Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Infamousta brilliant actors, brilliant editing

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Marva-nova Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

LeonLouisRicci A Big Production Design Highlights this Mid-Sixties Western. The Cinematography, Score, and overall Look of the Movie is Stunning when Viewed Today in HD. The Colors Vibrate, the Landscape is Picture Post Card Beautiful, and the Sets in the Third-Act conclusion are nothing less than Surreal.The Cast, is Headlined by a Grizzly, Disheveled, Drunk, and Angry Richard Boone, straight from his Popular and long running "Have Gun, Will Travel" TV Show, with support from Tony Franciosa, Stuart Whitman, and Debuting Football Star Jim Brown.All do Adequate Work with Boone Chewing the Scenery often as He Overshadows Everyone. That is until the Climax when He Spars with Edmond O'Brien for Over Acting Honors. It is that aforementioned Third Act that is the Film's Highlight and is worth the price of admission.Although there are a few Action Scenes that lead up to the Violent and Explosive Conclusion that keep things Humming. It has its share of leftover Hollywood Stereotypes, but also shows Signs of the Transitional Western with some Brutality and a Touch of Sensitivity.Overall, it is riding the Gap between the Old and the New western (post Boetticher/Mann and pre Leone/Peckinpah) and is helped by the Stalwart Professionalism.

edwagreen Pretty bad film with a whole host of stars done in by an unusually poor script.Everyone is seeking vengeance here. Edmond O'Brien comes in towards the end of the film. He is an ex-Confederate soldier seeking vengeance by planning an attack on the 2nd anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant. He really should have left well enough alone.No wonder no one ever heard of Wende Wagner after this film. With a credit like this behind her, nobody would bother to want to remember.Franciosa's character is one that Gilbert Roland would have played in the real old days. He's conflicted here and that's why he ends up with a bullet.Richard Boone seeks vengeance for a lost wife and child. Stuart Whitman is just about in for the ride to Mexico. A very bad film with little to no meaning.

doug-balch This is a pretty good movie.Here's what I liked:Solid Civil War theme, which I love in Westerns. Richard Boone plays a great character, a bitter Confederate veteran with a personal vendetta against the Apaches.Great location shooting in MexicoEntertaining, moves along nicely, no major plot holes.Soundtrack was very good.Here's what kept the movie from being better:It is essentially a remake of "The Commacheros", a better movie released three years previously. It also starred Stuart Whitman, but had John Wayne as the lead.While I like Richard Boone, he can't carry a movie as the lead. He's at his best playing a heavy, like he did in "The Tall T", "Big Jake" and "The Shootist". Loved him in "Hombre".I also like Stuart Whitman, but he's not good in this. His character is annoying.I didn't buy Tony Franciosa for a second as a Mexican cutthroat. Shouldn't he be chasing skirts in L.A. night clubs? I kept expecting Raquel Welch to jump out from behind a cactus in a bikini.The Apache girl's character was gratuitous and contrived. Her motivations didn't seem plausible to me, especially at the end.The Mexicans and the Indians were stereotypes. The Apaches were largely misrepresented, although there is a nice scene at the end where Bloodshirt recognizes Lassiter as similar to himself.I've never bought the "Confederacy reborn Mexico" theme. Edmund O'Brien's character didn't work for me.The ending was too abrupt.

jldmp1 There's no really new ground covered here - post civil war barbarity, lawlessness and retribution. But it does have some noteworthy elements.Even though violence has always formed the core of the Western, the *depiction* of the violence here is unusually graphic. Lots of blood, shootings, spearings and men burned alive. Boone bashes the Apache chief over the head with scales -- a visual metaphor for the 'broken justice' of the whole affair.And the action sequences are remarkably well arranged and edited: Franciosa throws a knife into a mounted bandido, who falls from his horse. He's dragged by his stirrup and Franciosa grabs his knife out of the passing body so he can reuse it -- all with a wink at us.Also of note is the theme of O'Brien building his own Confederacy south of the border, symbolized by the half completed neo-Classical structure in the desert. "The Undefeated" had similar themes, but this is much smarter.The weakness lies in the wooden supporting cast -- the part of the Apache girl/combatant is not handled very well. Brown is given little to do in his film debut. The women are sex objects. The Apaches are depicted as 'injuns'.It does end in a smart, unsentimental way, suggesting "Bridge on the River Kwai". But on the whole, and with today's hindsight, it doesn't clear the bar raised up by "...Josey Wales".