The War Wagon

Starring:John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn, Bruce Cabot, Joanna Barnes, Valora Noland, Bruce Dern, Gene Evans, Terry Wilson, Don Collier, Sheb Wooley, Ann McCrea, Emilio FernÃ¡ndez, Frank McGrath, Chuck Roberson, Boyd 'Red' Morgan, Hal Needham, Marco Antonio (II)
Director: Burt Kennedy
Studio: Universal Studios
Product Type: DVD

Description

John Wayne is one of the most popular and recognizable leading men ever to hit the silver screen. Five memorable films capture his unforgettable career in the John Wayne: Screen Legend Collection. Co-starring an impressive roster of talent including Katharine Hepburn, Kirk Douglas, Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott, these films highlight an American icon who will always be remembered as a true screen legend. Reap the Wild Wind Cecil B. DeMille directs John Wayne and Ray Milland as two sailors battling pirates and competing for the affections of a southern belle (Paulette Goddard) in 1840s Key West. The Spoilers John Wayne joins Marlene Dietrich and Randolph Scott in an all-star adventure classic about gold and greed in an Alaskan boomtown during the 1890s. The War Wagon A rancher (John Wayne) recruits a brash gunslinger (Kirk Douglas) along with a raucous crew of misfits and readies them to pull off one of the most impossible heists of all time. Hellfighters A Texan demolition specialist (John Wayne) battles a perilous oil-well fire and hopes to reunite with his daughter and the wife who left him 20 years ago. Rooster Cogburn The saga of True Grit continues as John Wayne reprises his role as a Deputy Marshall who helps a missionary (Katharine Hepburn) bring justice to the Wild West.

Average customer rating:

Fun, but a bit much
the war wagon
A Subtle (but Fun) Parody of Traditional Western Movie Conventions
ONE OF JOHN WAYNE'S BEST
Average Western despite star power

The War Wagon
Starring: John Wayne , Kirk Douglas , Howard Keel , Robert Walker Jr. , and Keenan Wynn
Director: Burt Kennedy
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: 0783228031
Release Date: 1998-08-18

Amazon.com

John Wayne and Kirk Douglas make a delightful duo in this comedic Western in which Wayne seeks revenge on a ruthless mine owner (Bruce Cabot) who had him framed and sent to prison. Upon his release, Wayne recruits Douglas in a scheme to raid and rob one of Cabot's gold-laden wagons, despite the fact that Douglas had been offered good money to kill Wayne. He joins Wayne instead (the potential profits being much greater), and they set out to ambush the War Wagon, so named because it's heavily armored, mounted with a Gatling gun, and guarded by a dozen gunmen on horses. Costarring Keenan Wynn and Howard Keel as a wise-cracking Indian, The War Wagon was a Western precursor to the action buddy films of the 1980s and '90s, serving up plenty of exciting action and constant comic relief. The interplay between Wayne and Douglas is sharp and sarcastic, and their motley crew of accomplices provides yet another source of character-driven humor. Not one of the greatest Westerns ever made, but certainly one of the most lightly entertaining. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Fun, but a bit much.......2007-04-03

This is a typical John Wayne western from the era when he had some control over what he starred in, and its content. As a result, he plays essentially the same character over and over again (he seems to wear the same red shirt, faded to a washed out pink, in half of the movies) and is just confronted with a different situation each time. In this instance, his character, Taw Jackson, has had his land stolen from him. He wasn't able to stop it because a hired gun shot him and put him in the hospital. The ranch he owned turned out to have gold on it, and the local rich guy, having had him shot, took over the ranch and has become even richer.

So Taw has to return from jail to take back what's his. The twist is that he hires the hired guy, Lomax (nicely played by Kirk Douglas), to help in his plot. Since the rich guy (his name is Pierce) transports the gold out of the territory in an iron-plated wagon called "The War Wagon" Wayne has to come up with a sophisticated scheme to upend said wagon and get his hands on the gold.

While the plot's interesting and the action is reasonably fun, the movie's also very predictable. When one of Wayne's partners is particularly negatively portrayed, you know he's the one who will be killed somewhere towards the end. And I had one big disappointment with this movie. Usually, with one of these old westerns, there's a rousing soundtrack, if nothing else, but here you get this very strange choral thing with silly words about the war wagon and who's following it and so forth. It's one of the most dated soundtracks I've ever heard, embarrassing even to listen to. That aside, this is a fun movie.

the war wagon.......2007-01-19

One of the older movies but still John Wayne at his best

A Subtle (but Fun) Parody of Traditional Western Movie Conventions.......2006-10-19

I didn't like the "War Wagon" when it was first released, I found it rather silly and vaguely offensive. The problem was me, I was not ready to recognize, let alone relate to, a subtle parody of the western genre. I should have been more receptive because in the mid-60s a huge amount of genre parody began to appear on television ("Batman", 'Wild Wild West", "F-Troop", "Get Smart"), which could be traced back to gently tongue-in-cheek series like "Maverick" and "Zorro".

"Cat Ballou" (1965) was the first feature length parody of Western generic clichés. But its parody elements were obvious, even if you were not that familiar with the conventions of the Western genre you could recognize exaggerations and revisions. In addition, up to this point John Wayne films had given the Western genre only very traditional treatments.

But "The War Wagon" was only the first example of director Burt Kennedy's tweaking of the genre. He would follow it up with "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969), "Hannie Caulder" (1971), and "Support Your Local Gunfighter" (1971). Wayne would toy with parodic elements two years later with "True Grit", and would stay much less traditional with the remainder of his westerns.

"The War Wagon" is also a genre hybrid as western is mixed with buddy picture and big heist movie. Taw (John Wayne) recruits an old enemy Lomax (Kirk Douglas) as he seeks revenge on a ruthless mine owner (Bruce Cabot) who not only framed and sent to him prison, but appropriated his ranch and personal possessions after a huge gold strike was discovered on ranch property (here we go with the exaggeration-the only things missing are stealing Taw's wife, adopting his children, and leaving his toilet seat up). Cabot transports his gold in a "Wild Wild West" inspired armored wagon.

The interplay between Wayne and Douglas (who always seems right on the verge of accepting Cabot's standing offer of $12,000 to kill Wayne) is clever and sarcastic, working with the many exaggerated elements to provide the film's considerable humor.

"The War Wagon" finds Wayne on the wrong side of established authority, for at least the third time as his Ethan Edwards character in "The Searchers" also operated well outside the law and Quirt Evans in "Angel and the Badman" had to be bad enough that he could be reformed by Gail Russell.

Howard Keel plays the civilized Indian sidekick mostly for comic relief and the characters actually demonstrate an awareness of the movie context when they self-reflexively (deliberately drawing attention to their playing characters in a movie) refer to a tactic as an old Indian trick. Ultimately the joke (and the irony) is on Wayne and Douglas, as their seemingly one-sided deal with the Indians (a few blankets in exchange for their participation) causes the Indians to end up with most the rewards.

"The War Wagon's" understated parody style would inspire John Huston ("The Life & Times Of Judge Roy Bean") and George Roy Hill ("The Sting"); and of course many others.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

ONE OF JOHN WAYNE'S BEST.......2006-08-02

I already had this on tape but wanted to replace it with
a DVD. I think this is one of John Wayne's better films,
but then I am a John Wayne fan and I enjoy "old movies".
I enjoy watching John Wayne and Kirk Douglas together,
they make a good team.

Average Western despite star power.......2006-07-11

John Wayne playing Taw Jackson has just returned to Emmet, New Mexico after serving a three year term in prison. He was allegedly framed by bad guy Frank Pierce played by Bruce Cabot, who took over his homestead and land. While Wayne cooled his heels in prison, Cabot uncovered a huge vein of gold on the land and was getting rich mining it. His money bought him the allegiance of the law officers of the town.

Cabot would transport his valuable hoarde from his ranch to El Paso in an armored wagon turreted with a gattling gun and accompanied by almost thirty outriders.

Wayne seeking revenge formed an uneasy alliance with gunslinger Lomax played by Kirk Douglas. Douglas had been recruited by Cabot by a $10,000 bounty on Wayne's head. However Wayne's offer to share in the spoils of $500,000 in gold carried by the war wagon made Douglas a partner. Wayne recruited three other partners, explosives expert Robert Walker, Indian expert Howard Keel and inside man Keenan Wynn. Together they plotted to rob Cabot and his gold ladened wagon.

While the plan was a success the outcome didn't go exactly as planned. Despite the statures of both Wayne and Douglas their collabration lacked chemistry religating "The War Wagon" to less than exceptional status.

The Roy Rogers Show, Volume 3, including 4 TV shows: Train Robbery, Ride in the Death Wagon, Shoot to Kill (AKA Pat Brady: Outlaw), Ranch War

Average customer rating:

Excellent Western Adventures

The Roy Rogers Show, Volume 3, including 4 TV shows: Train Robbery, Ride in the Death Wagon, Shoot to Kill (AKA Pat Brady: Outlaw), Ranch War

Manufacturer: Television Classics
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

The Roy Rogers Show, Vol. 1
Roy Rogers Show Vol 2
Roy Rogers With Dale Evans

ASIN: B0007UX4JC

Product Description

This is a single DVD containing 4 black-and-white TV shows, plus a bonus cartoon titled "Be Human" with Betty Boop. The first 3 TV shows are from 1952. The 4th TV show (Ranch War) is from 1955.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent Western Adventures.......2005-04-30

Both the opening and closing themes of this classic TV show help to establish the boundaries for an excellent audio/visual Western adventure. All four episodes are built around a formula, but it's a workable, proven formula. The plots are well developed for the alloted time and the characters are comfortably predictable.

In "The Train Robbery" Roy discovers that a local merchant is working with the robbers to take the $50,000 loot. He successfully uncovers the villans and saves the town. In "Ride in the Death Wagon" Roy escapes a sinister plot and keeps a widow from being taken advantage of. In "Shoot to Kill" an eastern city slicker is caught up in trying to deceive people with his photos, pretending that Pat Brady is an outlaw, but the tables are turned on him. And in "Ranch War" Roy saves the day for a young couple in preventing greedy men from taking the family ranch.

Average customer rating:

Fun, but a bit much
the war wagon
A Subtle (but Fun) Parody of Traditional Western Movie Conventions
ONE OF JOHN WAYNE'S BEST
Average Western despite star power

The War Wagon [Region 2]
Starring: John Wayne , Kirk Douglas , Howard Keel , Robert Walker Jr. , and Keenan Wynn
Director: Burt Kennedy
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Westerns | Genres | DVD | Video