Em Liberdade para Matar

I have watched many bad westerns over the years and from the first minutes I was afraid that this was just another. Something close to The Villain, a horrible western comedy from 1979 where the most funny part is Kirk Douglas' horse.

One More Train To Rob is not just one more silly western, and it soon becomes surprisingly well made, with good acting, great stunts, not all to much shooting and almost no bad clichés. The characters are real, the props too and even the studio backgrounds look great. Most is simply pure quality. Only in the beginning the light setting is over done. The actors are not trying to be funny at all, neither does the director, and it works. Though it seems on occasions as a parody, perhaps to be considered as kind of a semi-comedy, with just a few a bit silly parts. But there's always an intention to it, and it doesn't really matter, cause it's a true western all the way and most pleasing of all, it has a great plot, with some surprises as well. And the good beating the bad in the end, at least kind of.

It could've been a solid 10/10 if the story was a bit deeper with like 2.5 to 2 hours runtime.

Great actors, decent budget and a very clever storyline with plots and mindgames.

The plot of this movie may seem familiar to Western devotees and so it should because it is essentially the same as that deployed by Brando in his sole directorial credit One Eyed Jacks ,namely an ex jailbird bent on revenge on a former associate ,now a man of wealth and substance ,who he feels has double crossed him .Where the movies part company is that Brando used the plot as the vehicle for a grim almost Jacobean revenge tragedy ,this movie takes a lighter ,friskier tone Peppard plays the wronged man ,one Harker Fleet ,who seeks to get back at his former associate in crime ,Timothy Nolan -well played by John Vernon.They are rivals for the favours of Diane Muldaur and also vie with each other in striving to rob an elderly Chinese man of his gold Andrew V McLaglen -who along with Burt Kennedy was virtually the only man directing Westerns on a regular basis in the USA during the seventies-keeps things moving briskly and the action is vigorous and well paced .Good performances and a tongue in cheek script help maintain interest and the result is a diverting second tier Western that many people will enjoy

Harker Fleet (George Peppard) , a lively and a womanizer bandit, belongs to a gang dedicated to robbing trains and the cunning Tim Nolan (John Vernon) is one of his cronies. They steal $40,000 in money and jewelry from a California train, but Tim betrays him. Nolan steals part of the loot from his last hit and sets up a trap to send him to prison. The group split up and while they are hiding out awaiting the rendezvous to divide the loot, Harker is cornered, framed and put in jail . Furthermore, Nolan takes advantage of the opportunity to take away his girlfriend Kate (Diana Muldaur) and marry her. Nowadays, Nolan covets the gold belonging to a Chinese community of miners (Richard Loo, Soon-Tek Oh, France Nuyen) and will do anything to get it. While Feet seeks revenge and helps the Chinese people against the evil Nolan. But our starring sets out to find Katy and Nolan and get his share of the loot. He'd been cheated out of his gold... and his woman... now the only weapon he had left was... revenge!

A so-so Western with thrills, shootouts, train robberies, crosses and double-crosses. The plot is plain and simple, a likeable ex-con exacts revenges against a previous colleague, while helps an unfortunate community of Chinese people. One is so used to seeing either James Stewart or John Wayne or Dean Martin as the stars of Andrew McLagen's Westerns that it comes as something of a surprise to find George Peppard leading the cast of this One More Train to Rob(1971). Here George Peppard gives a passable acting in his usual lukewarm style as a convict who is released from prison and seeks for vengeance on his former partners who cheated him out of his share. While John Vernon as his nemesis , the wealthy owner who betrayed him, and the always elegant and attractive Diana Muldaur as the woman between two men. Keep an eye open for former stars Ben Cooper as a deputy, France Nuyen as a prostitute, Harry Carey Jr as a henchman, as well as familar secondaries: Steve Sandor , Soon-Tek Oh, Richard Loo, Robert Donner , John Doucette Don 'Red' Barry, Merlin Olsen, Timothy Scott, Jerry Gatlin, Lane Chandler's final film, John Mitchum, and Marie Windsor.

The motion picture was middlingly but professionally directed by Andrew McLagen, and it has flaws, gaps and shortcomings. McLagen marshals his scenary nice, and the script almost manages to hold one's attention much of the time. Andrew was the son of Ford's stock company stalwart, Victor McLagen. He was born in London but grew up around Hollywood, where his father often took him on movie sets. He learned the art of directing from greats like John Ford, who eventually gave him a job as assistant director on The Quiet man (1952). He holds the distinction of directing the most episodes of Gunsmoke (1955) and of Have gun Will travel (1957) . Being one of the few directors to have directed both Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, including Undefeated (1969) and Chisum (1970). He was a prolific craftsman who made all kinds of genres , such as : Wartime :¨Dirty dozen next mission, Sea wolves, Breakthrough, Wild geese, The Devil's brigade¨ . Action adventure genre: Sahara , Ffolkes , Mitchell, On wings of eagles . And Western : ¨Shenandoah, The way west , The rare breed, Bandolero, The last hard men , The Blue and the Gray and The shadow riders again¨ with Katharine Ross. Rating : 5.5/10 . Average, though passable and acceptable at times. Well worth watching for George Peppard fans.

George Peppard is excellent with outstanding support from John Vernon and Diana Muldaur. A great old-time western with twists and turns, humor, action and Victor McLaglen at his best. It is certainly his best western movie.

I would love to be able to see this again. I'm sure it will come to DVD someday, but what's holding it up?

I haven't seen in on television in years. Have people totally forgotten about this lost jewel?

I've been watching for it to come available for years. I hope a number of others who have seen it bother to comment in the hope that it may affect the decision to release it.