The War Wagon (1967)

Director:

Burt Kennedy

Writers:

Clair Huffaker (screenplay)
Clair Huffaker (novel)

Release Date:

27 May 1967 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Western

Tagline:

The War Wagon Rolls And The Screen Explodes!

Plot:

Taw Jackson returns from prison having survived being shot, to the ranch and gold that Frank Pierce stole from him...

Plot Keywords:

Gold Shipment | Caper | Robbery | Barroom Brawl | Native American Attack

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John Wayne	...	Taw Jackson
Kirk Douglas	...	Lomax
Howard Keel	...	Levi Walking Bear
Robert Walker Jr.	...	Billy Hyatt (as Robert Walker)
Keenan Wynn	...	Wes Fletcher
Bruce Cabot	...	Frank Pierce
Joanna Barnes	...	Lola
Valora Noland	...	Kate Fletcher
Bruce Dern	...	Hammond
Gene Evans	...	Deputy Hoag
Terry Wilson	...	Sheriff Strike
Don Collier	...	Shack
Sheb Wooley	...	Snyder
Ann McCrea	...	Felicia
Emilio Fernández	...	Calita (as Emilio Fernandez)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Australia:G (original rating) | Australia:PG (TV rating) | UK:U | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-12 | Norway:16 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

According to John Wayne, the fight in the saloon was his 500th on-screen fight.

Goofs:

Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Although he is able to speak and understand Spanish throughout the movie, Taw Jackson still needs an interpreter while bargaining with Wild Horse. Given that Wild Horse doesn't want "the white man" in his camp or at his dinner table, it is reasonable that he would refuse to bargain directly with him. Also, it may be that Jackson didn't want Wild Horse to know that he spoke and understood Spanish.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Hoag: Sheriff! Taw Jackson's back in town!
Sheriff Strike: You sure?
Hoag: Well, he's ridin' down the street right now, big as life.

Movie Connections:

Featured in ... A Father... A Son... Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Ballad of The War Wagon

Cool Western with a great cast

Take the idea of gold shipment transported by an impenetrable vehicle, armored, armed and escorted by a team of armed guards. Your goal, rob it.

Sounds like another bank job/caper flick starring Nick Cage or taking place in Vegas? Sure! But, make it an old time western, then cast John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Bruce Cabot, Bruce Dern, Keenan Wynn and Howard Keel as a Jewish Indian and you have the makings of a classic.

The War Wagon, complete with catchy title tune, is another notch in the Duke's gun for being dead on target for what his fans crave: A solid, stoic hero, framed, robbed of all his possessions and jailed by an evil banker (Cabot), he is released and vows revenge by stealing his regular gold dust shipment. The problem is that the gold is transported in the title vehicle, an armored stagecoach with gattling gun mounted on top; an unstoppable juggernaut escorted by two teams of riflemen and riders. Throw in Kirk Douglas as an old friend who's been hired to kill him, a drunken, shaky nitro expert, played by the ever pre-pubescent looking Robert Walker Jr., a half Jewish/Half-Indian compadre (Howard Keel), a bitter, miserly thief (Keenan Wynn), his young, enslaved wife (a luminescent Joanna Barnes, also a "Spartacus" alumni)), toss in typical Western scum like Bruce Dern, and you have a high adventure caper flick that will keep you entertained for the length of the picture.

The on-screen magic of Wayne and Douglas is never in better form than here, with all the usual hijinks the stars can pack into this epitome of the Saturday Matinee Action movie before they became techo-terrors of dueling visual effects.