This is a very entertaining Burt Kennedy Western, very much in the mold of "The War Wagon", although it more often crosses the line into straight comedy. I gave it five stars in my IMDb ranking. I ended up classifying it as a comedy, which I don't rank in my all time great Westerns system (I haven't figured out yet why I don't, it just feels like comedies should be ranked against each other in their own category).
Here's what I liked:
Here's what wasn't so great:
Here's what I liked:
- Robert Mitchum and George Kennedy are very good in this as an aging lawman and outlaw who become "frenemies". Both of these guys are very underrated actors. I can't think of a movie Kennedy was in that I didn't enjoy.
- Martin Balsam practically steals the movie as the corrupt mayor. A really great comedic performance that was clearly the inspiration for Harvey Corman's governor character in "Blazing Saddles" a couple of years later. This movie really got me interested in Balsam. Looks like he was one of the early Actor's Studio guys like Eli Wallach. I only remember him from "Psycho" and "Hombre". Dude had some range. I'm going to make a point of watching some more of his work.
- Nice location filming in New Mexico.
- Some pretty good action set pieces with a locomotive.
- Story moves along nicely, it's easy to get involved in the characters, there are no gaping plot holes.
- Kennedy plays a notorious bank robber who everyone thinks was killed 10 or 15 earlier. In reality, he got married to a Quaker woman, went straight and was living in Canada. After she dies from fever, he leaves an 11 year old son behind to return to the U.S. and resume his career as a bank robber. Sound like someone we know? Hint: Clint Eastwood played the part.
Here's what wasn't so great:
- Ridiculous title
- David Carridine has a part.