MACKENNA`S GOLD has got to be one of the craziest movies I`ve ever seen . Watching this I was very worried that someone had spiked my local water supply with LSD
The opening title sequence alone sets off warning bells with the music being very similar to a sixties spy shows like THE MAN FROM UNCLE . After the bizarre title sequence comes an even more bizarre opening scene featuring an expositional voice over complete with a corny song called " Turkey Buzzard ". Structure wise this is somewhat similar to the opening of NO BLADE OF GRASS released a year later but in terms of execution it resembles THE DUKES OF HAZZARD . " Well lookee here if it ain`t Boss Hogg come to get his hands on Apache gold " . This voice over keeps appearing when you least expect it to .
As the film moves on to the story proper more and more ridiculous things take centre stage . People have already mentioned the choppy editing like the bridge sequence and the river scene , but throughout the movie we see characters in one scene only for them to appear in a following scene which does seem to interfere with the time frame , and there`s some very jarring cuts from studio exteriors to location filming which is laughable , not to mention the long shots of characters riding on horses which cut to actors bouncing up and down on an imaginary horse against back projection
There`s also a subplot about half way through where a load of characters are introduced who want to find a legendary valley of lost gold . Many of these characters are played by big name actors ( They don`t come much bigger than Edward G Robinson ) which led me to shriek " Hey I know where this is heading . They`re all going to slit each others throats to get the gold " . Logically a film should play out like this but you`ll never see a film less logical than MACKENNA`S GOLD because most of these characters are written out in the next scene . I`ve no idea why the producers did this or why they decided to cast so many big names for something that accounts for one cameo sequence . The fact this movie cost seven million dollars ( A big budget for a movie in those days ) and has very poor production values makes me believe most of the money was spent on the cameo performances . Talking of production values why has no one mentioned the outrageous and sidesplitting revealing mistake of the stuffed dummy falling off the cliff ?
The climax takes place in a valley of gold and again there`s very little logic involved . The hero Mackenna doesn`t want any part in it so decides to escape after he arrives there . If that`s the case then why has he spent the whole movie telling everyone he doesn`t know where the valley is ? Did he know where it was or doesn`t he ? And if he knows where it is but didn`t want to show the bad guys the location what was stopping him from waiting till everyone was asleep and running off ? As everyone else seems to have noticed the last twenty minutes of the movie seem to have been inspired by if not mystical mumbo jumbo then at least by illegal substances
Production wise MACKENNA`S GOLD is an awful film , but I couldn`t help but enjoy it . it`s a turkey for sure but it`s a turkey buzzard that earns seven out of ten for entertainment value
The opening title sequence alone sets off warning bells with the music being very similar to a sixties spy shows like THE MAN FROM UNCLE . After the bizarre title sequence comes an even more bizarre opening scene featuring an expositional voice over complete with a corny song called " Turkey Buzzard ". Structure wise this is somewhat similar to the opening of NO BLADE OF GRASS released a year later but in terms of execution it resembles THE DUKES OF HAZZARD . " Well lookee here if it ain`t Boss Hogg come to get his hands on Apache gold " . This voice over keeps appearing when you least expect it to .
As the film moves on to the story proper more and more ridiculous things take centre stage . People have already mentioned the choppy editing like the bridge sequence and the river scene , but throughout the movie we see characters in one scene only for them to appear in a following scene which does seem to interfere with the time frame , and there`s some very jarring cuts from studio exteriors to location filming which is laughable , not to mention the long shots of characters riding on horses which cut to actors bouncing up and down on an imaginary horse against back projection
There`s also a subplot about half way through where a load of characters are introduced who want to find a legendary valley of lost gold . Many of these characters are played by big name actors ( They don`t come much bigger than Edward G Robinson ) which led me to shriek " Hey I know where this is heading . They`re all going to slit each others throats to get the gold " . Logically a film should play out like this but you`ll never see a film less logical than MACKENNA`S GOLD because most of these characters are written out in the next scene . I`ve no idea why the producers did this or why they decided to cast so many big names for something that accounts for one cameo sequence . The fact this movie cost seven million dollars ( A big budget for a movie in those days ) and has very poor production values makes me believe most of the money was spent on the cameo performances . Talking of production values why has no one mentioned the outrageous and sidesplitting revealing mistake of the stuffed dummy falling off the cliff ?
The climax takes place in a valley of gold and again there`s very little logic involved . The hero Mackenna doesn`t want any part in it so decides to escape after he arrives there . If that`s the case then why has he spent the whole movie telling everyone he doesn`t know where the valley is ? Did he know where it was or doesn`t he ? And if he knows where it is but didn`t want to show the bad guys the location what was stopping him from waiting till everyone was asleep and running off ? As everyone else seems to have noticed the last twenty minutes of the movie seem to have been inspired by if not mystical mumbo jumbo then at least by illegal substances
Production wise MACKENNA`S GOLD is an awful film , but I couldn`t help but enjoy it . it`s a turkey for sure but it`s a turkey buzzard that earns seven out of ten for entertainment value