Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County land war.
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Reviews
Please don't spend money on this.
Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
A typical star-driven late 60's Hollywood-oater, "Chisum" was entertaining but it's easy to see the rising appeal of grittier, harder Westerns like 1969's "The Wild Bunch" (a film reportedly disliked by John Wayne). Other than the iconic Wayne as the titular character and the always great Ben Johnson as his muttering sidekick, most of the cast looked like Hollywood actors and actresses playing at 'old-west' – hairstyles seemed anachronistic, women had tight fitting dresses, everyone had perfect teeth etc. Billy the Kid was portrayed as a pretty nice guy with his on-screen killings always justified (at least by him) and lots of references to him learning to read, do sums etc., and again, his mentor Tunstall is portrayed as an older British father-figure (he was actually less than 10 years older that The Kid). After watching John Wayne play a lot of 'larger-than-life' heroes like John Chisum, it's not surprising that some people were surprised by his actual acting ability when he finally played a more complex and ambivalent character in "True Grit". What I most disliked about "Chisum" was the music, especially the clichéd opening Ballad of John Chisum and the intrusive "Sally" song. All-in-all, an OK old-school western from an era when the genre was moving away from white hats vs. black hats story lines to more realistic (at least as realistic as a highly-fictionalised era can be), dirtier, and bloodier films.
Copyright 25 June 1970 by John Wayne's Batjac Productions. Released through Warner Bros Pictures. New York opening and U.S. release: 24 June 1970. U.K. release: 30 August 1970. London opening: 23 July 1970. 9,904 feet. 110 minutes.COMMENT: Fine pictorial values in this mostly interesting re-working of the early days of the Billy the Kid/Henry Tunstall/Pat Garrett legend. Filmed on grand locations, it builds up to a terrific shoot- out climax. As usual, director McLaglen's pace tends to be a little over-leisurely. Where the script is dull, his lethargic treatment tends to make it even duller. This is especially true in many of Wayne's domestic scenes with the heroine which could stand considerable cutting and even gets in the way after the great action climax. The bland and uninteresting Pamela McMyler compounds this error. Nonetheless she cannot be blamed too much for her part is not only superficial and familiar, it's not developed and her scenes are handled by McLaglen in an unflattering close-up style, which actually doesn't suit Wayne either.On a broader plain, McLaglen is obviously aiming for John Ford effects and if ever a film was a homage to Ford, this is it. Hank Worden from the Ford stock company is even in the cast and there are two wonderful villains, Forrest Tucker giving the performance of his career and Chris George packing his role with surprising malevolence. Jaeckel is a most effective and amusing henchman and Cabot is delightful as always as the villain to Wayne's hero once more (cf. "The Angel and the Badman"). Ben Johnson as usual is excellent in his faithful sidekick role, transforming a familiar piece into one that is genuinely interesting. John Agar has a small bit as the dispossessed storekeeper at the beginning of the film.The use of music and song, the set-pieces in the film like Tunstall's funeral with artfully framed backgrounds, extras and period props recall the best of Ford. Only Wayne's somewhat stiff (both physically and histrionically) portrayal and the too-slow pacing of his ranch-house scenes and the mundane TV-style close-ups of same, put the film firmly into the 7/10s, and the start of the tail end of the once omnipresent screen western.Deuel impresses as Bonney, but Glenn Corbett seems too immature for Garrett despite hiding beneath a mustache and Clothier's adroit shadowy lighting. Nice to see Patric Knowles effete as ever as Tunstall.
Mrs. Shullivan and I just wanted to watch a film that would keep us entertained and enjoy just a couple of hours of another John Wayne western. We were not disappointed. John Wayne plays cattle and land baron John Chisum. He never married and lived a rugged life fighting Indians, thieves, droughts and storms as he grew his land into the most desired in all of New Mexico. Of course there are other wealthy cattle barons who will stoop as low as one has to go to take away what Chisum has worked his entire life to build. That dastardly task goes to another well known western star Forrest Tucker who plays Cattle baron Lawrence Murphy. Now Murphy hires a large group of gunmen led by bounty hunter Dan Nodeen played by Christopher George.Other crooked cowboys on Murphys payroll include Jess Evans (Richard Jaeckel), Riker (Gregg Palmer) and even a dirty sheriff named Brady (Bruce Cabot). But with any great western the good guys need to prevail and on Chisum's side he has Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett), young gunslinger Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel) and Chisum's old friend and ride'em cowboy James Pepper played by the versatile actor Ben Johnson. This western also have some lovely ladies in the mix with with Sue McSween (Lynda Day George)and Chisum's niece Sally (Pamela McMyler) who just came to New Mexico to live with her uncle John Chisum. So the movie pits the old and ornery John Chisum against a land stealing scoundrel named Lawrence Murphy. Of course there will be fisticuffs, beer and whiskey drinking cowboys, guns a blazing to keep the action of a good western intact. But we do have a decent storyline pitting a fair and understanding land baron in John Chisum (John Wayne) who isn't afraid to resort to the tactics that helped him gain his land over the past 40 years, and a loyal group of fast guns loyal to Chisum in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to counter the gunslingers who want to steal Chisum's land by way of the gun. Chisum is a classic John Wayne western that will not disappoint. I give it a strong 8 out of 10 and Mrs. Sullivan also gave it two thumbs up.
Maybe it is because I grew up with watching John Wayne (my father was a big fan of western movies) but I still really like these old goodies with John Wayne. Actually there are few movies with John Wayne that I do not like even though all of them are rather outdated in this age of overkill action and special effects.This is definitely one of the better ones. John Wayne is doing what he does best. That is playing a slightly grumpy, hard-hitting cowboy. The role of Chisum is really perfect for John Wayne. That is not to say that the others are not doing a decent performance but it is really John Wayne that makes this movie.The movie itself is a fairly standard land-grabbing, cattle-steeling and bullying western story were two men spend most of the movie working themselves towards the final confrontation which, as good western tradition prescribes, involves a hearty exchange of gunfire. Just for good measure a bit of fist fighting was thrown in as well.There is nothing special with the story, there is nothing special with the acting, there is nothing special with the footage. It is just that everything is what I would expect, or at least hope for, in this kind of movie. The entire movie is just right in some old-fashioned way. The fact that the ending is reasonably happy is of course an additional plus.This movie is simply great uncomplicated entertainment.