Chisum (1970)

Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County land war.

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer:

Andrew J. Fenady

Stars:

John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

Storyline

As one of the founders of the town of Lincoln, John Chisum is increasingly worried as Lawrence Murphy moves in on the local stores, bank and land by questionable means. Chisum and fellow honest ranch owner Henry Tunstall try and use the law, but Murphy owns that too. Confrontation threatens and Tunstall's man Billy Bonney is not slow to get involved.

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Plot Keywords:

cattle baron | pat garrett | bank | billy the kid | cattle | 

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Taglines:

THE HERO - John Wayne is "Chisum"

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Genres:

Biography | Western

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

29 July 1970 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ben istersem yasarsin

Filming Locations:

Century Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

$6,000,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, Batjac Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Although they met some time earlier Christopher George and Lynda Day George fell in love and later married after working on this project.

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Goofs

Tunstall and Billy Bonney are standing by their horses and talking to Jess Evans, who has just ridden in to town. In three consecutive shots of the scene, Tunstall alternately has his pipe in his mouth, after which it is gone, and then re-appears.

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Quotes

Neemo: So if you want these horses, I sell them to you. Did you bring some gold with you?
John Simpson Chisum: No.
Neemo: Silver?
John Simpson Chisum: Just lead!

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Connections

Featured in Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

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Soundtracks

"Ballad of John Chisum"
Performed by Merle Haggard
Lyrics by Andrew J. Fenady
Music by Dominic Frontiere

User Reviews

John Chisum Meets Billy `The Kid'

As much as I like this movie…

…what its storyline does, especially as it gets further along, is simply to re-tell the story of Billy `The Kid' Bonney. It supposed to take place after Chisum has made that famous cattle-drive and shows the start of the Lincoln County war. Towards the end, the battle between Chisum and Murphy (the war) is completely set aside and we end up seeing all the same things happen to Billy that we've already seen in all the other movies about him, i.e., his relationship with Tunstall, meeting Pat Garrett and becoming friends (at first, then their falling out, well, kinda), him getting revenge on everybody, and the ol' shootout at McSween's store. The movie alters history in some interesting ways, though, like instead of the U.S. Army helping the sheriff (a fictitious character that replaces Brady) during the McSween's store shootout, Chisum becomes the cavalry and he and Pat Garrett help Billy out. The movie ends rather abruptly, never letting us know what happens to Chisum, Billy or the Lincoln County war.