A Mexican bandit is about to be executed in the United States, so his brother takes over a train and holds the passengers as hostages unless his brother is released. Now both the Americans and Mexicans are baffled as to what to do. One of the passengers — who wrote the letter for their captor — has a suggestion: call mercenaries Hank Brackett and Johnny Reech. They do, and as expected they do come up with a plan, but the president of the railroad is not sure if it will work.
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Reviews
Excellent adaptation.
brilliant actors, brilliant editing
This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.
Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.
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-
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.
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
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.