Konterr Brilliant and touching

HottWwjdIam There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Ava-Grace Willis Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Michael Morrison Often brushed off as less than John Wayne's greatest, "The Train Robbers" has one of the best casts of the era, has some of the most gorgeous scenery, has some excellent dialogue, has some thoroughly admirable characters. and has more action than one could expect, or perhaps should expect, in its hour-and-a-half running time.John Wayne was perfectly cast as an honorable and brave man, and a good man, knowing he was getting old and realizing he could be crotchety -- somewhat of a running theme throughout, with the Ben Johnson and Rod Taylor characters also ruing the advancing years.(Where the Rod Taylor character tells the Ben Johnson character "Don't get old," I had a particular laugh because I must tell others that very thing at least once a day!)Jerry Gatlin was a very pleasant surprise. I don't believe I had noticed him before, and more often he is a stunt man, a breed I have unlimited admiration for; but in "The Train Robbers" he has a strong part. Watch him in his close-ups: He is a by gosh actor, strong but under-playing like the greats. This is an excellent performance!Bobby Vinton was one of the teen idols, or former teen idols, frequently popping up in John Wayne films, but his performance in this probably surpasses any of the others. Watching him in "The Train Robbers" all I can say is "Wow. He should have many more acting parts." Just a superb performance here.Chris George, here "Christopher George," is another I think should be much more highly regarded and remembered. He was another superlative actor and his 57 credits is far too few for a man of his talent. (I was once kissed by his gorgeous and also talented actress wife, Lynda Day George, but I had admired him even before that.)Rod Taylor should have been cast with John Wayne more often. He could carry a movie by himself, with his looks and ability, but he stood tall with the Duke and with that wonderful Ben Johnson, who was one of the greatest characters the movies ever had, even if a time or two he should have turned down the role.Ann Margret had several good scenes, but her first great one, well, all she had to do was walk outside and stand there, throwing her jacket over her shoulder. She was just perfect for a partner to John Wayne.Then in one other, when she has joined the men in fighting off the bandits, the silent visual exchange with the John Wayne character is just perfect in the acting and the directing and the photography.Burt Kennedy has probably never turned in better work, which he also wrote, and wrote well, and his cinematographer Bill Clothier was a perfect partner.Finally, the music by Dominic Frontiere was also perfect accompaniment to this totally enjoyable movie. A friend, another John Wayne fan, gave me a DVD with "The Train Robbers" and "Tall in the Saddle" and I will be able to watch again and again.I highly recommend this film.

Wuchak Released in 1973 and written & directed by Burt Kennedy, "The Train Robbers" stars John Wayne as Lane, a former Civil War officer who enlists a couple of his old subordinates (Ben Johnson & Rod Taylor) and a few younger gunfighters (e.g. Christopher George & Bobby Vinton) to help a widow (Ann-Margret) obtain a hidden cache of gold to honor her family's name. They travel 200 miles from West Texas into the Mexican desert while being chased by a gang who also wants the money, not to mention a mysterious man who has his own agenda (Ricardo Montalban). While I relish this Western, it does have its flaws. The story is wholly contrived and contains a couple questionable dialogues, not to mention the "yeah, right" activities of the Montalban character. But I've seen way worse Westerns; the overrated "The Searchers" (1956) comes to mind. If you like authentic breathtaking Southwestern vistas, notable Western music (reminiscent of "How the West was Won"), a tried-and-true cast (including cutie Ann-Margret) and desert adventure marked by a long chase with numerous camping-out scenes (almost a survival movie), not to mention an exceptional centerpiece set, featuring a dilapidated abandoned train in the desert, and a quality surprise ending, you can't go wrong with "The Train Robbers." The magnificent Western cinematography is particularly notable: Myriad frames from practically every sequence could be used as awesome Western art. Then there's the fact that this is essentially a Western "road movie," albeit without the road (you could call it a trail movie). On top of this you get some dialogue exchanges that are nigh iconic for the Western genre. For instance, we've all seen those Westerns where the aging protagonist and a female half his age fall in love and ride off into the sunset, but there's a scene in "The Train Robbers" where the hot widow reveals her attraction to the aged-but-commanding Lane wherein he frankly informs her: "I got a saddle that's older than you are, Mrs. Lowe." This, of course, swiftly douses any romantic sparks. Some criticize that the title is misleading, but it's applicable in three ways: (1.) Mr. Lowe robbed a train of $500,000 in gold before the movie begins, (2.) Lane & his team "rob" the abandoned train in the desert, and (3.) when the group decide to chase the train at the end one of them specifies that he's going to "rob a train!" As for the cavil that there's no central villain and that the gang chasing the protagonists are faceless gun-fodder, while this is true you have to respect the film for saying, "Villain, villain? We don't need no stinking villain." Besides, there IS a villain in the predominant cast. A conman IS a villain, albeit with a smile and charm. The ending reveals all and those who complain about the lack of a key antagonist are doofuses who can't see the forest for the trees.For those who scratch their heads at various elements of the plot, just connect the dots from the various dialogues and it makes sense. It's all there. I admit that "The Train Robbers" is palpably flawed for the reasons cited earlier. If the filmmakers would've just taken a little more time and spent a little more money to work out the kinks it could've been a latter-day Wayne Western on the level of "True Grit" (1969), "The Cowboys" (1972) and "Rooster Cogburn" (1975). Still, its highlights make it not far off; it's an entertaining cult Western. The film runs 92 minutes and was shot in Durango, Sonora & Chihuahua, Mexico; and Yuma, Arizona.GRADE: B

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . into the Mexican desert, led by John Wayne and Ann-Margret. Without the benefit of his TIME MACHINE, Rod Taylor--one of Wayne's two geezer buddies among the train robbers--confesses that he couldn't get it up on his last bordello visit. When Ann-Margret, posing as "the widow Lowe," proposes to Wayne's character, he rejects her by saying that "I have a saddle older than you are." Ann-Margret could have replied that she was more concerned about the age of John's long-johns, since her alleged single mom status is totally bogus, and she's actually a hooker named "Lilly" (with two "L's"). No doubt Wayne's "Mr. Lane" doesn't want to get saddled with the widow lady's (non-existant) six-year-old son, since he takes off after Lilly like gang-busters as soon as he learns that she's an unattached "sadder but wiser" gal. Wayne dynamites the entire town of "Liberty, TX" here, since during the years after he headlined a flick titled THE ALAMO somebody finally explained to him that Crockett & Co. were actually dying to RE-ENSLAVE the Blacks of Mexico's Texas Province (who were as free as Jim Bowie and Sam Houston before Davey swaggered along).

the_doofy 64 minutes and change into the movie, four slaughtered horses laying out --and way too many horse riding scenes, used as filler --It looks like it was produced by one of John's sons, so John probably did the movie as a favor to his boy --The "widow" looked to be maybe 19 to 20, which is kind of typical for a movie, but still a person gets tired of seeing this, old or modern movies. Lets see, we have a woman who has been married for several years, has a kid of a few years, so lets make her a 19 year old. many modern movies use a gal in her very early 20s that have teen age kids, so I guess its par for the course --I did not bother finishing the movie, as slaughtering animals out of hand for movie footage makes the movie not worth a plug nickel to me --