Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writers:

Barney Slater (story)
Harry Julian Fink (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

11 July 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Break the law and he's the last man you want to see. And the last you ever will.

Plot:

J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks...

Plot Keywords:

Hanging | Son | Father Son Relationship | Bank Robbery | Small Town

Cast

John Wayne	...	U.S. Marshal J.D. Cahill
George Kennedy	...	Abe Fraser
Neville Brand	...	Lightfoot, Half-breed Comanche tracker
Gary Grimes	...	Danny Cahill
Walter Barnes	...	Sheriff Grady, Valentine Texas
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Hank, Jailer at Jefferson Davis County Jail
Pepper Martin	...	Hard Case
Paul Fix	...	Old Man, Outlaw
Scott Walker	...	Ben Tildy, Outlaw
Jackie Coogan	...	Charlie Smith, Town Drunk
Denver Pyle	...	Denver, Danny & Billy Joe's caretaker
Marie Windsor	...	Mrs. Hetty Green
Rayford Barnes	...	Pee Wee Simser, Outlaw
Vance Davis	...	Negro
Dan Kemp	...	Joe Meehan, Outlaw

Also Known As:

Cahill (UK)
Cahill: United States Marshal (USA) (alternative spelling)
Wednesday Morning

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | Netherlands:12 | West Germany:12 (f) | UK:12 (video re-rating) (2003) | UK:15 (video re-rating) (1999) | UK:15 (video rating) (1988) | UK:AA (original rating) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | South Korea:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

Most of the scenes showing John Wayne riding from a distance were filmed with Chuck Roberson substituting for Wayne.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Many of the long shots of Cahill are obviously not John Wayne.

Quotes:

J.D. Cahill: Mister, I ain't got a bigoted bone in my body. You don't drop that axe I'll blast you to hell as quick as I would a white man.

Movie Connections:

Featured in U.S. Marshals: Justice Under the Star (1998) (V)

Soundtrack:

A Man Gets To Thinkin'

The Law of Average

In 1973, John Wayne continued making safe, similar westerns that

really did nothing to change the genre, except for his final film "The

Shootist." "Cahill- United States Marshal" falls into this sure

category.

Wayne is the title character, a tough U.S. marshal who is gone

from home a lot, letting his sons Gary Grimes and Clay O'Brien

fend for themselves. In order to get back at their dad, seventeen

year old Grimes and eleven year old O'Brien join with a gang led by

George Kennedy to rob the town bank. The group has a foolproof

plan- get themselves locked in jail, escape, rob the bank, then lock

themselves up again with a perfect alibi. The bank is robbed, but

Kennedy's empty promises about no one getting hurt are broken

as the sheriff and a deputy are killed. O'Brien is told to hide the

loot, and Grimes and his brother are threatened if they ever talk.

By this point, Wayne has returned to town, and takes Grimes to go

track the imaginary bank robbers. They do stumble upon a group

of outlaws, and these men are arrested and sentenced to hang.

Grimes and O'Brien must now work to get the hidden loot to

Kennedy, save the four innocent men, and look over their shoulder

as their father becomes more suspicious of their weird behavior.

People begin dying as the truth is slowly uncovered.

I have always liked John Wayne. He had huge screen presence

that has never been equalled. The voice, the stance, you know

right away when he is onscreen. Say what you want about the bad

film choices he made, and he made some doozies, even his

mediocre films are better than some of the cow plop Hollywood

passes out today.

"Cahill" is a good film, despite some flaws. There is never a scene

where Wayne finds out the truth about his criminally inclined

children, one second he doesn't know, the next second he does. I

would have liked to see him figure it out and react. Also, some of

McLaglen's action sequences are just plain stilted. Watch the

scene where Wayne catches a knife in his shoulder, barely

wincing, and knowing that the knife was already there when the

scene began. Same for the ridiculous owl-scares-kids scene, with

a large fake bird on some string.

Neville Brand, a name you may not know, but a face you have seen

in films before, is excellent here as Lightfoot, a half Comanche

tracker who fancies himself a great warrior. Denver Pyle, Jackie

Coogan, Royal Dano, and Paul Fix are all well known film

veterans, but are given just one or two scenes each and just a

handful of lines. Some of the gun scenes are bloody, but the gore

looks like bright red paint and is not convincing.

The entire film rests on John Wayne's shoulders, and he is up to

the task. He is very watchable, and does a good job in a role he

could have sleepwalked through. Thanks to his efforts, Brand, and

a twisty plot that makes this film seem shorter than an hour and

forty three minutes, I am going to recommend "Cahill- United

States Marshal."

This is rated (PG) and contains physical violence, strong gun

violence, gore, and mild profanity.