I was in college when I first saw THE TRAIN ROBBERS. I was already a die hard John Wayne fan. I followed his later career with great interest. Since due to the political climate of the day one was not the most popular individual on a campus declaring the fact that you liked this star's work. I didn't simply declare this fact. I shouted it from the rooftops. I dragged all my friends to see this picture because I felt it both reflected the best of Duke's earlier work and still stayed consistent with the aging hero he was portraying. Burt Kennedy's lean and taut script reminded me of the best of his work on the Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher westerns of the fifties. The simple yarn of Ann-Margret hiring John Wayne and his crew of Ben Johnson, Rod Taylor,Christopher George, Jerry Gatlin and Bobby Vinton to recover half a million dollars in stolen gold is very simple in it's directness. They are are gunmen who just stay on the right side of the law. If they were japanese they could almost be described as landless sellswords or ronin. They exist simply from job to job. The status quo for Lane John Wayne's character is changed by the presence of the woman. Mrs. Lowe, He finds himself sexually attracted to Mrs. Lane, a woman young enough to be his daughter yet still capable of reminding him of the things he's lost in his life.Ann-Margret's character is curious about Lane who won't or more importantly can't talk about himself. Ben Johnson's character Jesse fills in the the necessary exposition but never tells more than he immediately has to. Burt Kennedy also plays with his audience. In BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID George Roy Hill has his leads chased by faceless men that they eventually are able to identify. In THE TRAIN ROBBERS our crew is chased by nameless men we never get to identify, people who remain throughout the film as a constant unknown quantity. This is a situation I don't recall ever seeing before in an A grade Wayne western. There is a scene toward the end of the film where Mrs. Lowe makes an overture to Lane which he reluctantly rejects. He feels he is too old to have feelings of this nature. The film starts to proceed to what might be considered a predictable conclusion. Burt Kennedy does not oblige. He gives us a surprise ending that totally satisfies on each and every viewing. There are other considerable assets to this project. Dominic Frontiere's score is a rouser. The opening of the film and the first fifteen minutes contain no score at all. All of a sudden we have an expansive score on the par with Alfred Newman's HOW THE WEST WAS WON or Jerome Moross's THE BIG COUNTRY. The only other score Mr. Frontiere ever delivered on a par with this film was Ted Post's HANG'EM HIGH. The other major contributor to this project was William H Clothier superb cinematography. This was the last of his 17 collaborations with the Duke and no movie ever looked cleaner or sharper. I know this film has many detractors. Everyone is entitled to his opinion but I feel this is on the high end of Duke's later work. As for Burt Kennedy I feel he delivered a movie even Howard Hawks would have liked to claim as his own.
Reviews
4 Reviews
The Wrath of God
(1972)
Rousing Adventure Film!
19 July 2002
What a splendid mix this film has. It uses Robert Mitchum in some ways better than any of his later vehicles ever attempted to. He plays "Father" Van Horne who on the surface is a Catholic missionary but in actuality is an accomplished bank robber cutting a swath through Central America with a prayer book in one hand and a Thompson machine gun in the other. He encounters Victor Buono as an English gun runner named Jenning and Ken Hutchinson as an IRA assassin named Emmett Keogh. Together the 3 men comprise Col Santilla Unholy Trinity charged with the liquidation of his nemesis, one Tomas De Laplata(Frank Langella) who has a murderous antipathy toward any and all clergy. With a setup like this you go along for the ride. Believe me you won't be bored.
Super Troopers
(2001)
Just. Not. Funny.
19 February 2002
It pained me to sit through this--I almost walked out. I've seen 325 movies in the theatre in the past 5 years alone--never came close to walking out till now. It just isn't funny. Sorry guys. I don't think I've ever been so happy that I didn't pay for a movie in my life (a friend got me in).
Bite the Bullet
(1975)
Perhaps the best Western made in the 1970s.
6 February 2002
In my mind this is almost a perfect movie. Writer-Director Richard Brooks delivered in my mind his best work since his 1960 blockbusters ELMER GANTRY and THE PROFESSIONALS. We have Brook's trademark crisp dialogue driving the epic about an endurance race set in the waning days of the american west. In place of Burt Lancaster and Lee Marvin professionals we have James Coburn and Gene Hackman as the soldiers of fortune thrown into the circumstance of this race. They both give superior performances. Ably supporting them in what should have gotten him a second supporting actor Oscar is Ben Johnson. If there is any quibble at all with the film it is the casting of of Candice Bergen as the prostitute turned contestant. She simply looks too well preserved to have lived the life her character has placed before the audience. One interesting note about the film had the exchange of actors functioning in basically the same part over the course of the film. Paul Stewart who is uncredited starts the film out as the wealthy rancher Parker until about a quarter of the way through the film when with an ingenious use of a looped line Dabney Coleman appears as Parker's son taking over the character's function from that point on.I remember seeing this film in it's initial engagement at Radio City Music Hall and it is still a fresh and rewarding experience. It is a shame that the upcoming DVD release will have no special features. I know Mr Coburn recorded a commentary for THE MAGNIFICENT 7, Ms. Bergen did THE SAND PEBBLES, and Mr. Hackman did the FRENCH CONNECTION discs. It would have been great to hear stories from these fine actors about this shoot. At the very least it would be nice the have Alex North's Oscar nominated score isolated on the disc.
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