MacKenna's Gold (1969)
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/Super Panavision 136m
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Julie Newmar
Synopsis:
Various parties, including the Apache whose territory it occupies, compete for possession of a legendary seam of gold, the secret location of which is purportedly held by their hostage, a sheriff who found an old map on a dead Indian.
Review:
Surely Carl Foreman's most embarrassing production was this lazily directed gold lust Western, in which Peck shamefacedly havers between alpha male and sugar daddy, and the two prime movers appear to be Sharif's treachery and Newmar's lust. Like many films of the decade (It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Great Race), this one's undoing is over-inflation: too many stars, too many characters, too many minutes! Hence a slew of guest stars who are briefly introduced then summarily despatched, and some truly appalling visual effects, including back projection, miniatures, 'undercranking' and sloppy editing. Along the way there is a lot of talk, all of it dull in the extreme, interspersed with Victor Jory's 'old timer' narration, and some spectacle provided by the Grand Canyon and adjacent territories, until, that is, the screenplay ends up in the Valley of Gwangi with a version of the Grand Old Duke of York. The most laughable climax is provided by a face-off between Sharif and Peck in which the former, who has just demonstrated that he can knife an Indian at five paces, fails more than a dozen times to make contact with a tomahawk at close range.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/Super Panavision 136m
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Julie Newmar
Synopsis:
Various parties, including the Apache whose territory it occupies, compete for possession of a legendary seam of gold, the secret location of which is purportedly held by their hostage, a sheriff who found an old map on a dead Indian.
Review:
Surely Carl Foreman's most embarrassing production was this lazily directed gold lust Western, in which Peck shamefacedly havers between alpha male and sugar daddy, and the two prime movers appear to be Sharif's treachery and Newmar's lust. Like many films of the decade (It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Great Race), this one's undoing is over-inflation: too many stars, too many characters, too many minutes! Hence a slew of guest stars who are briefly introduced then summarily despatched, and some truly appalling visual effects, including back projection, miniatures, 'undercranking' and sloppy editing. Along the way there is a lot of talk, all of it dull in the extreme, interspersed with Victor Jory's 'old timer' narration, and some spectacle provided by the Grand Canyon and adjacent territories, until, that is, the screenplay ends up in the Valley of Gwangi with a version of the Grand Old Duke of York. The most laughable climax is provided by a face-off between Sharif and Peck in which the former, who has just demonstrated that he can knife an Indian at five paces, fails more than a dozen times to make contact with a tomahawk at close range.
Country: US
Technical: Technicolor/Super Panavision 136m
Director: J. Lee Thompson
Cast: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Julie Newmar
Synopsis:
Various parties, including the Apache whose territory it occupies, compete for possession of a legendary seam of gold, the secret location of which is purportedly held by their hostage, a sheriff who found an old map on a dead Indian.
Review:
Surely Carl Foreman's most embarrassing production was this lazily directed gold lust Western, in which Peck shamefacedly havers between alpha male and sugar daddy, and the two prime movers appear to be Sharif's treachery and Newmar's lust. Like many films of the decade (It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, The Great Race), this one's undoing is over-inflation: too many stars, too many characters, too many minutes! Hence a slew of guest stars who are briefly introduced then summarily despatched, and some truly appalling visual effects, including back projection, miniatures, 'undercranking' and sloppy editing. Along the way there is a lot of talk, all of it dull in the extreme, interspersed with Victor Jory's 'old timer' narration, and some spectacle provided by the Grand Canyon and adjacent territories, until, that is, the screenplay ends up in the Valley of Gwangi with a version of the Grand Old Duke of York. The most laughable climax is provided by a face-off between Sharif and Peck in which the former, who has just demonstrated that he can knife an Indian at five paces, fails more than a dozen times to make contact with a tomahawk at close range.