Not Quite a Miss-Fire,
but this Western is Mostly a Go-thru-the-Motions Paycheck for the Name Cast, Director, and Crew.
The Mystery-Angle is Mentioned ad-nauseum Whenever this Title Rears its Lazy-Head.
You can Go Down the Stellar Cast and Check-Off the Names that are Miss-Cast or Barely Show any Energy.
Just Another Day, Another Movie, and Another Dud of a Western from the Period.
The Time Between the Sergio Leone Trilogy and Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (1969) was a Waste-Land.
With very Few Exceptions, one is Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West".
The 1950's had Drained Every Drop of Blood from the Genre,
with the Devastating Over-Exposure on the Big and Small Screens, Westerns were Decidedly 'Out-of-Favor".
America's Involvement in a Real "Shoot em' Up" ( The Vietnam War),
was Infecting the "Soul" of Patriots and Protestors Alike on a Daily In-Your-Face Onslaught of Media Exposure, also
Didn't Do the Genre Any Favors.
This One is just One More of the Sorry Output Hollywood Shamelessly Foisted on the Movie-Going Public, and Not Many Fans or Critics were Pleased.
With the Hollywood Studio System Drawing its Final Breath, it would Soon be Relieved of its "Death-Bed" Gasps at Creativity.
Not the Worst Big-Studio Western Ever Made.
But, Overall it's Embarrassing and can be put on the Pile with the Other Westerns that Tried, but the Heart of the Genre had Stopped Beating.
Have No Fear, Because the Very Next Year one of the Best Westerns Ever Made would Resuscitate and Give Hope to All Movie Western Fans,
and it Took a Maverick Director's Love for the Genre and an Incredible, Not-Easily-Forgotten Film to Revisit the Movie Western.
It Literally would Inject New-Blood and a New-Style to the Old 'Work-Horse".
Of Course, that would be the Aforementioned Sam Peckinpah and His Movie Masterpiece, "The Wild Bunch".
but this Western is Mostly a Go-thru-the-Motions Paycheck for the Name Cast, Director, and Crew.
The Mystery-Angle is Mentioned ad-nauseum Whenever this Title Rears its Lazy-Head.
You can Go Down the Stellar Cast and Check-Off the Names that are Miss-Cast or Barely Show any Energy.
Just Another Day, Another Movie, and Another Dud of a Western from the Period.
The Time Between the Sergio Leone Trilogy and Peckinpah's "The Wild Bunch" (1969) was a Waste-Land.
With very Few Exceptions, one is Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West".
The 1950's had Drained Every Drop of Blood from the Genre,
with the Devastating Over-Exposure on the Big and Small Screens, Westerns were Decidedly 'Out-of-Favor".
America's Involvement in a Real "Shoot em' Up" ( The Vietnam War),
was Infecting the "Soul" of Patriots and Protestors Alike on a Daily In-Your-Face Onslaught of Media Exposure, also
Didn't Do the Genre Any Favors.
This One is just One More of the Sorry Output Hollywood Shamelessly Foisted on the Movie-Going Public, and Not Many Fans or Critics were Pleased.
With the Hollywood Studio System Drawing its Final Breath, it would Soon be Relieved of its "Death-Bed" Gasps at Creativity.
Not the Worst Big-Studio Western Ever Made.
But, Overall it's Embarrassing and can be put on the Pile with the Other Westerns that Tried, but the Heart of the Genre had Stopped Beating.
Have No Fear, Because the Very Next Year one of the Best Westerns Ever Made would Resuscitate and Give Hope to All Movie Western Fans,
and it Took a Maverick Director's Love for the Genre and an Incredible, Not-Easily-Forgotten Film to Revisit the Movie Western.
It Literally would Inject New-Blood and a New-Style to the Old 'Work-Horse".
Of Course, that would be the Aforementioned Sam Peckinpah and His Movie Masterpiece, "The Wild Bunch".