Mackenna's Gold (1969)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

J. Lee Thompson

Writers:

Heck Allen (novel)
Carl Foreman (screenplay)

Release Date:

10 May 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Tagline:

A GIANT OF A MOVIE

Plot:

The gangster Colorado kidnaps Marshal McKenna. He believes that McKenna has seen a map which leads to...

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Marshal | Cavalry | Buzzard | Canyon

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	MacKenna
Omar Sharif	...	Colorado
Telly Savalas	...	Sgt. Tibbs
Camilla Sparv	...	Inga Bergmann
Keenan Wynn	...	Sanchez
Julie Newmar	...	Hesh-Ke
Ted Cassidy	...	Hachita
Lee J. Cobb	...	The Editor
Raymond Massey	...	The Preacher
Burgess Meredith	...	The Storekeeper
Anthony Quayle	...	Older Englishman
Edward G. Robinson	...	Old Adams
Eli Wallach	...	Ben Baker
Eduardo Ciannelli	...	Prairie Dog
Dick Peabody	...	Avifa

Runtime:

128 min | UK:136 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (Westrex Recording System) (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (f) (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:M | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Arizona, USA

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

One of George Lucas's projects while a student in film school was documenting the making of this film. While he was on set, he actually made suggestions (which were used) on how to rehearse and shoot some scenes.

Goofs:

Factual errors: As the sun rises, the shadow of shaking rock grows longer. In reality the shadow should become shorter as the sun rises higher.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Mummy (1999)

Soundtrack:

Old Turkey Buzzard

A beautiful western with a moral

This colorful, sprawling western is enjoyable with an admonition that greed and gold fever lead to death and destruction. Mackenna is the central figure who is believed to know the secret location of a hidden canyon of gold that the Apaches have decreed as taboo and off-limits to outsiders, especially to gold-crazed palefaces. Settlers, the U.S. cavalry, Apaches and a Mexican bandit get involved in the search for the gold, and the movie offers the usual conflicts, chases, double-crosses and gun-play. The towering, majestic mesas, cliffs and gloomy, forbidding canyons of Utah and Arizona are a delight to behold. Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif top a great cast of major Hollywood stars weigh in with cameo appearances.