The War Wagon
The War Wagon is a pretty interesting Western. In the beginning Taw Jackson (John Wayne) is released from jail. He was a rancher, but was falsely imprisoned and all of his land was taken away by the evil banker Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot). Pierce found gold on the ranch and Taw is out for revenge!
Lomax (Kirk Douglas) is hired by Pierce to kill Taw, but Taw convinced Lomax to get on a heist of "the war wagon," a converted steel-plated wagon, complete with guard of men on horses and a Gatling gun. Pierce has hit the motherload, and will be sending a shipment of a half million dollars of gold dust!
Taw rounds up a gang of five men, including himself, Lomax, Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker Jr., who looks eerily like his dad), a detonation man, Levi Walking Bear (Howard Keel), their connection to the local Indian tribe, and Wes Fletcher (Keenan Wynn), the get-away wagon driver. Eventually, they do get the gold dust, after a series of shoot-outs and saloon brawls. But the Indians double-cross them and steal back some of the gold. Taw manages to keep some of it, and says that they'll meet up in six months to split it up. Wes Fletcher gets killed and Billy runs off with Wes's wife.
The War Wagon was okay. Not the worst Western I've ever seen, but not the best either. I had high hopes for Keel's character because of the review in Leonard Maltin's movie guide said he was "hilarious." Eh, not so much. But it was enjoyable, and I loved Lomax's vaults onto the horses. Pretty fancy stuff for a fifty-year old man!
FILE UNDER: Classic Films
Lomax (Kirk Douglas) is hired by Pierce to kill Taw, but Taw convinced Lomax to get on a heist of "the war wagon," a converted steel-plated wagon, complete with guard of men on horses and a Gatling gun. Pierce has hit the motherload, and will be sending a shipment of a half million dollars of gold dust!
Taw rounds up a gang of five men, including himself, Lomax, Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker Jr., who looks eerily like his dad), a detonation man, Levi Walking Bear (Howard Keel), their connection to the local Indian tribe, and Wes Fletcher (Keenan Wynn), the get-away wagon driver. Eventually, they do get the gold dust, after a series of shoot-outs and saloon brawls. But the Indians double-cross them and steal back some of the gold. Taw manages to keep some of it, and says that they'll meet up in six months to split it up. Wes Fletcher gets killed and Billy runs off with Wes's wife.
The War Wagon was okay. Not the worst Western I've ever seen, but not the best either. I had high hopes for Keel's character because of the review in Leonard Maltin's movie guide said he was "hilarious." Eh, not so much. But it was enjoyable, and I loved Lomax's vaults onto the horses. Pretty fancy stuff for a fifty-year old man!
FILE UNDER: Classic Films
posted by Rebecca at 11:22 AM
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