Excellent, Without a doubt!!

A Disappointing Continuation

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Four brothers arrive back in town initially to pay their respects to their mother who has died recently, but the plot thickens when they learn that their father died in a rather unscrupulous card game. The brothers are suspicious about what has happened in their absence and are determined to seek the truth out...The set-up of the story (involving four brothers grieving the loss of their mother is touching) and I suppose this can extend two-fold in respect of their father, but the truth is that The Sons Of Katie Elder is so boring that any aspects that set the story up seem to almost burn into insignificance...Yes I'm sorry, but I'm prepared to go on record and say that this film is boring and that almost nothing happens; John Wayne and his brothers swagger around from place to place seemingly creating incidents, but little seems to exist to advance the story leaving this film feeling a little boring. John Wayne himself is terrible and like with any of his other films one can only take him seriously ironically; i.e 'Hey you know what'...RIDICULOUS PAUSE... I genuinely think'...RIDICULOUS PAUSE... that it is hard to take me seriously.. He is bad here, but almost in a way that makes it fun. Perhaps less so is the guy that plays the younger Elder Bud; his acting wasn't great and he became annoying the longer the film progressed. Aside from the terrible acting, the film seems to have no real point; George Kennedy is established as the antagonist earlier on, but does very little of significance in any part of the story (and makes very little impact throughout). Although to be fair he does his best with what he has to work with. There's no real tension or suspense throughout the film and it seems to just coast to its safe and inevitable conclusion. That's about all I can say I'm afraid, it's got a great cast but it's a fairly crappy western that I couldn't possibly recommend to anyone.

John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman & Michael Anderson Jr. play John, Tom, Matt, & Bud Elder, four brothers who return to their hometown of Clearwater, Texas to attend their mother's funeral. They then decide to look further into the death of their father, who was shot in the back after gambling away the deed to the ranch to Morgan Hastings(played by James Gregory) the town gunsmith and shady character who, along with his son(played by Dennis Hopper) know more about the killing than they are willing to admit. The town sheriff(played by Paul Fix) warns the sons not to pursue the matter, but of course they wont listen, leading to a violent showdown...Entertaining if overlong and a bit meandering western has a good cast and direction(Henry Hathaway) and an exciting climax to maintain viewer interest.

(8/10) Without a doubt one of Duke's most underrated Westerns. The fact that the four main stars are so unbelievable as brothers is shadowed by the acting and charm that each character brings to the screen. Dean Martin follows up his Rio Bravo performance with another gem cementing his place as one of the supporting stars working alongside Wayne. George Kennedy makes an intriguing antagonist but was underused. Wayne's romance with Martha Hyer and was pointless and a waste of time; the film should have devoted the attention to better build up the relationship among the brothers. The film tends to drag on towards this is a fun movie even non- western fans can enjoy. Excellent score.

After their mother's death , four brothers are reunited . John Wayne is a gunslinger , Earl Holliman is an easy and silent young , Michael Anderson Jr. is a college graduate and Dean Martin is a drunk gambler. When they aware that her mother's death might have been killing , they come together to devise a a way to seek vengeance in the murderer , James Gregory , who hires an ominous gunfighter , George Kennedy , along with bullies and hoodlums . As the ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother .But the marshal, Paul Fix, tells them to lay off .This cultured actioner Western contains a wonderful friendship between brothers , thrills , dashingly violent action , rider pursuits , impressive attacks and loads of crossfire . In ¨The sons of Katie Elder" Hathaway does the human touch including lots of nice moments , it is a very fine picture that could become another western worthy of any anthology . This John Wayne movie is well in the tradition of classics as ¨The Magnificent seven¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ or ¨The searchers¨ . One of the Duke's most popular film of the 60s ,-in his first character following cancer surgery- as well as ¨¨The Alamo¨, ¨Rio Bravo¨, ¨El Dorado¨and ¨McLintock¨. In the film "The sons of Katie Elder" the spectator enjoys because it has a lot of issues that make it agreeable . Even the female character played by attractive Marta Hyer, reveals a woman who knows that she wishes and makes it irresistible . Large support cast formed by Western usual players as Paul Fix , James Gregory, Earl Holliman and special mention to big Dean Martin . Breathtaking and lively musical score by Elmer Berstein , one of the best of Western genre along with ¨The Magnificent Seven¨ and ¨Comancheros¨ soundtracks. Colorful and spectacular cinematography in Cinemascope and Techniclor by Lucien Ballard.This well-paced in cracking style flick is stunningly directed by Henry Hathaway and usually works very well . He does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in a large frame with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action .The motion picture is professionally directed by Henry Hathaway with strong screen presence by John Wayne , both of whom collaborated in various Westerns , they included ¨Five Card Stud¨ , ¨North to Alaska¨ and Wayne's Academy Award-winning ¨True grit¨. Hathaway himself was only even nominated for an Oscar , but his movies themselves are testimony to his skills to heighten narrative tension and shoot action so exhilarating it made adrenalin run . Henry was a craftsman who had a long career from the 30s with successful films , and especially Westerns , as ¨Brigham Young¨ and ¨Raw Hide¨ . In his 60s Hathaway still got the vigour to make some fiery movies as ¨From Hell to Texas¨, ¨How the West was won¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, and ¨Shoot out¨ . He was an expert on Western genre as he proved in ¨True grit , Five card stud , Nevada Smith ,How the West was won , Rawhide , Brigham Young , Buffalo Stampede, Garden of evil¨ and of course ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨. Rating : nice Western that will appeal to John Wayne fans.