Waco

Producer A C Lyles made several low budget Westerns in the 60's and they invariably featured -like this movie -a cast of veteran stars whose golden days may have been but a distant memory but who were still very able performers .The pictures never scaled any dizzy heights but provided satisfying B movie experiences Waco does not refer to the town in Texas but is the name of the hero,played with authority by Howard Keel.A town is being terrorised by gunmen under the leadership of the black garbed Ace Ross (Brian Donleavy) who kills a prominent citizen (Richard Arlen- a regular member of Lyles stock company)The citizens then realise the one man who might be able to save them is Waco but the problem is that he is in gaol but he is released in order to tackle the bad guys and in the process stake a claim in society.

The performances are good especially from Wendell Corey as a gunman turned preacher ,Sam Stone ,and the ever radiant Jane Russell as Jill Stone with whom Waco has a romantic dalliance .Other veterans in the cast include DeForrest Kelley ,John Agar and Gene Evans It is more violent than most Lyles movies but not excessively so and certainly not by today's standards Good solid B movie making and worth your time if you like Westerns

If you decide to sit down and watch Waco, you'll probably think it belongs to the genre of western spoofs. I considered the possibility, but as the movie dragged on and didn't contain any actual jokes or banana peel pratfalls, I realized it was an actual western.

Jane Russell is married to Wendell Corey, a preacher, but her ex-sweetie-pie Howard Keel has just gotten released from prison and is travelling to their town to take over as sheriff. The only trouble is, he doesn't know Jane's married, and Jane still has feelings for him. Plus, the town is desperately in need of proper law and order, and when Howard shows up and causes a stir, it turns into a shooting free-for-all.

Yes, Waco is a ridiculously cheesy western, but it's the acting that really places it in terrible movie territory. Jane Russell was the main one who made me think the movie was a spoof, because almost all her lines were delivered like she thought the cameras were off and she wanted to make fun of the terrible lines she was given. Wendell Corey gives his best John Wayne impression, but it just doesn't work to see him as a preacher, since he's usually very unlikable bad guys. This movie just isn't worth watching, unless you're die-hard fans of the cast and insist on watching every movie your favorite actor or actress made.

Waco is directed by R.G. Springsteen and adapted to screenplay by Steve Fisher from the novel Emporia written by Max Lamb and Harry Sandford. It stars Howard Keel, Jane Russell, Brian Donlevy, Wendell Corey, Terry Moore and John Agar. Music is by Jimmie Haskell and cinematography by Robert Pittack.

Gunfighter Waco (Keel) is given a pardon from his jail term to go clean up the town of Emporia.

Released in 1966 but feeling like it belongs in an earlier decade, Waco is a poor Western. As most Western fans will tell you, the "B" Western has its place in the heart and can quite often bring enjoyable rewards when the mood fits, unfortunately Waco is bad film making all round. Everything about it is tired, it's like it's desperately clinging on to the glory Western days of the 50s but doesn't know how to grasp with any conviction.

Filmed in Technicolor and Techniscope, not that you will notice, from the very beginning where Lorne Greene sings a cheese sandwich theme tune, film plays out as some sort of amateur dramatics production. Keel thinks he's in a hard-boiled film noir and voices it as such, often resorting to auto-cue line reading, and Donlevy shows up after an hour looking awful and literally doing a cameo to pay for his next bottle of Rye. Russell doesn't fare much better, phoning it in and the most memorable thing about her input is her bullet brassier!

The action is poorly constructed, with the big shoot-out proving to be more along the lines of a Keystone Cops skit, Haskell's music is simply rubbish, while what interesting character threads are in the story are sadly given short shrift by the writers (for example Corey's Reverend is briefly noted to have been part of Quantrill's Raiders). There's a level of glib humour about Keel's performance that keeps it just about watchable, while his indestructible capabilities makes him come over as a Captain Scarlet of the West. But really he's never convincing as a tough mutha and that just about sums up what an out of time Oater this is. 3/10

1966's "Waco" opens with the powerful voice of BONANZA's Lorne Greene intoning the lyrics to the title song, an excellent choice to set things up for Waco, not the setting but the gunman played by Howard Keel, the new sheriff of Emporia, a lawless town in Wyoming. The folks have grown tired of violence playing out in front of the saloon of Joe Gore (John Smith), resulting in the death of previous lawman Billy Kelly (Richard Arlen), so the Mayor (Robert Lowery) has reluctantly agreed with leading citizen George Gates (John Agar) to allow the governor to pardon outlaw Waco to replace Kelly, having spent five lonely years behind bars. Gore knows how much the Jenner clan want to kill Waco (he killed one of the brothers years ago), but their attempted ambush is easily foiled, and saloon bouncer Bill Rile (DeForest Kelley) isn't a good enough shot to take him out. The one person who might be able to figure out Waco is his former sweetheart (Jane Russell), now the bride of a preacher (Wendell Corey), who himself used to ride with Quantrill but believes that a man can change. It's Waco's unpredictable behavior that maintains a high interest level, and better character touches than most Lyles oaters, with the best performance from Gene Evans as the ineffectual deputy reformed from his drunken state by Waco. John Smith, on the side of good on CIMARRON CITY and LARAMIE, is cast as the main villain, simply lacking the kind of menace the part calls for. DeForest Kelley, in the last of four Lyles Westerns, had been paying his dues in roles like this for over a decade, soon to achieve a legendary status as Dr. McCoy on STAR TREK. Among the baddies are Jeff Richards, in his final film (Howard Keel's costar in SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS), Willard Parker, and Anne Seymour, pretty Terry Moore a delight as saloon girl Dolly, Brian Donlevy in a 'blink and you'll miss him' cameo for his third billing. Howard Keel would topline two more oaters for Lyles, "Red Tomahawk" and "Arizona Bushwhackers."

WACO is the name of the character who is the stereotypical Western hero in Hollywood Westerns. He's fast on the draw, tough, and an outlaw in the beginning, which is standard for Western heroes.of that would be okay, except we never really care for this Waco guy played by Howard Keel. Don't expect the joy ride of THE WAR WAGON. This is strictly Hollywood hate formula. Waco has absolutely no credible motivation. Keel comes across a bit like Joe Don playing Buford, but without the incentive. Absolutely none. Motivation has to be a key, but in the sixties, Hollywood would have none of that. For about three decades, they threw characters who were spoiled brats with unrelenting and unprovoked hatred at us, expecting us to empathize with them. Well, only the sickest and most demon possessed were able to do that, and they were generally the control freaks who decided what the rest of us had to watch. This is a perfect example of what was wrong with the Hollywood era of mid sixties to mid eighties All of that is made worse by the big names being wasted here. As in the hero, motivation is suspect, although Waco is the worst written character perhaps in any Western. That takes away any thrills, and makes this all ho hum, no matter how many horses you see, no matter how many gunshots are fired.