THE FILM
FILM DIRECTOR: Burt Kennedy
SCREENWRITER: Clair Huffaker
FILM STARS: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Keenan Wynn, Bruce Cabot, Gene Evans, Joanna Barnes, Bruce Dern, Sheb Wooley, Emilio Fernandez, Chuck Robertson, Hal Needham
COUNTRY: USA
THIS BOOK
AUTHOR: Clair Huffaker
TYPE: Novel
PUBLISHER: Fawcett Gold Medal
THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1967
COUNTRY: Great Britain
COVER: Paperback
THE ORIGINAL BOOK
ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above
YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1957
ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: Badman
NOTES
GENRE: Western
WORDS: Clair Huffaker is one of my favourite western writers. Probably because many of his books have been made into films I like, and because they read like films … he also wrote a lot of screenplays (both based on his books and others).
This western is one of the earliest John Wayne films I recall seeing as a kid. It’s fun. There are some “‘serious” notes but director Burt Kennedy (much underrated), Wayne and Kirk keep it light (the banter between the two leads is hilarious). A great supporting cast and some great extra / bit work make this a winner. Also, as required by a a large escapist action western, it looks great and has a rousing score.
The book and the film are quite different. There is an armoured fortress on wheels and a robbery but the motivations, disputes between characters, and tone of the book (the book is more serious), as well as some character names (ie: John Wayne’s Taw Jackson was Jack Tawlin in the book), have been changed.
I think the film plays better as a serio-comic escapist western rather than a semi serious heist western. In any event the book (and the film in some ways) anticipated the gimmicky gadgetry that was to become a staple of the spaghetti western.
LINKS
TRAILER
THEME SONG
The theme “Ballad of the War Wagon” was sung by (the great) Ed Ames. As good as he is it is odd they didn’t get Howard Keel to do it, as it was in his range, and he was in the film. It’s, errrr, rousing either way.
They could also have gotten Sheb Wooley to do the theme song. He was in the movie and could have done the theme in a “Purple People Eater” style.
or John Wayne, who was the first singing cowboy (albeit dubbed)
or Kirk who sang a couple of songs in a couple of movies
but in this direction lies madness?
Howard Keel could also have sung the theme song. Maybe they should have turned it into a musical!