The Train Robbers (1973)

Director:

Burt Kennedy

Writer:

Burt Kennedy (written by)

Release Date:

7 February 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

The gold or the grave. The young widow could lead them to either.

Plot:

A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start fresh. |

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Train | Beautiful Woman

Cast

John Wayne	...	Lane
Ann-Margret	...	Mrs. Lowe
Rod Taylor	...	Grady
Ben Johnson	...	Jesse
Christopher George	...	Calhoun
Bobby Vinton	...	Ben Young
Jerry Gatlin	...	Sam Turner
Ricardo Montalban	...	The Pinkerton man

Directed by
Burt Kennedy

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Burt Kennedy		written by

Produced by
Michael Wayne	....	producer

Original Music by
Dominic Frontiere

Cinematography by
William H. Clothier

Film Editing by
Frank Santillo

Art Direction by
Alfred Sweeney

Set Decoration by
Ray Moyer

Makeup Department
Joe DiBella	....	makeup artist
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist (as David Grayson)
George Masters	....	hairstyling creator: Ann-Margret
George Masters	....	makeup creator: Ann-Margret

Production Management
Nate H. Edwards	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred R. Simpson	....	assistant director (as Fred Simpson)

Art Department
Jerry Graham	....	property

Sound Department
Dan Wallin	....	sound re-recording mixer (uncredited)
Dan Wallin	....	sound (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Howard Jensen	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Albert Whitlock	....	special photographic effects

Stunts
Cliff Lyons	....	stunt coordinator
Denny Arnold	....	stunts (uncredited)
Jim Burk	....	stunts (uncredited)
Louie Elias	....	stunts (uncredited)
Glory Fioramonti	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Hayward	....	stunts (uncredited)
Terry Leonard	....	stunts (uncredited)
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Dave Sutton	....	still photographer

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Luster Bayless	....	wardrobe

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer (uncredited)

Transportation Department
George Coleman	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer: main titles
Marshall J. Wolins	....	script supervisor (as Marshall Wolins)
'Chema' Hernandez	....	head wrangler (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Batjac Productions

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1973) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia-Warner Distributors (1973) (UK) (theatrical)
• Warner-Columbia Filmverleih (1973) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• AB4 (2004) (Belgium) (TV)
• National Broadcasting Company (NBC) (1975) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (1993) (USA) (VHS)
• Warner Home Video (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Burbank Studios  production services and equipment

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:U | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

John Wayne's and Ann-Margret's character names, "Lane" and "Mrs. Lowe," are the same as Wayne's and Geraldine Page's characters' names in Hondo (1953).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As the gang is searching for a sand-covered railroad track in a sand storm they have yet to find anything. Yet behind them, to the right of the picture, as the camera moves to the right slightly, we get a clear view of the camera dolly track, shiny and sand-free.

Quotes:

Calhoun: What about the woman?
Lane: What about her?
Calhoun: She part of it?
Lane: She's all of it.
Calhoun: What's that supposed to mean?
Lane: None of your damn business.

Movie Connections:

Featured in John Wayne: Working with a Western Legend (2005) (V)

Burt Kennedy's Most Perfect Feature Film.

I was in college when I first saw THE TRAIN ROBBERS. I was already a die hard John Wayne fan. I followed his later career with great interest. Since due to the political climate of the day one was not the most popular individual on a campus declaring the fact that you liked this star's work. I didn't simply declare this fact. I shouted it from the rooftops. I dragged all my friends to see this picture because I felt it both reflected the best of Duke's earlier work and still stayed consistent with the aging hero he was portraying. Burt Kennedy's lean and taut script reminded me of the best of his work on the Randolph Scott and Budd Boetticher westerns of the fifties. The simple yarn of Ann-Margret hiring John Wayne and his crew of Ben Johnson, Rod Taylor,Christopher George, Jerry Gatlin and Bobby Vinton to recover half a million dollars in stolen gold is very simple in it's directness. They are are gunmen who just stay on the right side of the law. If they were japanese they could almost be described as landless sellswords or ronin. They exist simply from job to job. The status quo for Lane John Wayne's character is changed by the presence of the woman. Mrs. Lowe, He finds himself sexually attracted to Mrs. Lane, a woman young enough to be his daughter yet still capable of reminding him of the things he's lost in his life.Ann-Margret's character is curious about Lane who won't or more importantly can't talk about himself. Ben Johnson's character Jesse fills in the the necessary exposition but never tells more than he immediately has to. Burt Kennedy also plays with his audience. In BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID George Roy Hill has his leads chased by faceless men that they eventually are able to identify. In THE TRAIN ROBBERS our crew is chased by nameless men we never get to identify, people who remain throughout the film as a constant unknown quantity. This is a situation I don't recall ever seeing before in an A grade Wayne western. There is a scene toward the end of the film where Mrs. Lowe makes an overture to Lane which he reluctantly rejects. He feels he is too old to have feelings of this nature. The film starts to proceed to what might be considered a predictable conclusion. Burt Kennedy does not oblige. He gives us a surprise ending that totally satisfies on each and every viewing. There are other considerable assets to this project. Dominic Frontiere's score is a rouser. The opening of the film and the first fifteen minutes contain no score at all. All of a sudden we have an expansive score on the par with Alfred Newman's HOW THE WEST WAS WON or Jerome Moross's THE BIG COUNTRY. The only other score Mr. Frontiere ever delivered on a par with this film was Ted Post's HANG'EM HIGH. The other major contributor to this project was William H Clothier superb cinematography. This was the last of his 17 collaborations with the Duke and no movie ever looked cleaner or sharper. I know this film has many detractors. Everyone is entitled to his opinion but I feel this is on the high end of Duke's later work. As for Burt Kennedy I feel he delivered a movie even Howard Hawks would have liked to claim as his own.