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:

poker game | bank | ranch | cattle baron | pat garrett | 

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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:

Chisum and the Lincoln County Cattle War

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Ranch, Malibu Creek State Park - 1925 Las Virgenes Road, Calabasas, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$6,000,000

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

Richard Jaeckel was 43 when he played Jesse Evans, who would have been 24 at the time of the events depicted in the film.

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Goofs

Pepper's facial hair changes and is sometimes gone throughout the film.

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Quotes

Dan Nodeen: [shouting] Get some torches! I'll burn the son of a bitch out!

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Connections

Referenced in The Magnificent Seven (2016)

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Soundtracks

Ballad of John Chisum
Performed by William Conrad (uncredited)
Lyrics by Andrew J. Fenady Music by Dominic Frontiere

User Reviews

Splendid John Wayne as a tough cattle baron fighting along with Billy the Kid in the Lincoln County war

This excellent film concerns about the real-life land baron living in New Mexico and dealing with the Lincoln County Wars of 1878 . Wayne as the cattle baron Chisum is magnificent . It's one of very few John Wayne Westerns based on historic deeds . The movie is plenty of action , shootouts , adventures and being pretty entertaining . Casting is frankly awesome with usual Andrew McLagen , John Ford's actors (Wayne , Ben Johnson , John Agar and Hank Worden) . Furthermore , habitual Ford cameraman William H. Clothier (Cheyenne Autumm , Man who shot Liberty Balance , Horse soldiers) giving a colorful cinematography as well as evocative musical score by Dominic Frontiere . The motion picture was well directed by Andrew W. McLagen , Ford's known disciple , and he called the film one of his favorites .

The real events are the followings : This powerful cattle king of New Mexico , John Simpson Chisum (1824-84) living in New Mexico governed by governor Lew Wallace (Ben Hur's author) , he started with a few head of stray longhorns and became one of the biggest individual cattle owners in North America, with between 60.000 and 100.000 head . In 1854 he entered the cattle business , selling beef to Indian reservations, making friendship with Chief White Buffalo (Abraham Sofaer's last film) . In 1867 he moved to New Mexico and established a large spread at South Spring in Old Lincoln County where he prospered greatly . He became involved in the Lincoln County war of 1878-79 in which he opposed the Murphy (Forrest Tucker)-Dolan (Edward Faulkner) faction and backed cattleman Tunstall (Patrick Knowles) , whose gunfighters-cowboys included the handsome Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel's film debut). It is said that Chisum was instrumental in making Billy the Kid an outlaw killer , he used his considerable influence in getting Pat Garret (Glenn Corbett) elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in 1880 and it was Garrett who hunted down and killed the young outlaw . Chisum's cattle brand was the Long Rail , a long , straight mark extending from shoulder to flank . Chisum , who never married, died at Eureka Springs , Arkansas , leaving an state of some 500.000 dollars .