MacKenna's Gold
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Movie Reviews of MacKenna's Gold
Movie Review: A Fun Western
Summary: 4 Stars
I loved this movie. I always had a thirst for lost gold and buried treasure and this flick quenches my thirst, what's more it is just great fun. Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif are good guy-bad guy. A few cameos by Eli Wallach, Burgess Meredith and Edward G. Robinson. The only hokie parts are when they stop at a watering hole and take a swim in obviously Hollywood doctored water,and some minaturized earthquake scenes. Overall though this movie is great escapism.Movie Review: Oh chicken buzzard.
Summary: 4 Stars
I love this movie! The opening song the shakeing bridge and the wall of gold. The picture quality was ok. I wish it were in wide screen. Missing alot of scenery. I liked the camera mounted to the mule effect. If you want something to watch thats fun.
get this movie!
Movie Review: Mackenna's Cheese
Summary: 3 Stars
Lord help us if, in the vastness of space, aliens pick up a digital broadcast of this film and respond in either of two ways: A) They hate it for its wretched excess and Hollywoodization of a potentially good Western and seek to destroy Earth for its abominations, or
B) They love it for its wretched excess and Hollywoodization of a potentially great Western and seek to enslave Earth to produce more cheesy Oaters of its ilk.
Mackenna's Gold is an extremely good novel by Will Henry, but as a movie, it's as if some foreigners with only a vague idea about Westerns filmed it. It begins promising, despite the Disneyesque Quincy Jones turkey-vulture song, but swiftly descends to cheese as Gregory Peck (who oughta know better!) quick-draws on an Indian a hundred yards away and FANS his six-gun. He promptly hits the chief (oh,please!),mortally wounding him, for which the chief gratefully gives him a map to unimaginable wealth, and hijinks ensue. Another gawdawful scene has poor Keenan Wynn (who must be wishing by this time he was far away in Spain, making an Italian piece of crap instead) spontaneously erupting into some kind of fandango-speaking in tongues-South Pacific "dance" while the distinguished guest star cast watches in stupefication. This, I am guessing, HAD to be a dare proposed to Mr. Wynn to liven up the screen for the dozing audience, and by gosh, he did it! And yet more to consider to the theory that the heat of those Arizona deserts had driven the director off his rocker is the "gettin' nekkid" waterhole scene displaying more of Omar Sharif than Julie Newmar! Our misguided editor continually shows us (kids, avert your pea-pickin' eyes!) a fully-focused and buck naked (but legs demurely crossed-LIKE ANY ROUGHASRAWHIDE KILLER WESTERN OUTLAW I'M SURE DOES!!)Omar, while the nubile Miss Newmar is only questionably visible. Can there be any real justice in the world when the Powers-That-Be make decisions like that?
Now, before I am lynched by lovers of this flick, let me say a few good words over it. Peck, Miss Sparv, and Ted Cassidy are well cast. They fit the characters in the novel quite well. And the movie is, overall, a hoot. Well, that didn't take long. Now back to the bad and ugly parts. Eli Wallach or Telly Savalas should have had Sharif's role. Either of them can be far more menacing. And what is the point of all those "gentlemen of Hadleyburg"? They had a purpose in the book even though they were fewer in number and less distracting to the plot. Only one of them mattered-a Tom Horn character. If the movie had retained him it could have made a real interesting star-in-cameo role-perhaps for James Garner (who come to think of it-if the movie were truer to the book-would have made a perfect Mackenna). Yes, as is, Mackenna's Gold is sort of fun to watch and I own a tape of it, but if you ever read Will Henry's book, you'll see the Hollywood hacks really made a mess of it.
Meanwhile, look to the skies!
Movie Review: Over-the-top crazy western with huge cast
Summary: 3 Stars
Mackenna's Gold is a western that has a lot going for it, but it's a movie that never really figures out how to put it all together. Out on the trail, Mackenna, a marshal in the town of Hadleyburg, is ambushed by an old Apache man and has to kill him. But before the old man dies, he tells Mackenna of the location of the "canyon del oro," the canyon of gold. The marshal's wary, but before he can get away he's captured by a bandit named Colorado and his gang who've been tracking the Apache. Using Mackenna as their guide, the gang heads for the mythical gold canyon, on the way encountering cavalry, an Apache war party, and a do-good posse out of Hadleyburg. Even at 128 minutes, all these storylines don't blend well together. It's like the producers and directors just threw it all together and hoped it would work. There is enough to recommend, great cast if somewhat mishandled and great locations, but don't go in thinking this is a great western.
Leading a huge cast, Gregory Peck is Mackenna, the straight-laced marshal roped into helping a bandit find the gold canyon. Peck is good, if somewhat out of place because he's so serious throughout. Omar Sharif is the high point of the movie as Colorado, a mysterious but cutthroat bandit, who's still likable, completely driven by the thought of millions in gold. An underused Telly Savalas plays Sgt. Tibbs, a cavalryman who'll turn on anyone. Colorado's gang includes Keenan Wynn, Ted Cassidy, Rudy Diaz, Robert Phillips, and Dick Peabody. Julie Newmar and Camilla Sparv are there for eye-candy, with Newmar doing a memorable nude swimming scene. The posse out of Hadleyburg is a crazy list of great actors including Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle, Raymond Massey, and Edward G. Robinson among others. But don't blink, these cameos are quick which is a shame as characters are wiped out left and right.
The DVD is a bit of a disappointment with the standard presentation of the movie, and not that great of a pan-n-scan movie with some fairly obvious scratches. The special features are a let down as well with some talent files in menu-form for cast and crew, a theatrical poster (not a trailer, just a small picture of a poster), and trailers for The Guns of Navarone and Lawrence of Arabia, but not Mackenna's Gold. By no means a classic western, but still an entertaining one, I'd recommend renting this one, or at least looking for a cheap copy.
Movie Review: A curious serial-like Western melodrama packed with stars and pretensions above its situation...
Summary: 3 Stars
The film opens with a narration by Victor Jory about an Apache legend: a hidden canyon, guarded by the Apache gods and rich with gold... As long as the Apaches kept the canyon a secret and never touched the gold, they would be strong and powerful...
Marshal Mackenna (Gregory Peck) wasted three years chasing that wild goose... He immediately knew the place and identified it as 'Shaking Rock' but insisted to the old Apache dying chief who was keeping the map that there is no gold around there: "The only dust I found was prairie dust!"
Before the chief dies, Mackenna destroys the map, confident it is a myth...
When the ludicrous Mexican bandit Colorado (Omar Sharif) appears on the scene with his gang, and discovers the useless burned map, he took Mackenna--his living map--to his hideout in a little box canyon and forced him to lead him to the legendary canyon...
Colorado's gang includes Hesh-Ke (Julie Newmar), an attractively jealous Apache woman who was once involved with Mackenna, Hachita (Ted Cassidy), a strong and deadly Apache warrior, and a captive girl called Inga (Camilla Sparv), daughter of a murdered judge who put a price on Colorado's head...
Along the way, the group is joined by 'good' citizens, dirty scheming ambitious men, a lot of bronco Apaches on the prowl, and the U.S. Cavalry after anybody and everybody... Probably after the gold too...
"Mackenna's Gold" remains a curious serial-like Western melodrama packed with stars and pretensions above its situation... The script completely wastes the fine cast... On a lower level, it is quite enjoyable... Julie Newmar is a delight, a natural beauty and a distinct "presence" that immediately captivates the audience... There are scenic location shots of the vastness of the desert, exciting action scenes, pretty spectacular scenes of danger but all hampered by frustrating special effects...