User Reviews

Watching Lamas tiptoe up to, but never crossing, the line between acting and overacting is great fun to watch. Taylor, as usual is great as a rough soldier of fortune. This film should be shown to today's network execs to show them how good a TV movie can be...great acting, direction, story, and authentic locations. Too bad "Bearcats!" didn't last longer as a series. A good outdoor based action show with a good cast (and great weekly guest stars) might be a hit today instead of the usual doctor and cop shows. And I love the car...a beautiful 1914 Stutz Bearcat. You car & film buffs out there might be interested in knowing it's the same car John Wayne drove in "Wings of Eagles" and I believe it to be the same one used in the Disney film "Summer Magic" with Haliey Mills and an episode of "Green Acres". It was later owned by a friend of mine and is in a California collection.

A bandit takes a train with 73 passengers hostage in order to save his brother to be hanged, the only possible solution is to hire two brave adventurers who will do the impossible to accomplish their task. One more problem is at stake when a mexican lady (Paluzzi) decides to take revenge on the two bandit brothers. Taylor is excellent and Luciana Paluzzi beautiful as ever.Taylor & Paluzzi teamed before in 1967`s western

Whacked-out bandito Fernando Llamas holds a train load of passengers hostage and moving in circles, while he ransoms them for the release of his brother, who's in jail awaiting hanging. The railroad calls on smooth soldiers-of-fortune Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole to rescue the hostages and neutralize their captors.

This exciting made-for-television movie/series pilot is way ahead of it's time, anticipating shows and movies like "The A Team", The Delta Force, and even Speed. Why the resulting series "The Bearcats" failed and was forgotten, remains a mystery.

Here, Llamas appears to be having a hell of a time, playing his role with relish. His amusing, over-the-top performance is probably the best thing about this this, although Taylor seems to be enjoying himself greatly as well.

Things seem a little stretched out, but the climax is definitely worth sticking around for.

I just saw this movie again, 28 years after I first saw it on television in 1972. I remembered it as being a good movie, but I thought it might be "old" by today's standards. Not so. It has a good script, excellent direction, and fine acting all around. The "good guys" go after a Mexican bandit who has taken a passenger train hostage to insure that his brother isn't hanged in the United States. Good action fare.

Powderkeg! was a movie filmed in 1971 starring the well known actor Rod Taylor, and Dennis Cole as two men living in the southwest just prior to WWl. It based around the premise that the pair had 'cleaned up' a couple of rough towns in self-defense, then other towns had come to them seeking help in doing the same for their communities. They had to get 'mercenary' about this and their fee was a blank check. "If you can put a price on it, you don't need 'em bad enough"! The two are contacted by a railroad magnate after one of his trains is hijacked, his best friend killed, and the friends daughter among the 73 people being held by the Morales gang, former revolutionaries turned bandits and murderers. The leader, Chuchu, (Fernando Lamas) has taken the hostages to be exchanged for his brother, being held in a small town jail after a raid by the gang. The plot then centers around Brackett and Reach (Taylor and Cole) devising a plan to seize the train and free the hostages, which they do cleverly and successfully. The movie served as the pilot for the show Bearcats!, which unfortunately, only lasted one season, mostly due to being up against the Flip Wilson show, well established and carrying high ratings. But for one memorable season, Taylor and Cole thrilled many a young lad and sometimes even the Dads as well, with an unusual, well done show with a very original premise, unlike so much of the drivel that 'graces' TV these days! My thanks to all involved in the show, I will never forget it.

Just watched it again and still love it. I was 13 when I first saw this movie and it grabbed me from the opening sequence. The musical score, the Bearcat car, Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole...and the impossible job. Very much in the vain of "Guns of Navarone" except in the Mexican desert--an impossible job but a small group of men, specialists, might pull it off. The characters are strong and fun to be with. This movie introduced me to Rod Taylor and I have been a fan ever since. The sad thing is this movie has drifted off the radar screen. It never shows up on old movie channels. I fear it will fade away. It's too bad, because it is a really solid movie and well worth the time. The style is definitely 70s and so is the script, with its double ententes and sexual innuendos. One bit of trivia, the actress who played Juanita Sierra-Perez is Luciana Paluzzi, she played the femme fatale in the James Bond classic "Thunderball."

Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole attempt to save a train full of passengers held hostage. This is a very intense action film, full of action and even some comedy. This film acted as the pilot for the short lived 1970 series The Bearcats. This film seems to be a kind of 2 man A- Team. Great performances by Taylor, and Fernando Lamas is excellent as the bandit.

RELEASED IN 1971 and written & directed by Douglas Heyes, "Powderkeg" chronicles events in 1914 when Mexican renegades led by Chucho Morales (Fernando Lamas) hijack a train for leverage to get his brother out of jail in New Mexico (Michael Ansara). Two adventurer-mercenaries (Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole) are enlisted to rescue the 73 passengers and take care of the banditos.

While this was a TV movie, it's pretty much as good as many theatrical Westerns of the late 60s/early 70s. The two stars, Taylor and Cole, have great chemistry and the tone is snappy with a distinctive story and a couple of unexpected twists. Luscious Luciana Paluzzi is on hand (playing a role in one of the surprises) along with Tisha Sterling and Melodie Johnson in the female department. Reviewers have overstated the action/thrills, but no worries because the drama is interesting.

"Powderkeg" was the pilot for the short-lived Bearcats TV series in '71, which consisted of this film and 13 episodes.

THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 33 minutes and was shot at Old Tucson, Arizona, and surrounding areas.

GRADE: B+/A-