''Waterhole #3'' is a 1967
Western comedy film directed by
William A. Graham. It is considered to be a comic remake of ''
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly''.
The film stars
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...
,
Carroll O'Connor and
Margaret Blye
Margaret Jane Blye (October 24, 1942 – March 24, 2016) was an American actress, also sometimes billed as Margaret Bly. She was best known for playing Michael Caine's girlfriend in ''The Italian Job'' (1969).
Early years
Her sister was casti ...
. The cast also includes
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...
,
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Aca ...
,
Claude Akins
Claude Aubrey Akins (May 25, 1926 – January 27, 1994) was an American character actor with a long career on stage, screen, and television. He was best known as Sheriff Lobo on the 1979–1981 television series ''B.J. and the Bear'', and l ...
,
Joan Blondell and
Timothy Carey, and it was the last film shot by
Robert Burks
Leslie Robert Burks, A.S.C. (July 4, 1909 – May 11, 1968) was an American cinematographer who worked in many genres, in both black-and-white and color, and who collaborated a number of times with Alfred Hitchcock.
Biography
Robert Burks ...
before his death in 1968.
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping Country music, country and pop hits "King of the Road (song), Ki ...
performs the theme song and performs snippets of music throughout the film as a form of narration. The film is a
Blake Edwards production.
Plot
In Arizona, a shipment of gold bullion is stolen in an inside job by a group of men consisting of
U.S. Army Sgt. Henry Foggers, assigned to guard the gold, Doc Quinlen, the mastermind of the caper, and Hilb, a billy-goat-bearded ruffian. They take shoemaker Ben Akajanian hostage and dig a tunnel from his parlor to the Army deposit next door. The gold is then buried by Quinlen in the desert, near Waterhole No. 3. Some time later, Quinlen is then killed by Lewton Cole, a professional gambler, after an altercation in which Cole discovers a map to the buried treasure scrawled on a $20 bill.
Foggers and Hilb, along with Ben (who they have taken along to make it look as if he was the thief), set out to find Cole and the gold. At the same time, U.S.
Cavalry
Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...
captain named Shipley is also looking for the stolen gold along with his detachment. Cole, meanwhile, stops at the town of Integrity and gets a headstart on the local law enforcement after the killing by locking up Sheriff John Copperud and his deputy in their own jail, then forcing them to disrobe and hand over their clothes.
Cole rides to the sheriff's ranch, steals his horse and rapes Billee, the sheriff's daughter. Copperud returns to the ranch and infuriates Billee by being more upset over losing his horse than about Cole's treatment of her. After Copperud leaves the ranch chasing for Cole, Billee also heads into the desert.
Copperud catches up with Cole just as the latter finds the gold. Cole is put under arrest, but befriends the sheriff and manages to convince him to take the gold for themselves. However, as they march back to town, they are ambushed by Foggers and his companions, who take the gold along with their horses and leave them tied in the middle of the desert. Nonetheless, Billee arrives at the scene after a while and frees them both. Knowing that Foggers intends to cross the border to Mexico, the three return to Integrity, full aware that the bandits should have to spend the night there.
Foggers tells Hilb to stay guard on the local hotel while he and the shoemaker head for the brothel. As Cole and company approach the place, they are spotted by Hilb, who barricades inside his room. Instead of trying to storm in, Cole and Copperud decide to keep an eye from the room across the hallway and wait until Foggers returns. Next morning, in spite of their plans, Hilb manages to escape the hotel, leading to a gunfight that results in the thief dropping his half of the gold and running away from town. Foggers then enters the fray, and in the confusion, Ben manages to flee with the loot. Cole, Copperud and Foggers set out in pursuit, only to enter head on in Shipley's campfire; Ben is already there.
When questioned, Foggers states that he has been in pursuit of the thieves, while Cole declares that Quinlen's death was an act of self-defense. Copperud corroborates both tales, thus leaving Ben as the culprit. However, in Ben's saddlebag there is nothing but rocks, so it is assumed that he must have dropped the gold in the trail between Integrity and the camp. Billee gets to the place just as everyone leaves to find where Ben has stashed the gold, leaving only Billee and Ben in the Army camp. Cole backtracks in time to see Billee gallop off, leaving Ben alone. Cole follows Billee to some rocks where Ben has hid the gold, and has sex with her. Still, Cole departs with the gold and the sheriff's horse a few moments later, and Billee is both angry and distraught as he, once more, has left her behind.
All the others arrive to the place where Billee is, sitting on a rock watching the horizon. When asked about the gold, she points in Cole's direction, who can be seen riding on the rim of a distant ridge, and everybody departs in hot pursuit.
Cast
*
James Coburn
James Harrison Coburn III (August 31, 1928 – November 18, 2002) was an American film and television actor who was featured in more than 70 films, largely action roles, and made 100 television appearances during a 45-year career.AllmoviBi ...
as Lewton Cole
*
Carroll O'Connor as Sheriff Copperud
*
Margaret Blye
Margaret Jane Blye (October 24, 1942 – March 24, 2016) was an American actress, also sometimes billed as Margaret Bly. She was best known for playing Michael Caine's girlfriend in ''The Italian Job'' (1969).
Early years
Her sister was casti ...
as Billee
*
Claude Akins
Claude Aubrey Akins (May 25, 1926 – January 27, 1994) was an American character actor with a long career on stage, screen, and television. He was best known as Sheriff Lobo on the 1979–1981 television series ''B.J. and the Bear'', and l ...
as Foggers
*
James Whitmore
James Allen Whitmore Jr. (October 1, 1921 – February 6, 2009) was an American actor. He received numerous accolades, including a Golden Globe Award, a Grammy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a Theatre World Award, and a Tony Award, plus two Aca ...
as Shipley
*
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has often played supporting villainous characters of unstable natures. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver B ...
as the Deputy
*
Timothy Carey as Hilb
*
Joan Blondell as Lavinia
* Harry Davis as Ben
*
Jennifer Gan
Jennifer Gan (March 2, 1938 – September 15, 2000) was an American stage, film and television actress. She appeared in sixteen film and TV titles in the 1960s and early 1970s.
Career as Ginny Gan
A life member of The Actors Studio, she first be ...
(uncredited) as Dove
Reception
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...
gave the film two stars.
See also
*
List of American films of 1967
This is a list of American films released in 1967.
'' In the Heat of the Night'' won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
A-D
E-H
I-P
R-Z
Documentaries
Other
See also
* 1967 in the United States
External links
1967 filmsat the In ...
References
External links
*
*
{{William A. Graham
1967 films
1960s Western (genre) comedy films
American Western (genre) comedy films
1960s English-language films
Films scored by Dave Grusin
Films shot in Lone Pine, California
Paramount Pictures films
Films directed by William Graham (director)
1967 comedy films
1960s American films