This late John Wayne Western, best of his post TRUE GRIT work*, gives its ‘can’t-miss’ idea (Wayne is forced to use school boys on a cattle drive) a classy production*, with just enough sentiment & coming-of-age clichés to sustain an extended RoadShow running time, plus some unexpectedly tough action and John William’s superb score (now a regular on the concert circuit). Aimed at the Family Market, it was thought too violent on release, but time has desensitized that audience, mainstreaming the gore and revenge elements. Mark Rydell, an uneven director, is less coarse than usual, showing patience and care in setting up his scenes, thanks to a smartly structured script by Martin Ritt favorites Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank, along with Robert Surtees’ stunning location cinematography and a well-judged walking pace from William Wyler’s pet editor Robert Swink. Wayne hadn’t been as handsomely cosseted on a film in years, and never would be again. The boys are a winning lot, with problems simplified for easy confrontations & solutions; Bruce Dern’s villain vicious enough to earn the sadistic ending the boys dish out; and Roscoe Lee Browne a prince of a camp cook. (The script misses a trick by not developing a split between Wayne & Brown as surrogate father figures to the boys.) And it gives Wayne the memorable career wrap he may not have known he was looking for.
DOUBLE-BILL: *Later came rote Westerns; Dirty Harry wannabees; an embarrassing sequel to TRUE GRIT; and THE SHOOTIST/’76, a misfire career sum-up for Wayne from Don Siegel.
ATTENTION MUST BE PAID: *Well, classy except for Wayne’s typically over-optimistic toupée.
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