The Jackals

In what is probably the only entry in the category of 'voortrekker' westerns, Vincent Price plays a gold miner whose haul is the target of five bank robbers. Love interest is provided by the oddly effective Diana Ivarson (who apparently never made another film) as Price's granddaughter. It's all enjoyable if somewhat disconcerting due to the British and Afrikaaner accents of the leading players who are also decked out in typical 'western' garb. A fun diversion.

My main reason for seeing The Jackals was Vincent Price. And while he has given better performances before, he still gives amusement and sometimes creepiness to the role of the grizzled grandfather figure. Other redeeming qualities are the final gunfight, the most exciting and original of the fight scenes in the film, Diana Ivarson's beauty and the striking photography and scenery. There are however major debits with The Jackals, which I think outweigh the good things. The rest of the cast(particularly from tall and ruggedly handsome Robert Gunnar), and actually Ivarson is the same, are very stiff and do nothing with their cardboard characters, who are to me little more than Western cliché bookends. The violence is more at home in a network television programme from the mid-1960s, while the story is overall dull and bland as well as playing it far too safe. The dialogue, of which is very faithful to Yellow Sky, word-for-word often actually, because of the blandness of the pacing and story seemed very wordy and stilted here. While the score is really out-of-place, it is difficult to take seriously a jazzy xylophone-like score that adds nothing to the mood in a Western. Overall, has some bright spots like Price and the scenery but because of the story, the rest of the acting and the music especially The Jackals did little for me. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Veteran Hollywood hand Robert D. Webb concluded his career as director of this remake of 'Yellow Sky' that transposed the action to South Africa.

As in the original the wailing of the wind adds a bleak atmosphere to the action. Local colour is supplied by the sound of kookaburras and African drums on the soundtracks with occasional lapses into crass comical nudges.

Most of the supporting cast appear to be afrikaners dubbed with American voices; but as you would expect the most interesting piece of casting is Vincent Price as gun toting young heroine Diana Iverson's gutsy old prospector grandpa.

Wholesome South African western, inspired by "Yellow Sky" stars Robert Gunner as Stretch Hawkins, an essentially decent bandit who leads his gang into an all but abandoned mining town where they discover the inhabitants are the peroxide blonde sharp-shooter Ivarson and her elderly grandpa Price. The two have been mining the veins for gold dust and when Hawkins' gang get the scent, they go after the lot, despite Hawkins' making a deal with Price to take only half. Tensions run hot and predictably, the gang implodes on greed.

Aside from mega-star Price, playing a gangly old-timer looking to revive a town on his lucky strike, Gunner stars as the gang's moral compass and equilibrium with his work cut out trying to prevent his men from interfering with Ivarson and fighting amongst themselves. Gunner is something of an enigma in the annals of film history, his brief career resulted in just a handful of movies (notably as stricken astronaut Landon in "The Planet of the Apes") before it abruptly ended. Ivarson looks at times like she's attempting to play a primitive form of woman, raised on gold fever without a maternal role model; to some extent, she achieves the brief. Interestingly like Gunner, Ivarson also failed to nail a film career though she did marry cult-favourite, brawny chrome-domed tough guy Bob Tessier.

Some pleasant scenery of African savanna and the occasional action punctuates what is otherwise a bit of a romantic melodrama. Pretty tame, but not bad all things considered.

"Yellow Sky" (1948) was one of the better American westerns of its era. It was also one of Gregory Peck's better starring roles. So, it's a tall order to try to remake the picture, though "The Jackals" does a better job than I expected--especially since it mostly stars folks you probably won't recognize. Aside from Vincent Price (who should not have been listed first in the billing), the rest are actors we probably wouldn't recognize here in the States.

The film begins with seven crooks robbing the bank in the style of the old west--though of course it's South Africa. One is killed in the process and the others beat it across the desert--most likely to die of thirst. However, when they've given up all hope, they happen upon a ghost town that is populated by an old man (Price) and his pretty daughter. These two are not friendly towards the crooks though they do help them find water. Before leaving this little oasis, however, the crooks realize that there MUST be something keeping these two here--and that something is gold. Much of the rest of the film consists of a game of cat and mouse and unless something rather miraculous happens, the granddaughter and grandpa are doomed.

The best thing about "The Jackals" is that instead of setting the film in the same locale as the original, this time it's South Africa. Considering that they, too, had gold fever and there are potentially dangerous natives, it works well. The second best thing is the acting. Very competent and well done all around. Of course, I'd recommend the original first--but this little South African/Australian production has every reason to be proud of this effort--even if the accents were all wrong!