''The War Wagon'' is a 1967 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

heist film The heist film or caper film is a subgenre of crime films and the caper story, focused on the planning, execution, and aftermath of a significant robbery. One of the early defining heist films was '' The Asphalt Jungle'' (1950), which ''Film G ...

directed by

Burt Kennedy Burton Raphael Kennedy (September 3, 1922 – February 15, 2001) was an American screenwriter and film director, director known mainly for directing Westerns. Budd Boetticher called him "the best Western writer ever." Biography Kennedy was b ...

and starring

John Wayne Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne, was an American actor. Nicknamed "Duke", he became a Pop icon, popular icon through his starring roles in films which were produced during Hollywood' ...

and

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. ...

. Released by

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

, it was produced by Marvin Schwartz and adapted by

Clair Huffaker Clair Huffaker (September 26, 1926 – April 3, 1990) was an American screenwriter and author of westerns and other fiction, many of which were turned into films. Biography Born in Magna, Utah, Huffaker wrote of his childhood in ''One Time ...

from his own novel. The supporting cast includes

Howard Keel Harold Clifford Keel (April 13, 1919November 7, 2004), professionally Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer known for his rich bass-baritone singing voice. He starred in a number of MGM musicals in the 1950s, including ''Show Boat'' (195 ...

Robert Walker Jr. Robert Hudson Walker Jr. (April 15, 1940 – December 5, 2019) was an American actor who appeared in films including ''Easy Rider'' (1969) and was a familiar presence on television in the 1960s and early 1970s. Early life Walker was born ...

Keenan Wynn Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American character actor. His expressive face was his wikt:stock-in-trade, stock-in-trade; though he rarely carried the leading actor, lead role, h ...

Bruce Cabot Bruce Cabot (born Étienne de Pelissier Bujac Jr.; April 20, 1904 – May 3, 1972) was an American film actor, best remembered as Jack Driscoll (character), Jack Driscoll in ''King Kong (1933 film), King Kong'' (1933) and for his roles in films s ...

Joanna Barnes Joanna Barnes (November 15, 1934 – April 29, 2022) was an American actress and writer. Early life and education Barnes was born in Boston, to John Pindar Barnes and the former Alice Weston Mutch. She had two younger sisters, Alice and Judit ...

Valora Noland Valora Noland (born Valor Baum; December 8, 1941 – March 27, 2022) was an American actress, notable for her 1960s movie and television work, and, in her later years, photographer and author. Biography Noland was born in Seattle, as Valor Baum ...

Bruce Dern Bruce MacLeish Dern (born June 4, 1936) is an American actor. He has received several accolades, including the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and the Silver Bear for Best Actor. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...

, and

Gene Evans Eugene Barton Evans (July 11, 1922 – April 1, 1998) was an American actor who appeared in numerous television series, television films, and feature films between 1947 and 1989. Early life Evans was born in Holbrook, Arizona and raised i ...

. The film received generally positive reviews. Filming took place in Sierra de Órganos National Park in the town of

Sombrerete Sombrerete () is a town and Municipalities of Zacatecas, municipality located in the northwest region of the Mexico, Mexican state of Zacatecas. It was founded in 1555 by Spanish conquistador Juan de Tolosa as a mining center. Due to the wealth th ...

, Mexico.

Plot

Former rancher Taw Jackson returns to his hometown to settle a score with corrupt businessman Frank Pierce; three years earlier, Pierce had Jackson wrongfully imprisoned and appropriated his land, including his house and some recently discovered gold deposits. Jackson plans to steal an upcoming $500,000 shipment of gold dust from Pierce's "war wagon", an armored stagecoach surrounded by mounted guards. Wes Fletcher, an elderly wagon driver employed by Pierce to transport dry goods, becomes Jackson's informant. The third member Jackson recruits for his team is Lomax, a

gunslinger Gunfighters, also called gunslingers () or in the late 19th and early 20th century gunmen, were individuals in the American Old West who gained a reputation of being dangerous with a gun and participated in shootouts. Today, the term "gunslin ...

and

safecracker Safe-cracking is the process of opening a safe without either the combination or the key. Physical methods Safes have widely different designs, construction methods, and locking mechanisms. A safe cracker needs to know the specifics of whicheve ...

, who earlier shot Jackson as part of Pierce's plot. The fourth team member is Levi Walking Bear, a

Kiowa Kiowa ( ) or Cáuigú () people are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe and an Indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colora ...

translator, whom Jackson and Lomax rescue from a gang of Mexican bandits. Jackson then sends Lomax to pick up the final member, Billy Hyatt, a teenage drunkard and explosives expert. When the team first meets to discuss their plan, Fletcher brings his teenage "wife" Kate along, and flies into a jealous rage when Hyatt gives her some coffee. Jackson and Levi negotiate with the Kiowas; because Pierce is deliberately starving the tribe off of their land, they agree to help. Meanwhile, Lomax rides into town and is approached in a saloon by Pierce, who offers him $12,000 to kill Jackson. An inebriated Hyatt enters, and comes dangerously close to revealing the plan. Lomax knocks him unconscious and hands him over to the Sheriff for the night, then accepts Pierce's offer, but asks for time to do the job. In the morning, Jackson sends Hyatt to Fletcher's farm. Hyatt finds Kate alone, and she reveals that her impoverished parents had

traded Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of credi ...

her to Fletcher. Fletcher returns and threatens Hyatt with a knife, but Jackson arrives in time to defuse the situation. Hyatt says he wants to use

nitroglycerin Nitroglycerin (NG) (alternative spelling nitroglycerine), also known as trinitroglycerol (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless or pale yellow, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by ...

for his part of the heist, so he, Jackson, and Lomax sneak onto Jackson's old ranch to steal some from Pierce. Jackson keeps Pierce distracted by pretending to collect some of his old things, while Lomax and Hyatt crack a safe and take the explosives. The next day, Hyatt rigs a bridge with bottles of nitro, Levi blocks the war wagon's route with a felled tree, Lomax and Jackson set up a booby trap in a narrow gorge, and Pierce and his guards set out with the gold in the war wagon. Kiowa warriors create a distraction that briefly draws off the wagon's guards, causing them to be stranded on the other side of a canyon when the bridge explodes behind the wagon. Some more Kiowa warriors attack the wagon to get the gold for themselves, but a newly-installed

Gatling gun The Gatling gun is a rapid-firing multiple-barrel firearm invented in 1861 by Richard Jordan Gatling of North Carolina. It is an early machine gun and a forerunner of the modern electric motor-driven rotary cannon. The Gatling gun's operatio ...

forces them to retreat. The fallen tree diverts the wagon into the gorge, and Jackson and Lomax spring their trap, killing the drivers. Pierce shoots the last two of his men when they try to desert him, but the second shoots back as he dies, killing Pierce. The wagon crashes into a

gulch A gulch is a deep V-shaped valley formed by erosion. It may contain a small stream or dry creek bed and is usually larger in size than a gully. Sudden intense rainfall upstream may produce flash floods in the bed of the gulch. In eastern Can ...

, and Jackson's team hides the gold dust in some barrels of flour on Fletcher's cart. The Kiowa warriors arrive to take the gold, and Fletcher is killed when he attempts to stop them. Hyatt manages to use the last bottle of nitro to kill the chief and scare the remaining warriors away. The explosion spooks the cart horses; as they flee, the flour barrels fall off the cart and break open next to a group of evacuating Kiowa women and children. Unaware that there is gold mixed in, they gather up the flour to feed themselves. Jackson reaches the cart first. In a hidden compartment, he finds $100,000 worth of gold that Fletcher intended to steal from his partners. Thinking they have lost everything, Levi returns to the Kiowas, and Lomax angrily takes Jackson's horse as payment. When Hyatt arrives with Kate, Jackson gives them a small amount of the dust, hiding the rest. When a furious Lomax confronts him, Jackson smugly tells Lomax that he has to be kept alive until the group meets in six months, as planned, to divide up the loot.

Cast

as Taw Jackson *

as Lomax *

as Levi Walking Bear *

as Billy Hyatt *

as Wes Fletcher *

as Frank Pierce *

as Lola *

as Kate Fletcher *

as Hammond *

as Deputy Hoag * Terry Wilson as Sheriff Strike *

Don Collier Donald Mounger Collier (October 17, 1928 – September 13, 2021) was an American actor best known for Western films and NBC television shows such as ''The High Chaparral'', ''Bonanza,'' ''Gunsmoke'', and ''Outlaws'' as Marshal Will Foreman. E ...

as Shack *

Sheb Wooley Shelby Fredrick Wooley (April 10, 1921 – September 16, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He recorded a series of novelty songs, including the 1958 hit rock-and-roll comedy single "The Purple People Eater", and under the name ...

as Snyder *

Ann McCrea Ann McCrea (born February 25, 1931) is an American film and television actress. She is known for playing Midge Kelsey in the American sitcom television series '' The Donna Reed Show''. Life and career McCrea was born in DuBois, Pennsylvania ...

as Felicia *

Emilio Fernández Emilio "El Indio" Fernández Romo (; 26 March 1904 – 6 August 1986) was a Mexican film director, actor and screenwriter. He was one of the most prolific film directors of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema in the 1940s and 1950s. He is best know ...

as Calita * Frank McGrath as Bartender *

Chuck Roberson Charles Hugh Roberson (May 10, 1919 – June 8, 1988) was an American actor and stuntman. Biography Roberson grew up on a ranch near Roswell, New Mexico, he left school at 13 to become a cowhand and oilfield roughneck. He married and took ...

as Brown * Red Morgan as Early *

Hal Needham Hal Brett Needham (March 6, 1931 – October 25, 2013) was an American Stunt performer, stuntman, film director, actor, writer, and NASCAR team owner. He is best known for his frequent collaborations with actor Burt Reynolds, usually in film ...

as Hite * Marco Antonio Ribeiro as Chief Wild Horse * Perla Walter as Rosita

Production

The film was based on the 1957 novel ''Badman'' by

. In September 1962, he announced he would adapt ''Badman'' into a script at Producers Studio for his own Lucifer Productions (they were also going to make ''Guns of Rio Conchos'', ''The Day Before Tomorrow'', and ''Ship on Highway 7''), but the project eventually went to

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

. Huffaker said that, while he had written the novel in ten days, he spent three months writing the screenplay. Because ''Badman'' was the eleventh book that Huffaker had sold to a film studio, Trident Publishing put him under contract to write a book a year for five years. In June 1966,

announced he had signed a two-picture deal with Universal, the movies being ''The War Wagon'' and '' The Green Berets''. This film would be a co-production between Wayne's company,

Batjac Batjac Productions is an independent film production company co-founded by John Wayne in 1952 as a vehicle for Wayne to both produce and star in movies. The first Batjac production was '' Big Jim McLain'' released by Warner Bros. in 1952, and i ...

, and producer Marvin Schwartz. The following month, it was announced that

would play the co-starring role in the film and

would direct. The extensive second-unit stunt work for the film was supervised by

Cliff Lyons Cliff Lyons (born 19 October 1961) is an indigenous Australian former international rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Clive Churchill Medallist and two-time Dally M Medallist, he made 309 first-grade appearances wi ...

. Filming took place in

Durango Durango, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Durango, is one of the 31 states which make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 Federal Entities of Mexico, situated in the northwest portion of the country. With a population of 1,832,650 ...

, Mexico, and at

Churubusco Studios Estudios Churubusco is one of the oldest and largest movie studios in Mexico. It is located in the Churubusco neighborhood of Mexico City. History It was inaugurated in 1945 after a 1943 agreement between RKO and Emilio Azcárraga Vidaurreta ...

in Mexico City, starting on September 19, 1966, and lasting 12 weeks. About the shoot, Wayne said: "We're gaining a day every week. This combined Hollywood and Mexican crew is great. If we can come home a week under schedule, we'll all be home with our families for turkey dinner." Despite pressure to finish shooting ahead of schedule, Kirk Douglas was late to the set one day, because he was shooting an endorsement for California Governor

Pat Brown Edmund Gerald "Pat" Brown (April 21, 1905 – February 16, 1996) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 32nd governor of California from 1959 to 1967. His first elected office was as district attorney for San Francisco, and he ...

, a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

. John Wayne was late to work the next day, because he was shooting a commercial for the Republican candidate

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. Huffaker was present on set for the first and last three weeks of production and, while there, made a number of changes to the script. Kennedy said he let Wayne direct himself in the film. Dimitri Tiompkin composed the score, one of four filmscore collaborations with John Wayne. Tiompkin also composed the theme song, “The Ballad of the War Wagon”, sung by

Ed Ames Edmund Dantes Urick (July 9, 1927 – May 21, 2023), known professionally as Ed Ames or Eddie Ames, was an American pop singer and actor. He was known for playing Mingo in the television series ''Daniel Boone (1964 TV series), Daniel Boone'', and ...

with lyrics written by

Ned Washington Ned Washington (born Edward Michael Washington, August 15, 1901 – December 20, 1976) was an American lyricist born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Life and career Washington was nominated for eleven Academy Awards from 1940 to 1962. He won the Be ...

Reception

Box office

The film debuted in first place at the domestic box office. It grossed $9,563,000 in total, making it a success (one account called it a "smash success").

Critical response

''The War Wagon'' was met with generally positive reviews from critics and holds a 90% "Fresh" score on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 10 reviews.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film three out of four stars, calling it "that comparative rarity, a Western filmed with quiet good humor. It is also a point of departure for John Wayne, who plays a bad guy for just about the first time in his career."

Comic book adaptation

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

Movie Classic: ''The War Wagon'' (September 1967)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:War Wagon, The 1960s American films 1960s English-language films 1960s heist films 1967 films 1967 Western (genre) films American heist films American Western (genre) films Batjac Productions films English-language crime films English-language Western (genre) films Films adapted into comics Films based on American novels Films directed by Burt Kennedy Films produced by John Wayne Films scored by Dimitri Tiomkin Films shot in Mexico Universal Pictures films