SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

A Brilliant Conflict

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

As with many movies making their way to disc I recalled seeing this film when I was younger. I'd always thought of it as a spectacle of a film and funny at the time. Going back and revisiting it today it remains a spectacle but not near as hilarious as it was to me when I was a child. But it is still entertaining and a great movie for fans of the stars to add to their collections.The movie takes place out west in 1867. The war is over, peace has been settled with the natives and cities are growing out west. In Denver the miners are aware that a long winter is on the way but concerned over one major issue. Someone forgot to place the order and they may run out of whiskey before winter even arrives! Consulting an old Indian guide named Oracle (Donald Pleasance) they place an order immediately.That order is being shipped to them by one Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith) who reminds all he comes in contact with that he is a "taxpayer and a good Republican" (which while perhaps funny is repeated far too often). Wallingham has sunk his last dollar into the shipment of 40 wagons of whiskey for Denver and demands protection in delivering the goods.That would fall upon the soldiers at Fort Russell. Commanded by Col. Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster), who is just returning from patrol, the fort is in a bit of turmoil when he returns. Temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale (Lee Remick) has roused the women in the area into her movement to ban alcohol and to call out for the suffrage movement. Torches ablaze, soldiers marching, the band playing when Gearhart returns to the commotion he's not pleased to say the least. The fact that his second in command Capt. Paul Slater (Jim Hutton) allowed to happen at the coercion of his daughter Louise (Pamela Tiffin) he's in love with doesn't help matters.Word then reaches the fort that they are to escort the whiskey wagon train and insure that it arrives in Denver unharmed. But it seems there were leaks then much as there are now. Massingale and the women hear of the wagon train and are determined to see that it is all disposed of, requiring the soldiers to protect them as well. At the same time the various Indian tribes get word of this as well and want a share of the whiskey for themselves. There is little doubt that all concerned parties will cross paths in the dust filled desert while the wagon train makes its way to Denver.Made in 1965 the film was released in a large screen Cinerama version that toured the country as well as an Ultra 70 Panavision version that played wide. Epic comedies like this were rampant in theaters at the time but ended up with mixed results. While offered as a comedy the laughs are sparse and the running time padded with far too much extra. At 175 minutes the movie would have played much better with at least 30 of those minutes excised. But hey, this was a spectacle and scenes of the mountain ranges and deserts of the west looked good up on that wide screen. While they still look impressive on the smaller screen they just take up time.A number of the jokes found in the film would seem normal for 1965 but trigger items for audiences of 2018. Audiences have become too troubled by these items and should take the time to realize the world as it was when viewing movies from the past rather than the world as it is today. At the same time the jokes on view here would be more inclined to entertain younger viewers old enough to understand the whiskey aspects but for whom humor can be found in people falling on their faces on treadmills. In other words this is not highbrow humor. It is still enjoyable for fans of the film and its stars but not perhaps for a widespread audience.Many who have already written about this release have been more concerned with the quality of the reproduction than the movie itself. When I read reviews like this I am reminded of the recent attempt to save the classic THE ALAMO from self-destruction. Made just 5 years prior to this film the John Wayne directed and starring film has languished on the shelves at the MGM studios for years and is slowly deteriorating. Calls for its restoration have fallen on deaf ears and in the meantime the film has lost a vast amount of footage that could have been used to create a pristine version of the film for decades to come. When watching this film my thoughts were that perhaps it's not a question of the film not being up to the standards of those viewers but of Olive Films having the availability to offer anything better than what we see here.As I said if you're a fan or Lancaster, Remick, Hutton or director John Sturges (who directed such classics as BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK, GUNFIGHT AT THE O.K. CORRAL, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and THE GREAT ESCAPE) then you'll want this film in your collection. For all others it might provide a nice evening's entertainment but with this running time start it early.

A chaotic romp through the old west near the end of the 19th Century. The mining town of Denver faces the potentially worst winter on record without whiskey! So they pool their finances into one gigantic order of 40 wagons of whiskey from grouchy old "good republican" Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith). Wallingham worries about Indian attacks, so he insists on a US Cavalry escort from Fort Russell, commanded by Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster). Fort Russell has just been invaded by a temperance movement led by Cora Tempelton Massingale (Lee Remick), who is determined to prevent the whiskey from reaching the poor misguided fools in Denver. Meanwhile, the reservation Indians headed by Chief Five Barrels (Robert Wilke) and Chief Walks-stooped-over (Martin Landau) intend to attack the wagon train and appropriate 20 wagons of whiskey for their own refreshment either by force or, failing that, by presenting their newly-awarded US citizenship papers and claiming that they will return to the reservation if they are given a gift of 20 wagons of whiskey. To complicate matters further, the Denver miners, warned in a vision by their whiskey- inspired prophet, Oracle Jones (Donald Pleasence) that their whiskey shipment is in grave peril, form a militia and march forth to meet the wagons and escort them back to Denver. Lee Remick is a vision of womanly beauty as always. Lancaster is his turbulent comical best. Pleasance as you've never seen him before as the thin, wiry, coon-skin mountaineer Oracle Jones. With an awesome musical score by Elmer Bernstein, this film is a real nostalgic treat!

The Hallelujah Trail is a spoof of the type of epic Western epitomized by such movies as Cimarron (1960) and How the West Was Won (1962).The miners, headquartered in Denver, are threatened by thirst. The town's whiskey stocks, for what is expected to be a long, cold winter, are dangerously low. A wagon train of teamsters, led by Brian Keith, is hired to deliver more whiskey. The temperance ladies, led by Lee Remick, are trying to stop the whiskey. The Native Americans, a key figure among whom we will get to shortly, are trying to steal the whiskey. The cavalry, led by Burt Lancaster as assisted by Jim Hutton, is trying to maintain order. This leads to what is recorded, in the annals of the comedy West, as the Battle of...well, that would be giving too much plot away.There are three memorable performances, all in supporting roles. One comes from the unseen narrator, who helps to chronicle events with his resonant voice and his, uh, uh, special...insight. Another comes from Martin Landau (Crimes and Misdemeanors, the TV series Mission Impossible). Landau plays Walks Stooped Over, a Native American who, from his role in peace negotiations, also goes by the name Symbol of Good Faith. Then we get to the sterling performance, which should have drawn an Oscar nomination. It comes from Donald Pleasance (James Garner's nearly blind POW buddy in The Great Escape). Pleasance plays Oracle, a visionary Denverite who is able to foresee the future, except that he first requires, uh, uh, lubrication.I can think of only two other movies of approximately the same genre. At the head of the class, of course, is It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963). The other is the Japanese movie, Welcome Back, Mr. McDonald (1997). Okay, maybe three other movies. The extra one being Airplane! (1980). That should give you an idea.

I love Lancaster, Remick, Keith and Landau et al. but this is a most insipid, boring puerile, and charmless movie. A witless script and hammy acting combine to make this a big mistake for all involved. It's bad but it's long. Silly and juvenile jokes are endlessly repeated throughout the film. How many times can one laugh at "I am a Republican"? Proported to be a spoof on the popular western films of the day it falls flat. No Blazing Saddles it. The scenery is beautiful as is the wonderful and sexy Lee Remick.Her scene in the bathtub is sensuous but cannot redeem this expensive and essentially worthless extravaganza.