Directed by Henry Hathaway
Starring John Wayne, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson Jr., Earl Holliman, George Kennedy, Paul Fix, James Gregory, Dennis Hopper, John Doucette, Strother Martin, Percy Helton
Paramount has announced a September Blu-Ray release of The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965). It’s a terrific movie, with an incredible cast and gorgeous cinematography from the great Lucien Ballard. Paramount’s Blu-Rays of pictures like this can be stunning, if they’re not overly processed like El Dorado (1966) was. Still, it comes highly recommended.
With this announcement this week, and last week’s news of The Gunfighter (1950) from Criterion, things are looking pretty good.
Toby, always good news that another John Wayne Western from Paramount Pictures will get a Blu-ray release. THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER(1965) is a really good one. I first saw this movie on THE ABC SUNDAY NIGHT MOVIE in 1968 and several times since.
The movie was based loosely on the true story of the Marlow brothers of Indian Territory(Oklahoma). Here is an article about what actually happened in and on the outskirts of Graham, Texas in 1889.
http://blogoklahoma.us/place.aspx?id=372
Thanks for sharing that, Walter. What a cool story. That scene where the Elders leap off the wagon, similar to the real Marlow story (and depicted in this poster on this post), is really great.
Graham, Texas, is not far from where my grandparents lived in the tiny town of Strawn — and Breckenridge, where my mother was born. I love that part of the state and would live there in a minute!
Toby, your welcome. The real story of the Marlow brothers is really interesting and also the background story of how this true and controversial story trailed into THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER movie.
I think we have talked about that part of Texas before, because my Grandfather Preston Walter Davis was a cowhand in that same part of Texas in 1919. The ranch that he was working on still had some Longhorn cattle, because the rancher wanted to keep them around for old times sake.
Here is the song that reached #10 on the country charts in 1965. It was recorded on June 11, 1965 at the Columbia Records Studio in Nashville, Tennessee.
I’ve always thought less of this movie because it seemed too far-fetched that four unarmed prisoners in irons could escape a mob. Now that I know it is somewhat based on a true story I’ll enjoy it more the next time I watch it. Thank you!
What’s always struck me as odd/interesting about this picture is how Dean Martin is kept alive at the end by simply dubbing in a single line from Wayne that he’ll be alright. That’s all it took.
This is probably the first Wayne movie I ever saw – I remember watching it at my grandmothers for Christmas, Thanksgiving or 4th of July in the early 1970s on tv. She always watched Rockford Files as well ! I will buy this on Blu Ray for sure, but the middle part of this movie wanders around more than most good John Wayne movies. It feels like the screenplay was being worked/reworked during the shooting of the movie and I could see it ending totally differently. I was planning on re-watching Rooster Cogburn again soon as I feel that and True Grit are easily Wayne’s best of his later movies, and the location cinematography are fantastic.
Thumbs up to your grandmother – John Wayne & James Garner – she had good taste! I agree that I have always felt the movie could have been better. it does have a lot going for it though. George Kennedy & James Gregory on the villain side & Wayne & Dean Martin. Some good scenes but not a great movie. I’ll definitely buy it.
I really was disappointed with Dean Martin in this movie. He pretty much added nothing. You may have hit the nail on the head as to why this was mediocre – the casting of supporting actors wasn’t good. Earl Holliman was great, but Martin and Anderson were duds in this. And I usually like Dean Martin.
Verel, yes, sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction and in this case it is. The Marlow story made national headlines when published in the sensationalist NATIONAL POLICE GAZETTE in June, 1891: HUNTED IN THE LAW’S NAME, FOUR MEN IN SHACKLES AGAINST A HUNDRED, BORDER LIFE IN TEXAS, THE FAMOUS MARLOW MOB CASE. I’m sure that got the readers attention.
In 1892 THE LIFE OF THE MARLOWS, AS RELATED BY THEMSELVES was published at Quary, Colorado. As the title reads, the two surviving Marlow brothers, George and Charley, related their story to William Rathmell, who wrote it down. A second edition, with additions and revisions by Rathmell, was published in 1931, re-titled THE LIFE OF THE MARLOWS: A TRUE STORY OF FRONTIER LIFE OF EARLY DAYS. In 2004 another edition was published, which was edited, with an introduction and annotations by Robert K. DeArment.
DeArment writes that in about 1953 producer/screenwriter William H, Wright picked up a copy of LIFE OF THE MARLOWS in a Los Angeles bookstore and thought it would make the basis for a good Western movie. Well, he was certainly right about that. Although, I’m not so certain that screenwriter Wright picked up that particular 22 year-old book. The picked up book, just might have been TOUGHEST OF THEM ALL(1953) written by Oklahoma lawman Glenn D. Shirley(I’ve read several of his books on Oklahoma/Texas/Arkansas lawmen and outlaws). Shirley had written “Hell Riders of the Brazos,” which was based on the Marlow story for WESTERN ACES(April, 1943) magazine. It was reprinted as”Buckshot on the Brazos” in his book TOUGHEST OF THEM ALL. Of course, this is only conjecture on my part. Anyway, since Charley and George Marlow were dead, Charley died in California in 1941 and George in Colorado in 1945, screenwriter Wright paid members of the Marlow family $1,000 each for permission to turn the story into a screenplay. So, the rest is Western Movie History. The getting of THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER to the screen is quite another story.
Tom, your grandmother has good taste in movies and television shows. Yes, there were several writers with their fingers in the pie on this movie. One, Allan Weiss only wrote scripts for Elvis movies, except for THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER. By John Wayne’s later movies, I presume you mean from 1969-76).
Well, I like TRUE GRIT(filmed 1968, Released 1969) and ROOSTER COGBURN(filmed 1974, released 1975) also, and I like THE SHOOTIST(1976), THE COWBOYS(filmed 1971, released 1972), and BIG JAKE(filmed 1970, released 1971). Fact is, I like the others that I didn’t name, just not quite as much.
Toby, of course Tom Elder(Dean Martin) was going to be alright.
As I mentioned before ,I already have THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER on BLU RAY on THE 9 MOVIE WESTERN COLLECTION from Germany.They should have called it THE JOHN WAYNE COLLECTION as he stars in 5 of them I also have the 9 MOVIES CLASSIC WESTERN COLLECTION on DVD ,with 4 movies that are on the BLU RAY.One of the movies I watched (or tried to) was HUD,but then again I never was a fan of modern westerns.
Graham, I know what you mean. I already have THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER on DVD from the JOHN WAYNE COLLECTION. I’ll only buy it if it is reasonably priced and has some good features, something besides a trailer. Also, the transfer needs to be a good one. Although, it is always good news when a John Wayne movie comes out on Blu-ray, I just would like to see some of the really fine Paramount Pictures Westerns of the of the 1950’s, which are in VistaVision put out on a good transferred Blue-ray. For example, why not THE LAST TRAIN FROM GUN HILL(filmed 1958, released 1959).
I understand your not caring that much for HUD(filmed 1962, released 1963), believe you me, I would rather watch THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER. Although, I do like Westerns set in the Post-World War II era. A good one is THE WALKING HILLS(filmed 1948, released 1949) with Randolph Scott, Ella Raines, William Bishop, Edgar Buchanan, Arthur Kennedy, and John Ireland.
I watched THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER last night.One part I couldn’t understand was when they put chains on them to take them to another town was the bad guys planned to ambush them and they said we’ll blame it on the Elders .How can the Elders ambush them when they are chained up.In a lot of westerns you usually get the deputy hothead .The deputy had his mind made up that the Elders had killed the sheriff and was ready to string them up.These sort of people act without thinking and usually make a fool of themselves .Martha Hyer was married to producer Hal B Wallis .One lady who may be familiar with film fans was Edith Head who did the costumes.
FOUR SOLID STARS , here, for THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, from Hal Wallis/Paramount, and easily fits in any listings of John Wayne’s best films! And let’s not forget Elmer Bernstein’s terrific MUSIC score (as well as his other later scores for JW!). The original soundtrack album has the JOHNNY CASH ballad included. and, SAAY! ….. FOUR SOLID STARS, goes for HUD, too!! (…also music by Elmer!). (Hello. Walter!).
Steven, Hello. John Wayne and Elmer Bernstein, they go together don’t they! From THE COMANCHEROS(filmed 1960, released 1961) to THE SHOOTIST(1976) they rode together for eight movies.