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 | evil man | villain | good versus evil | good man | 

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Taglines:

THE HERO - John Wayne is "Chisum"

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Genres:

Biography | Western

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Chisum Ranch house in this film is the exact house used in Big Jake (1971), a John Wayne western made a year later. Note the scenery around the ranch.

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Goofs

The real life John Chisum had a full handlebar mustache which he wore the entirety of his adult life. John Wayne was clean shaven for the role.

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Quotes

Pat Garrett: Well, I'm upwind and I smell it on you.
Billy the Kid: Buffalo?
Pat Garrett: Death.
Billy the Kid: I see what you mean. Can it ever go away? That smell I mean.
Pat Garrett: Sure it can, with time, good company and patience.

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Connections

Featured in John Wayne: Behind the Scenes (2007)

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Soundtracks

Turn Me Around
Sung by Merle Haggard
Lyrics by Norman Gimbel
Music by Dominic Frontiere

User Reviews

A Fine Western Ahead Of Its Time

Although a few notches below classic Wayne westerns like "Stagecoach" and "Rio Bravo," this film was a masterful return to form for Wayne. This was the first film Wayne did after gaining weight and donning an eye-patch for his work on "True Grit." In this film, Wayne plays an honest, straight talking man of action, not too different from the type character on which he built his career. The supporting characters are very well drawn and the villains resourceful enough to keep the action moving. In a way, this character, though based on an actual rancher, is similar to the character of Dunson in the superior "Red River." Both characters gambled on a long cattle drive from Texas and although "Red River" is about the drive itself, "Chisum" is about what happens to a similar character twenty years after the drive succeeds. At the time the film was released, at least one critic commented on how improbable it was for John Wayne, at the climax of the movie, to have done that much riding, fighting and falling all within the same sequence. As far as I am concerned, that sequence helped prepare me for later action sequences of 1980's action stars like Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger and action directors like James Cameron and John Woo. The film is no "Red River" but it is fine western nonetheless.

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)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Batjac Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1