing to life tautly written stories about tough characters facing difficult circumstances . Throughout his career he regularly alternated hits with misses . He has also been criticized for his lack of stylistic trademarks , though his best films remain exciting to watch . Sturges was expert on all kind of genres , but especially warlike such as : ¨Great Escape¨, ¨Ice Station Zebra¨ and ¨Eagle has landed¨ and Western such as ¨Last train of Gun Hill¨, ¨Magnificent Seven¨, ¨Backlash¨, ¨Law and Jake Webb¨, ¨Joe Kidd¨ and Chino¨, among others . This high-level and Western parody will appeal to Burt Lancaster and Lee Remick fans .

DISCLOSURE: Lee Remick was one of handful of beautiful and talented actresses I was - safely and at a distance - in love with decades ago. Her early death from cancer was a tragedy-she was a wonderful actress.

*****

Director John Sturges isn't too well known today although many of his action movies are readily available on VHS and DVD and often screen on TV. A retrospective of his films ought to be a priority for every film society.

"The Hallelujah Trail" is a tongue-in-cheek cinemascope comedy about a threatened mega-disaster in the fall of 1867 in Colorado. A mining town is almost out of liquor and beer and approaching winter threatens to leave the thirsty community high and definitely dry. Fortunately entrepreneur Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith) is willing to risk life and limb to bring forty wagons of hooch through Indian country to succor the miners.

Meanwhile, back at your local, friendly cavalry garrison, Cora Templeton Massingale (Lee Remick), twice widowed from husbands whose livers gave out along with, presumably, their libido is holding a rousing temperance rally with the permission of CPT Paul Slater, a young officer besotted with the C.O.'s daughter, Louise (Pamela Tiffin). The commanding officer rides into this fire-and-brimstone event and turns it off. That's COL Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster), nineteen years serving the colors and now faced with a sweet but rebellious daughter allied with a sweet but crafty and dedicated temperance campaigner, Colorado's version of Carrie Nation (and far more likable than that harridan).

What follows is the cavalry riding to escort the wagons with the booze, Indians of a decidedly non-homicidal nature attempting to get their share of firewater (all of it, actually), miners formed into a militia to insure the safe delivery of the spirits and - last but not least - a stereotypical Irish teamster arguing for the rights of labor. Collision and clash follow and - for once - nobody, absolutely nobody, dies. Bummer.

With Martin Landau as Chief Walks-Stooped-Over you can't expect any realistic depiction of Native Americans, can you? And you don't get it. What is on the screen is magnificent scenery and a fine score by Elmer Bernstein with the title tune guaranteed to bury itself in your brain for frequent and uncalled for replays.

Burt Lancaster is very funny as a colonel trying to deal with his command, whose enlisted personnel seem to be temperance-prone (talk about distortion of the reality of frontier Army service!), his daughter, Indians, miners and the alluring, funny Lee Remick.

About 15-20 minutes could have been shaved from the movie but, overall, it's a politically very incorrect funny story about a West that never existed.

The DVD transfer is excellent but the magnificent scenery reflects how great it would be to see "The Hallelujah Trail" again on a big, big screen.

7/10

It's sheer entertainment. I think (as an adult) judicious trimming would have made this film a real classic, but the performances and the very pointed outrageous humor are just really fun. I love the narration and the "maps" which don't really show anything, making fun of that old technique. I'm sure many audiences of today might not even get how this is kind of the Airplane of the sixties. My family actually went to see another movie with top billing at the drive in and we all loved this one much more. It's just plain fun. A bit too long, I agree, but well worth it for the giggles. It's quite star packed for the time as well, once again, reminding me of Airplane in later years. I'm not a western fan, but this is more than a western, it's really a spoof or satire, with no one taking themselves seriously and that gives it a great deal of fun quotient.

This has always been one of my favourite films. But it really is such a mess.

The acting is so wonderfully over the top. Everyone seems to be enjoying themselves sending up every possible western myth!

The stunning look of the film, which must have been breathtaking in UltraPanavision 70mm, the beautiful rousing score a cast of thousands and a script that is truly awful!

All these elements just don't come together but the individual scenes often do.

I am lucky enough to own the original 1960s sountrack album and theater progam. The theater program is in the Cinerama aspect ratio!

It is one of those big,long, brassy 60s comedies that are very hit and miss. But somehow despite the concoction not quite coming off I just find myself giggling all the way through.

Whether it is Burt Lancaster being gruff, or the achingly beautiful Lee Reemick being difficult or Martin Landau being not quite as silly as he looks this film remains one in my guilty pleasure collection!

A chaotic romp through the old west near the end of the 19th Century. The mining town of Denver faces the potentially worst winter on record without whiskey! So they pool their finances into one gigantic order of 40 wagons of whiskey from grouchy old "good republican" Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith). Wallingham worries about Indian attacks, so he insists on a US Cavalry escort from Fort Russell, commanded by Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster). Fort Russell has just been invaded by a temperance movement led by Cora Tempelton Massingale (Lee Remick), who is determined to prevent the whiskey from reaching the poor misguided fools in Denver. Meanwhile, the reservation Indians headed by Chief Five Barrels (Robert Wilke) and Chief Walks-stooped-over (Martin Landau) intend to attack the wagon train and appropriate 20 wagons of whiskey for their own refreshment either by force or, failing that, by presenting their newly-awarded US citizenship papers and claiming that they will return to the reservation if they are given a gift of 20 wagons of whiskey. To complicate matters further, the Denver miners, warned in a vision by their whiskey- inspired prophet, Oracle Jones (Donald Pleasence) that their whiskey shipment is in grave peril, form a militia and march forth to meet the wagons and escort them back to Denver. Lee Remick is a vision of womanly beauty as always. Lancaster is his turbulent comical best. Pleasance as you've never seen him before as the thin, wiry, coon-skin mountaineer Oracle Jones. With an awesome musical score by Elmer Bernstein, this film is a real nostalgic treat!

I enjoyed this comedy very much, but I rarely laughed out loud; although I continually laughed inside and left the theater with a smile. I particularly liked Donald Pleasence performance. It just missed being a GREAT comedy. I really don't understand why.

The women took a stand in the film, so I'm making my little mark by writing a brief review.

First, if you like gritty westerns with drama and hangings, then don't bother. Next, if you're in a hurry or tired, wait until you're not. I almost deleted it because the marching band at the fort caught me on a migraine day. Instead, I kept it and waited till a rainy evening with no other plans. Perfect! I rarely laugh out loud when watching a film alone, but I laughed, hit rewind, and laughed again!!

Lancaster and Remick, with palpable chemistry, head a terrific cast that all looked liked they were having a blast! Yes, it was 30 minutes too long. During the sandstorm, go make popcorn. During the champagne bottles exploding everywhere scenes, go clean up the snacks. Other than that, don't watch this if you don't like satire, romance, and screwball westerns meant to bring women as well as men into the theater or, in modern times, to the TV screen.

I hope this review reaches at least one viewer who will then stand with me:)

The plot premise is quite simple and a good western big picture style comedy for something from Hollywood in tail end of the innocent mid- 60's.

It has a solid cast but the direction has them playing stereotype roles (stern commander, intolerant temperance leader, greedy business man, etc so nothing really great -- just good.

The movie does runs too long in the second half during the encampment phase (all participants in the same area) after the sandstorm and would have benefited for a shorter run time. I consider this its primary negative.

It carries on a theme that seems to have started in the 60's with comedies (TV) in having catch phrases such "good tax payer and good Republican" used repeatedly although not that memorable.

This film is a Western about the town of Denver running out of liquor and all the many conflicts that result from their bringing a wagon train to alleviate this need. Temprance movement ladies want the wagons turned back, Indians want to steal the booze and the Irish drivers of the wagons want to go on strike.

The biggest reason I decided to watch this movie was because it starred Burt Lancaster. He was an amazing actor and I frankly try to see every film that he made. This would also hold true for a few other actors (such as Jimmy Stewart, Clark Gable and Bette Davis among others) and so if it hadn't been for this compulsive need to complete his extensive library of films, I would have turned it off soon after it began because it was amazingly flat, unfunny and....well,...stupid.

The story tried very hard to be funny and threw many "kooky" elements into the film. The problems, though, were that the actors weren't particularly adept at comedy (I love Lancaster, but "funny" isn't a word I'd use for his films) and that the script seemed rather smug and pleased with how witty it thought it was! It really needed a very extensive re-write. For example, although many plot elements weren't funny when they were introduced, they were used again and again and again (such as the annoying temperance ladies singing their annoying refrain ad nauseum). Additionally, none of the characters seemed real or had any depth--instead being stereotypical cut-outs. In the movie, the Indians were all drunks, the women were all humorless and unreasonable, the Irish were all unhappy and loud. Unsubtle and without any laughs--this is one of the worst Westerns I have ever watched and sadly, it's among the longest Westerns as well! What a huge waste of talent--it took a lot of effort to accumulate this group of actors and make this bad a film.

John Sturges created this film with tongue planted firmly in cheek. It's best enjoyed in its "letterbox' format, as it was shot in Ultra-Panavision, which at the time was being touted as the "new, improved" CINERAMA. Robert Surtees' photography is wide and wonderful and Elmer Bernstein's jaunty score highlights the film perfectly. Also, it's an opportunity to see four greats who have now passed on, Lancaster, Hutton, Remick, and Pleasance at the top of their craft.

I love Lancaster, Remick, Keith and Landau et al. but this is a most insipid, boring puerile, and charmless movie. A witless script and hammy acting combine to make this a big mistake for all involved. It's bad but it's long. Silly and juvenile jokes are endlessly repeated throughout the film. How many times can one laugh at "I am a Republican"? Proported to be a spoof on the popular western films of the day it falls flat. No Blazing Saddles it. The scenery is beautiful as is the wonderful and sexy Lee Remick.Her scene in the bathtub is sensuous but cannot redeem this expensive and essentially worthless extravaganza.

Unfortunately, the pleasure of enjoying this life-affirming romp through fantasy is greatly diminished without the large screen for which it was designed. The cast is spectacular and so is the music. The dialog is nonstop humor but the narration by John Dehner is even better. I can't think of anyone who could have delivered the lines with such self-parodying pomposity. The interaction between the characters played by Lancaster and Remick leaves one wondering why the two actors weren't teamed regularly. Male and Female have seldom been more accurately and understandingly portrayed. The treatment of the Indians will likely offend many today. Mel Brooks may be one of the few (perhaps the only) movie-makers since the 60's who would have taken such a risk. At the time, tolerance was "in" and conditioned hyper-sensitivity and the thought police weren't taken seriously. We get to see Jim Hutton in one of the few roles he could handle well. We are also given a chance to appreciate Pamela Tiffin as more than just the background for a bikini. I'm sure her decision not to pursue a film career more aggressively was a wise one for her but it was nevertheless our loss.

I saw the movie when I was a very young man (20's) and absolutely loved its spirit. It was great to see seasoned actors playing their roles broadly and for laughs. It is very unusual to see Burt Lancaster blustering this much and Lee Remick is a perfect foil for him. A young Martin Landau has obvious fun in the role of the Indian guide. The gem of casting was Donald Pleasence as the hilarious visionary who "sees" the alcoholic wagon train as it crosses the plains, giving the movie its name.

What a mess! The premise? Potentially funny. The dialogue? Embarrassingly unfunny and the screenplay? Forced, contrived and dreadfully unfunny; and the narration? Don't ask! It would have helped if the character of the Colonel(Burt Lancaster having a bad day at the office) had been made somewhat more authoritarian and despotic to highlight the conflict and differences with the women. Instead, when faced with any real decision, he looks for the nearest bottle of whisky. Most comedic scenes are overblown and laboured and some (particularly the dust storm) go on far too long. Not a good debating point if you are arguing the merits of old V new movies.

While others find this glorious Western flawed, I only see one of the most comical motion pictures of all time. Most of the lead actors have never done comedy so well; each is hilarious, a credit to the writing. The music is superb and the (uncredited) voice of the great John Dehner narrating a frankly preposterous fictional set of clashes as though they were embarrassing history is a triumph. With such memorable lines as "Not on my bear rug!" to "... and I hate the Indians!" to a simple "Oh dear" to "...and a good Republican", this is a classic to treasure and watch again and again.

Although Burt Lancaster did make at least one great comedy (the British-made "Local Hero" towards the end of his career), he is not generally regarded as one of the screen's great humorists. Indeed, by the mid-sixties he had become one of Hollywood's most serious stars after his thoughtful, intelligent roles in films such as "Birdman of Alcatraz" "Seven Days in May" and "The Train". "The Hallelujah Trail" was therefore presumably an attempt to broaden his range by branching out into comedy.

The film is a spoof version of the sort of large-scale epic Western that was very popular at the time. Lancaster plays Colonel Gearhart, a US cavalry officer who has the duty of trying to ensure the safety of a consignment of whisky bound for the miners of Denver, a consignment threatened not only by marauding Indians but also by a militant group of female temperance campaigners. The film copies the look and feel of big epic Westerns such as "How the West Was Won" with their sweeping photography of the Western landscapes, thundering musical scores and portentous voice-over commentary (here deliberately exaggerated for comic effect).

There were a number of humorous Westerns in the sixties and seventies, of which Mel Brooks's "Blazing Saddles" is perhaps the best-known. "The Hallelujah Trail", however, is not a film of the same calibre. Besides imitating the look of the big-scale epic, it also, fatally, tries to imitate it in length. A serious adventure film generally needs a longer time to tell its story than a humorous version of the same tale. Exciting action can hold the viewer's attention for a longer period of time than can humour, which is best put over in a shorter, more compact form. Brooks, whose film is little more than half the length of "The Hallelujah Trail", realised this; it is a pity that John Sturges failed to do so. The film came as a great disappointment to me, as I have always been a great admirer of Lancaster's work, and also what I have seen of Sturges's such as "The Great Escape" and "Bad Day at Black Rock". The film drags interminably in places, and many of its attempts to be funny (such as Donald Pleasance's drunken visionary) fall very flat. There are a few flashes of wit, mostly arising from the verbal duels between Gearhart and Cora Templeton Massingale, the pretty young widow who leads the teetotallers, and from Brian Keith's pompous businessman ("A taxpayer and a Republican") who is trying to get the liquor through to the thirsty miners. Unfortunately, these tend to get lost in the middle of a seriously overlong, flabby and mostly unfunny film. 4/10

The Hallelujah Trail is a spoof of the type of epic Western epitomized by such movies as Cimarron (1960) and How the West Was Won (1962).

The miners, headquartered in Denver, are threatened by thirst. The town's whiskey stocks, for what is expected to be a long, cold winter, are dangerously low. A wagon train of teamsters, led by Brian Keith, is hired to deliver more whiskey. The temperance ladies, led by Lee Remick, are trying to stop the whiskey. The Native Americans, a key figure among whom we will get to shortly, are trying to steal the whiskey. The cavalry, led by Burt Lancaster as assisted by Jim Hutton, is trying to maintain order. This leads to what is recorded, in the annals of the comedy West, as the Battle of...well, that would be giving too much plot away.

There are three memorable performances, all in supporting roles. One comes from the unseen narrator, who helps to chronicle events with his resonant voice and his, uh, uh, special...insight. Another comes from Martin Landau (Crimes and Misdemeanors, the TV series Mission Impossible). Landau plays Walks Stooped Over, a Native American who, from his role in peace negotiations, also goes by the name Symbol of Good Faith. Then we get to the sterling performance, which should have drawn an Oscar nomination. It comes from Donald Pleasance (James Garner's nearly blind POW buddy in The Great Escape). Pleasance plays Oracle, a visionary Denverite who is able to foresee the future, except that he first requires, uh, uh, lubrication.

I can think of only two other movies of approximately the same genre. At the head of the class, of course, is It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). The other is the Japanese movie, Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997). Okay, maybe three other movies. The extra one being Airplane! (1980). That should give you an idea.

This movie has always been a mystery to me. I loved it and chuckled to myself all the way through it, however, for some reason I have never been able to explain,it just does not work like it should.

Great cast from top to bottom, good charaterization and many good scenes and some others that just don't quite work. I love it anyway and watch my copy at least twice a year.

A wagon train carrying kegs of whiskey and a militant temperance group collide in the Old West. A big-budget western comedy, directed by John Sturges and written by John Gay from a novel by William Gulick, "The Hallelujah Trail" may have had lofty ambitions en route to the big screen, bu the results sank in the film's quicksand. A few A-list stars evidently saw potential in the script or were hard-up for cash, because the seemingly endless saga stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, and Brian Keith. Martin Landau also appears in an embarrassing performance as an Indian called Chief Walks Stooped Over, which indicates the writers' level of humor.

Brian Keith leads a train of 40 wagons carrying whiskey to the thirsty patrons of the nearly dry saloons in Denver. Lancaster as Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart is ordered to accompany the wagon train with a cavalry escort, and he sends a squad of troops led by Jim Hutton to ensure that the whiskey arrives safely. Meanwhile, a temperance group, headed by Lee Remick, a widow whose two husbands drank themselves to death, is determined to stop the whiskey train and set out to intercept it. Lancaster and a second cavalry group accompany the all female anti-liquor group to ensure their safety. A nearby tribe of Sioux Indians hear of the whiskey train and are eager to get the fire water for themselves. Of course, the temperance ladies took the family buckboards and left angry husbands behind. Lancaster's daughter, Pamela Tiffin, joins the temperance group and angers Lancaster, while Tiffin's fiancé, Hutton, has angered Tiffin by accompanying the wagon train. Donald Pleasance, a whiskey drinking oracle, tells the men of Denver that he sees that their whiskey is in danger, and thirsty male Denver-ites march out to save the wagons. Got all that? Unfortunately, the writers set up a complex situation, which admittedly has comic possibilities, but they seemed to have gotten lost in the muddle and go nowhere with it. A voice-over narration, accompanied by maps and diagrams, tries to keep the audience straight as the various groups converge.

"The Hallelujah Trail" is intermittently amusing, but the film is often a long slog through unfunny situations. At times, the movie plays like a musical, but, besides a rousing title tune and a few inspirational temperance marches, there are songs, although Elmer Bernstein's score is among the film's few assets. The movie is way too long and saddled with an intermission to lengthen it further. Shifts from Robert Surtee's scenic panoramas of western grandeur to claustrophobic and obviously fake sound stages are jarring. At times, the humor is labored; drunken Indians have ceased to be funny; and the performances are overly broad; the actors mug shamelessly; and performances are on par with those in a TV situation comedy like "F Troop." Lancaster, Remick, Keith, and Landau have all done far better work and best omit this turkey from their resumes. The film is a waste of talent and a potentially comic situation.

I think Lancaster was at his best and Lee Remick simply did not know how to give an inadequate performance. Some reviewers here whine and chime about the lack of perfection, but who knows (or cares, for that matter) what they have in their mind. This is a funny movie. I remember seeing it in the theater and laughing all the way through it. No, it's not a serious film at all but dang it, just seeing Donald Pleasance give out those wild-eyed glossalalia-like cries after a taste of the demon likker, was worth the price of a ticket. I loved this film and enjoyed Lee Remick in everything I ever saw her in. Martin Landau, an underappreciated actor who later came to fame in the TV series, MI (long before those corny psuedotechno-thriller movies with Tom Cruise)and for his great Role as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood, is great as the blue-eyed Native American. I especially liked old Brian Keith as the entrepreneur declaring himself to be a "Republican," and Robert Wilke, another great character actor as Chief Five Barrels. While this film may please all (I've yet to see or read about one that has), I found it a delightful romp.

The Hallelujah Trail is directed by John Sturges and adapted to screenplay by John Gay from the novel written by Bill Gulick. It stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Brian Keith, John Anderson, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasence. Music is by Elmer Bernstein and cinematography by Robert Surtees.

Depending on who you talk to about The Hallelujah Trail, it will either be called an ass numbing bore or a misunderstood gem, such is the reputation of it, it kinda demands to be seen so as to evaluate why so divisive.

It flopped on release and was savaged by critics, while it was a tough production from the off, one that badly over ran and was expensive to film. Cast members not getting on, bad weather, bad location provisions for cast, and the awful death of stuntman Bill Williams during one particular scene. Add in that lead man Lancaster looks bored - working at a time that he called his slavery period - then it felt doomed at an early stage.

Its failure has been contributed to a number of things, such as timing (comedy Western, and an epic one at that, too early? too late?) but really it's takes too many bites of the pie, rendering the whole as something resembling a garbled mess. The thin plot is stretched unbearably to fifteen minutes shy of three hours, thrusting a number of character groups to trudge around with a screenplay that ironically - given the temperance/alcoholic basis of story - feels like it was written by an inebriate.

Yet I personally would be a born liar if I said there wasn't a lot to like in the mix. Filmed not just in Technicolor and Panavision, but Ultra Panavision 70 no less! Pic looks terrific, with Surtees bringing the Gallup locales to vivid life, and Bernstein provides another technical highlight with his rambunctious score, big bold brass and percussion thunders around the settings. Some of the comedy works, when the cast get chance to come alive, and even though some aspects no doubt give the PC brigade kittens, the likes of Martin Landau as an Indian called Chief Walks-Stooped-Over are a joy. While for the red blooded among us, the huge running time at least allows for plenty of the positively yummy Remick...

So it's a tough call, I think its harsh to call it a bore, yet it's awfully messy. So with that I sit on the fence, where just one of my butt cheeks gets numb... 5/10

And that was Brian Keith's reason as to why he expected to get good service from the U.S. Cavalry. Ironically enough in post Civil War America that's about all it took.

Poor Burt Lancaster in one of his few ventures into comedy, as commander of a frontier army post, he's expected to provide good order between the conflicting demands of drunken townsman, Republican businessmen, temperance women, and a tribe of Indians looking to get their hands on white man's firewater.

Lancaster overacts outrageously, sort of a Sergeant Warden now an officer and hating every minute of it. Comedy is a little strange for the intense Mr. Lancaster. He's good, but I think Robert Mitchum would have been a natural fit for the lead.

Lee Remick is leader of the temperance workers and in our time they can certainly be made an object of fun. Their efforts led to Prohibition ultimately which produced far more evils than demon rum. But it should never be forgotten that with the second class position of women in the 19th century as homemakers and little more else, keeping the male breadwinner sober and working was not a humorous thing. The roots of the temperance movement are very real.

But this is a comedy and Lee Remick as a liberated woman of her time is expanding a bit on the part she played in Wheeler Dealers. Lots of similarity between this role as Cora Massingale and her part in Wheeler Dealers as Molly Thatcher, a pioneer woman stockbroker.

The rest of the cast is fine, I would single out Brian Keith as the choleric taxpayer and good Republican and Donald Pleasance the psychic and alcoholic scout.

John Sturges made some of the best action films of the 50s and 60s and this is certainly a good one. Also Elmer Bernstein's score is a winner.

A Western comedy about a shipment of alcohol and the various groups that want to, drink it, steal it, destroy it, guard it, and sell it. The ensemble cast is phenomenal and the comic timing is great. Burt Lancaster and Timothy Hutton are the Soldiers assigned to escort the alcohol to its final destination. Martin Landau is one of the indians trying to intercept and steal the firewater. Lee Remick and her band of women want the alcohol destroyed. Brian Keith is in charge of getting the shipment to Denver. Donald Pleasence the guide that leads a group of Denver Miners out to help get the precious cargo to town before the harsh winter storms set in. All parties meet in the middle of a dust-storm and craziness ensues. I've seen this movie more times than I can count. It ran on TV for numerous years but I haven't seen mention of it in some time. A classic Comedy if ever there was one. For a good clean barrel of laughs this film has it all.