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The War Wagon

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = The War Wagon

| image = War Wagon film poster.jpg

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| border = yes

| producer = Marvin Schwartz

| director = Burt Kennedy

| writer = Clair Huffaker (based on his novel 'Badman')

| starring =

| music = Dimitri Tiomkin

| cinematography = William H. Clothier

| editing =

| studio = Batjac Productions
Marvin Schwarz Productions

| distributor = Universal Pictures

| released =

| runtime = 101 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| gross = $9,528,000"Big Rental Films of 1967", 'Variety', 3 January 1968 p 25. Please note these figures refer to rentals accruing to the distributors.

}}

'The War Wagon' is a 1967 American Western heist film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Released by Universal Pictures, it was produced by Marvin Schwartz and adapted by Clair Huffaker from his own novel. The supporting cast includes Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn, Bruce Cabot, Joanna Barnes, Valora Noland, Bruce Dern, and Gene Evans. The film received generally positive reviews.

Filming took place in Sierra de rganos National Park in the town of Sombrerete, Mexico.

Plot





Rancher Taw Jackson returns to his hometown to settle the score with Frank Pierce, a corrupt businessman who, three years earlier, got him wrongfully imprisoned and appropriated his land to gain access to a recently-discovered deposit of gold. Jackson plans to steal an upcoming $500,000-shipment of gold dust from Pierce's "war wagon", an armored stagecoach surrounded by guards on horseback, getting his information from Wes Fletcher, an elderly wagon driver employed by Pierce to transport dry goods. The third member Jackson recruits for his five-man team is Lomax, a gunslinger and safecracker who shot Jackson as part of Pierce's earlier plot.

The fourth team member is Levi Walking Bear, a Kiowa translator, who Jackson and Lomax rescue from a gang of Mexican bandits. Jackson then sends Lomax to pick up the final member, Billy Hyatt, a teenage drunkard and explosives expert. When the team first meets to discuss their plan, Fletcher brings his teenage "wife" Kate along and flies into a jealous rage when Hyatt gives her some coffee.

Jackson and Levi negotiate with the Kiowas and, because Pierce is starving the tribe so he can take their land once they leave, they agree to help. Meanwhile, Lomax rides into town and is approached in a saloon by Pierce, who offers him $12,000 to kill Jackson. Hyatt, drunk, enters, and Lomax knocks him unconscious and gets him thrown in jail for the night when he starts to brag about the upcoming robbery. Lomax tells Pierce that he accepts the man's offer.

In the morning, Jackson sends Hyatt to Fletcher's farm. Hyatt finds Kate alone, and she reveals that her poor parents had traded her to Fletcher. Fletcher returns and threatens Hyatt with a knife, but Jackson arrives in time to defuse the situation.

Hyatt says he wants to use nitroglycerin for his part of the heist, so he, Jackson, and Lomax sneak onto Jackson's old ranch to steal some from Pierce, who now lives there. Jackson keeps Pierce distracted by pretending to collect some of his old things, while Lomax and Hyatt crack a safe and take the explosives.

The next day, Hyatt rigs a bridge with bottles of nitro, Levi blocks the war wagon's route with a felled tree, Lomax and Jackson set up a booby trap in a narrow gorge, and Pierce and his guards set out with the gold in the war wagon. Kiowa warriors create a distraction that briefly draws off the wagon's mounted guards, causing them to be just far enough behind that they are stranded on the other side of a canyon when the bridge explodes behind the wagon. Some more Kiowa warriors attack the wagon to get the gold for themselves, but a newly-installed Gatling gun forces them to retreat.

The fallen tree diverts the wagon into the gorge, and Jackson and Lomax spring their trap, killing the drivers. Pierce shoots the last two of his men when they try to desert him, but the second shoots back as he dies, killing Pierce. The wagon crashes into a gulch, and Jackson's team hides the gold dust in some barrels of flour on Fletcher's cart. Kiowa warriors arrive and Fletcher is killed when he attempts to stop them from taking the gold, but Hyatt manages to use the last bottle of nitro to kill the chief and scare the remaining warriors away. The explosion spooks the cart horses and, as they run, the flour barrels fall off and break open next to a group of Kiowas who are leaving their land. Unaware that there is gold mixed in, they gather up the flour to feed themselves.

Jackson reaches the cart first and finds, in a hidden compartment, $100,000 worth of gold that Fletcher was going to steal from his partners. Thinking they have lost everything, Levi returns to the Kiowas and Lomax angrily takes Jackson's horse as payment. When Hyatt arrives with Kate, Jackson gives them a small amount of the dust. He hides the rest, which protects him after Lomax finds out about its existence (or, at least, will until after he, as planned, reunites the gang in six months to divide the loot).

Cast



* John Wayne as Taw Jackson

* Kirk Douglas as Lomax

* Howard Keel as Levi Walking Bear

* Robert Walker Jr. as Billy Hyatt

* Keenan Wynn as Wes Fletcher

* Bruce Cabot as Frank Pierce

* Joanna Barnes as Lola

* Valora Noland as Kate Fletcher

* Bruce Dern as Hammond

* Gene Evans as Deputy Hoag

* Terry Wilson as Sheriff Strike

* Don Collier as Shack

* Sheb Wooley as Snyder

* Ann McCrea as Felicia

* Emilio Fernndez as Calita

* Frank McGrath as Bartender

* Chuck Roberson as Brown

* Red Morgan as Early

* Hal Needham as Hite

* Marco Antonio as Chief Wild Horse

* Perla Walter as Rosita

Production



The film was based on the 1957 novel 'Badman' by Clair Huffaker. In September 1962, he announced he would adapt 'Badman' into a script at Producers Studio for his own Lucifer Productions (they were also going to make 'Guns of Rio Conchos', 'The Day Before Tomorrow', and 'Ship on Highway 7'), but the project eventually went to Universal. Huffaker said that, while he had written the novel in ten days, he spent three months writing the screenplay. Because 'Badman' was the eleventh book that Huffaker had sold to a film studio, Trident Publishing put him under contract to write a book a year for five years.

In June 1966, John Wayne announced he had signed a two-picture deal with Universal, the movies being 'The War Wagon' and 'The Green Berets'. This film would be a co-production between Wayne's company, Batjac, and producer Marvin Schwartz.

The following month, it was announced that Kirk Douglas would play the co-starring role in the film and Burt Kennedy would direct. The extensive second-unit stunt work for the film was supervised by Cliff Lyons.

Filming took place in Durango, Mexico, and at Churubusco Studios in Mexico City, starting on September 19, 1966, and lasting 12 weeks. About the shoot, Wayne said: "We're gaining a day every week. This combined Hollywood and Mexican crew is great. If we can come home a week under schedule, we'll all be home with our families for turkey dinner." Huffaker was present on set for the first and last three weeks of production and, while there, made a number of changes to the script. Kennedy said he let Wayne direct himself in the film.

Reception



Box office



The film debuted in first place at the domestic box office. It grossed $9,563,000 in total, making it a success (one account called it a "smash success").

Critical response

'The War Wagon' was met with generally positive reviews from critics and holds a 90% "Fresh" score on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 10 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars, calling it "that comparative rarity, a Western filmed with quiet good humor. It is also a point of departure for John Wayne, who plays a bad guy for just about the first time in his career."

Comic book adaptation



* Dell Movie Classic: 'The War Wagon' (September 1967)

See also



* List of American films of 1967

* John Wayne filmography

Notes



References




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