Filmed in '69 in Durango, Mexico (during the shooting, Duke's got to know he was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for his role in "True Grit", winning both later), "Chisum" represents the last breath of the Golden Age of Hollywood Westerns.
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, in his 4th film with John Wayne (including the earlier western, "The Undefeated") from a script penned by Andrew J. Fenady, "Chisum" is loosely based on the real life events surrounding the 'Lincoln County War' of 1878 in the New Mexico Territory, involving several historical figures such as John Simpson Chisum, John Henry Tunstall, Lawrence G. Murphy, William H. Bonney a.k.a. Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett and Alexander McSween.
Superbly photographed by William H. Clothier in Technicolor, a regular collaborator in John Wayne's films ("The Alamo", "The Comancheros", "The Undefeated", among others) it's one of the later Duke's most visually stunning films, directed in the old style of filmmaking and featuring an impressive cast of supporting players, most of them Duke's old pals such as Ben Johnson, Bruce Cabot, Hank Worden, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., John and Christopher Mitchum, and adding the newcomer Geoffrey Deuel as Billy The Kid and Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett, not the most charismatic duo, but fitting within the tone, with Deuel faring a tad better.
Legendary Forrest Tucker is a great counterpart to Wayne's Chisum, playing the greedy Lawrence Murphy. Both are too much alike, except Chisum believes in law and order and keeping the things straight and Murphy will do anything above the law to gain power over Lincoln.
Christopher George, as the bounty hunter turned corrupt Sheriff Dan Nodeen, is effective and menacing as one of Murphy's men, well supported by Richard Jaeckel as Jesse Evans.
Andrew Prine and future Mrs. Christopher George (they started dating on the set of this film), Lynda Day George, played the McSweens.
The pacing is good and the story progresses well, but it's too many events to tell on-screen and way too many characters for a less than 2 hours film, so it lacks development, especially around the supporting characters and John Wayne didn't do much here, but his 'larger than life' Chisum is like omnipresent, even when he's off screen, he's still there. The final shootout is on the line of what a Duke's western should be, even if his stunt double is way noticeable during the fistfight between Wayne and Tucker, but John Wayne, at 63 years old, was way past his prime.
Although this film is based on a bloody war which reaped so many lives, the atmosphere is colorful, lighthearted and with good vibes, like in every John Wayne film, presenting the witty remarks between Wayne and his partner, Ben Johnson, which reminded chemistry with his old pal, the fabulous character actor Walter Brennan in "Red River" ('48) and "Rio Bravo" ('59).
"Chisum" felt outdated when it was released on the summer of '70, because at the time the movie business were pointing towards the more realistic, subversive and violent westerns, due to the Spaghettis' emergence in mid-60's in which the around the world success changed the myth of the Old West to a more revisionist fashion, and jumping on the bandwagon, Hollywood was changing with it, producing Peckinpah's films such as "The Wild Bunch" ('69); George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ('69); Ralph Nelson's "Soldier Blue" ('70) or Elliot Silverstein's "A Man Called Horse" ('70).
Even being a 'swan's song' to its glourious times, it still made a profit at the box office, but less than an usual John Wayne film: the Vietnam war, the Civil Rights Movement and the sign of new times coming, killed the more Conservative westerns, but there are several criticisms, especially in Wayne's dialogue, to the treatment given to native americans and to the greedness of the white man, which proved how humanist the Duke was, a man of values, moral and honor.
In short, 'Lincoln County War' enthusiasts should check Sam Peckinpah's revisionist western drama, "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" ('72) or Michael Cimino's epic western, "Heaven's Gate" ('80), based on the similar 'Johnson County War' in Wyoming between 1889-93, to a more deep understanding of this historical facts, but if you go for a more relaxed and matinee style of classic westerns, then "Chisum" is your movie to watch.
Christopher Cain also adapted this story, scripted by John Fusco, for his actioneer / western film, featuring a cast of 80's young lads, "Young Guns" ('88) who strangely omitted the character of John Simpson Chisum, but emerged in the sequel, Geoff Murphy's "Young Guns II" ('90) played by James Coburn.
I give it a 8 / 10.
Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, in his 4th film with John Wayne (including the earlier western, "The Undefeated") from a script penned by Andrew J. Fenady, "Chisum" is loosely based on the real life events surrounding the 'Lincoln County War' of 1878 in the New Mexico Territory, involving several historical figures such as John Simpson Chisum, John Henry Tunstall, Lawrence G. Murphy, William H. Bonney a.k.a. Billy The Kid, Pat Garrett and Alexander McSween.
Superbly photographed by William H. Clothier in Technicolor, a regular collaborator in John Wayne's films ("The Alamo", "The Comancheros", "The Undefeated", among others) it's one of the later Duke's most visually stunning films, directed in the old style of filmmaking and featuring an impressive cast of supporting players, most of them Duke's old pals such as Ben Johnson, Bruce Cabot, Hank Worden, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., John and Christopher Mitchum, and adding the newcomer Geoffrey Deuel as Billy The Kid and Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett, not the most charismatic duo, but fitting within the tone, with Deuel faring a tad better.
Legendary Forrest Tucker is a great counterpart to Wayne's Chisum, playing the greedy Lawrence Murphy. Both are too much alike, except Chisum believes in law and order and keeping the things straight and Murphy will do anything above the law to gain power over Lincoln.
Christopher George, as the bounty hunter turned corrupt Sheriff Dan Nodeen, is effective and menacing as one of Murphy's men, well supported by Richard Jaeckel as Jesse Evans.
Andrew Prine and future Mrs. Christopher George (they started dating on the set of this film), Lynda Day George, played the McSweens.
The pacing is good and the story progresses well, but it's too many events to tell on-screen and way too many characters for a less than 2 hours film, so it lacks development, especially around the supporting characters and John Wayne didn't do much here, but his 'larger than life' Chisum is like omnipresent, even when he's off screen, he's still there. The final shootout is on the line of what a Duke's western should be, even if his stunt double is way noticeable during the fistfight between Wayne and Tucker, but John Wayne, at 63 years old, was way past his prime.
Although this film is based on a bloody war which reaped so many lives, the atmosphere is colorful, lighthearted and with good vibes, like in every John Wayne film, presenting the witty remarks between Wayne and his partner, Ben Johnson, which reminded chemistry with his old pal, the fabulous character actor Walter Brennan in "Red River" ('48) and "Rio Bravo" ('59).
"Chisum" felt outdated when it was released on the summer of '70, because at the time the movie business were pointing towards the more realistic, subversive and violent westerns, due to the Spaghettis' emergence in mid-60's in which the around the world success changed the myth of the Old West to a more revisionist fashion, and jumping on the bandwagon, Hollywood was changing with it, producing Peckinpah's films such as "The Wild Bunch" ('69); George Roy Hill's "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" ('69); Ralph Nelson's "Soldier Blue" ('70) or Elliot Silverstein's "A Man Called Horse" ('70).
Even being a 'swan's song' to its glourious times, it still made a profit at the box office, but less than an usual John Wayne film: the Vietnam war, the Civil Rights Movement and the sign of new times coming, killed the more Conservative westerns, but there are several criticisms, especially in Wayne's dialogue, to the treatment given to native americans and to the greedness of the white man, which proved how humanist the Duke was, a man of values, moral and honor.
In short, 'Lincoln County War' enthusiasts should check Sam Peckinpah's revisionist western drama, "Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid" ('72) or Michael Cimino's epic western, "Heaven's Gate" ('80), based on the similar 'Johnson County War' in Wyoming between 1889-93, to a more deep understanding of this historical facts, but if you go for a more relaxed and matinee style of classic westerns, then "Chisum" is your movie to watch.
Christopher Cain also adapted this story, scripted by John Fusco, for his actioneer / western film, featuring a cast of 80's young lads, "Young Guns" ('88) who strangely omitted the character of John Simpson Chisum, but emerged in the sequel, Geoff Murphy's "Young Guns II" ('90) played by James Coburn.
I give it a 8 / 10.
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