The Spikes Gang (1974)

Director:

Richard Fleischer

Writers:

Irving Ravetch (screenplay) and
Harriet Frank Jr. (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

11 April 1974 (West Germany)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

Three boys wanted to be like their hero. Harry Spikes. They got their wish. Soon they were worth a fortune. DEAD or ALIVE.

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Runaway | Teenage Boy | Bank Robbery | Bank Robber | Street Shootout

Cast

Lee Marvin	...	Harry Spikes
Gary Grimes	...	Will
Ron Howard	...	Les
Charles Martin Smith	...	Tod (as Charlie Martin Smith)
Arthur Hunnicutt	...	Kid White
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Basset (as Noah Beery)
Marc Smith	...	Abel Young
Don Fellows	...	Cowboy
Elliott Sullivan	...	Billy
Robert Beatty	...	Sheriff (credit only)
Ralph Brown	...	Posse Leader
Bill Curran	...	Gillis
Ricardo Palacios	...	Doctor
David Thomson	...	Sheriff of Carrizo Springs
Bert Conway	...	Bank Teller
Adolfo Thous	...	Pawnbroker
Allen Russell	...	Morton (as Allen E. Russell)
Frances O'Flynn	...	Mrs. Young
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Rafael Albaicín	...	Shopkeeper (uncredited)

Directed by
Richard Fleischer

Writing credits
Irving Ravetch		(screenplay) and
Harriet Frank Jr.		(screenplay)
Giles Tippette		(novel "The Bank Robber")

Produced by
Richard Fleischer	....	producer
Walter Mirisch	....	producer
Irving Ravetch	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Fred Karlin

Cinematography by
Brian West		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Frank J. Urioste
Ralph E. Winters

Art Direction by
Julio Molina

Set Decoration by
Antonio Mateos

Makeup Department
Mariano García Rey	....	makeup artist (as Mariano Garcia Rey)

Production Management
Tom Pevsner	....	production supervisor
José María Rodríguez	....	production manager (as José María Rodriguez)
Francisco Ruiz	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Antonio Tarruella	....	first assistant director (as Tony Tarruella)

Art Department
Tom Jung	....	poster artist (uncredited)
Tom Jung	....	poster designer (uncredited)

Sound Department
George Stephenson	....	sound
Frank E. Warner	....	sound editor (as Frank Warner)
Jack R. Woltz	....	sound re-recordist

Special Effects by
Antonio Parra	....	special effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Carlos Esteban Adrada	....	grip
Ricardo Arenas	....	gaffer (as Ricardo Arenas Ariño)
Neil Gemmell	....	camera operator

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Agustín Jiménez	....	wardrobe (as Agustin Jimenez)

Music Department
George Brand	....	music editor

Other crew
Isabel Mulá	....	script supervisor (as Isabel Mula)

Production Companies

• Duo Productions
• Mirisch Corporation, The
• Sanford Productions (III)

Distributors

• United Artists (1974) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1978) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• United Artists (1974) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Koch Media (2009) (Germany) (DVD)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (certificate #23769) | West Germany:16 (f) | Australia:M | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

Tabernas, Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Duo Productions

Trivia:

Robert Beatty, despite being credited as The Sheriff, is nowhere to be seen.

Quotes:

Les Richter:Well, one thing for sure - I can't die any poorer than I started.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hollywood Remembers Lee Marvin (2000) (TV)

Apprentice bandits.

Three miscreant youths, Gary Grimes, Ron Howard, and Charles Martin Smith find a wounded Lee Marvin on the road and take him to the barn of Gary Grimes father's farm. They patch him up, feed him, Grimes gives him his horse and he makes a getaway.

That doesn't sit well with Grimes' father who has lied to a posse about Marvin not being around. He takes off his belt and tans the hide off Grimes back. Grimes runs away then and there and the other two join him.

Like a lot of youth back then, when I was young, when this picture was made and today; these kids are bored. But back then there just weren't any diversions. Life was hard on those homestead farms, Grimes' father is a hard man, he had to be. The story of these kids is the story I'm sure of a lot of youth in the west.

They take up bank robbing like their new hero Lee Marvin and make a botch of it. They kill a State Senator accidentally and don't even get away with the money. Fleeing to Mexico, they meet up again with Marvin who takes them under his wing now, to show them how to do it right.

The rest of the movie is the unfolding of their disillusionment. They've killed a State Senator and they're hot. Lee Marvin does not turn out to be the hero they had in mind. But by his lights, he's operating quite logically.

The three young actors convey nicely what it must have been like to grow up on a bleak prairie homestead and to get a chance at what they perceive will be adventure. Lee Marvin strikes the right note in a difficult part. In some ways at first he appears to the kids to be just like his character in Monte Walsh, a rugged individualist who lives by his own code. He has to be that to appeal to the kids in the first place. He tries to make them shuck their boyish illusions about outlawry, but when push comes to shove the kids can't do it. Marvin is not like Liberty Valance in this film, a sadistic bully. But he does what he has to in order to survive as an outlaw.

The kids fail their apprenticeships, but they and Marvin give the audience some great entertainment.