CHISUM (1970, USA, 111m, PG) ***
Western
dist. Warner Bros. (USA), Warner-Pathé Distributors (UK); pr co. Warner Bros. Pictures / Batjac Productions; d. Andrew V. McLaglen; w. Andrew J. Fenady; pr. Andrew J. Fenady; ph. William H. Clothier (Technicolor | 2.39:1); m. Dominic Frontiere; ed. Robert L. Simpson; ad. Carl Anderson.
cast: John Wayne (John Chisum), Forrest Tucker (Lawrence Murphy), Christopher George (Dan Nodeen), Ben Johnson (James Pepper), Glenn Corbett (Pat Garrett), Andrew Prine (Alex McSween), Bruce Cabot (Sheriff Brady), Patric Knowles (Henry Tunstall), Richard Jaeckel (Jess Evans), Lynda Day George (Sue McSween (as Lynda Day)), Geoffrey Deuel (Billy ‘The Kid’ Bonney), Pamela McMyler (Sallie Chisum), John Agar (Amos Patton), Lloyd Battista (Neemo), Robert Donner (Bradley Morton), Ray Teal (Justice J.B. Wilson), Edward Faulkner (James J. Dolan), Ron Soble (Charley Bowdre), John Mitchum (Baker), Glenn Langan (Colonel Nathan Dudley).
Kind-hearted, fatherly John Chisum (Wayne) owns a large ranch in Lincoln County, New Mexico, in the 1870s. With the help of his faithful sidekick, Pepper (Johnson), and a hot-headed young ranch hand nicknamed Billy the Kid (Deuel), Chisum does battle with underhanded land developer Lawrence Murphy (Tucker). Having bought up most of the nearby town and appointed his own corrupt sheriff (Cabot), Murphy now has his eye on Chisum’s ranch. One of the best of Wayne’s latter-day Westerns. It may not be historically accurate, but it makes for solid entertainment with a sharp script. McLaglen directs with style and a great visual sense of landscape. Johnson scores as Wayne’s mumbling sidekick. Wonderful score by Frontiere.
