Review #1,090: 'The War Wagon' (1967)

There's a sense of overwhelming square-jawed machismo running through the action-packed western The War Wagon. Playing to the barrel-chested strengths of Golden Age superstars John Wayne and Kirk Douglas, the film goes about its business with a lack of fuss, packing in everything from chaotic saloon brawls, quick-draws and comedy-tinged bickering between its two towering stars, before climaxing with an exciting little set-piece involving the armoured beast of the title. This is the kind of old-fashioned western that inspires comments of "they don't make 'em like that anymore."

Taw Jackson (Wayne) returns to his home town after a stretch in prison. His presence is immediately noticed by corrupt businessman Frank Pierce (Bruce Cabot) who, three years earlier, framed Taw for a crime and confiscated his land in the process. The land turned out to be full of gold, and Taw wants his piece. He plans to steal a shipment of gold being transported in a 'war wagon', a heavily-armoured stagecoach fitted with a steerable Gatling gun on its top, and rounds up a crew of trusted misfits to help him carry out his plan. The final piece of the puzzle is skilled gun-for-hire Lomax (Douglas), the man who played a key role in sending Taw to prison years earlier while in the employ of Pierce. Needing his muscle as well as his skills as a safe-cracker, the two strike up a reluctant friendship and mutual respect, despite their clashing personalities.

Working together for the third time in as many years after In Harm's Way (1965) and Cast a Giant Shadow (1966), Wayne and Douglas have an easy-going chemistry, with Wayne playing the righteous, no-nonsense frontiersman, while Douglas gets to have more fun as the lovable scamp, flirting with anything that moves and leaping onto his horse in various showboating ways. Director Burt Kennedy - who 24 years later would throw cinematic acid in our face with Suburban Commando - has no problem handling these huge matinee idols, and delivers a handsome-looking genre piece. While the film's simplicity and lack of ambition to be anything other than a piece of entertainment doesn't damage the film, it prevents it from being great. But if you're looking for an easy-going 90 minutes, The War Wagon doesn't disappoint.


Directed by: Burt Kennedy
Starring: John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Howard Keel, Robert Walker Jr., Bruce Cabot
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #979: 'Ace in the Hole' (1951)

Billy Wilder - the American director whose body of work sailed as closely to perfection as one can get - reportedly referred to Ace in the Hole, a rare flop for Wilder, as "the runt of my cinematic litter." Dismissed by critics upon release for its cynical depiction of the tabloids and law enforcement, it has since been re-discovered and lavished with praise for foreshadowing a world in which we are bombarded with sensationalised news stories that are now never more than a thumb-swipe away. Kirk Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a hard-drinking, troublemaking reporter exiled from New York to New Mexico, where he plans to recoup at a low-circulation local paper until he lands a story that will have his big-city former pals clawing at each other for his services.

After over a year without the big break he was counting on, Tatum bitterly takes to the road to cover a rattlesnake hunt. On route, he stumbles across a weeping woman while filling his car with gas and, when a police car whizzes by, quickly sniffs the air for something big. It turns that a local man called Leo Minosa (Richard Benedict) has become trapped in a cave while looking for local Indian artefacts. Remembering W. Floyd Collins, who had the nation gripped while in a similar situation, Tatum seizes his chance and quickly sets up shop, convincing Minosa's unhappy wife Lorraine (Jan Sterling) to stay and play the weeping damsel for the cameras and microphones, and strikes a deal with corrupt local sheriff Kretzer (Ray Teal) to support his re-election bid

A more recent film to cover similar ground was Nighcrawler (2014), starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a more outwardly slimy reporter, manipulating events to his own benefit. The difference with Ace in the Hole is that Tatum does, by the end, discover a shred of humanity without losing his ferocity, as Leo's situation starts to look increasingly dire. Before his moral epiphany though, he shapes events with a Machiavellian wickedness, delaying the rescue and therefore allowing the story to garner national coverage, and using the strong-armed sheriff to shoo away any rival newspapers. It turns into a media circus, literally. Tatum stands on a mountain admiring what he has created while people flock to the scene in their hundreds and carnival rides are set up. A band even performs a song about Leo to the crowd and sells the recordings.

Partly down to Douglas's astonishingly acid-tongued and energetic performance and partly Lesser Samuels, Walter Newman and Wilder's ferocious script, Ace in the Hole rests easily on par with the likes of The Lost Weekend (1945) and Some Like it Hot (1959), although it falls short of Double Indemnity (1944) and Sunset Blvd. (1950). He didn't get much wrong in his career, but Wilder's evaluation of the film is certainly dumbfounding. Unrelenting in its foreboding of where journalism was in danger of heading, Ace in the Hole is gripping storytelling. Douglas stampedes through the scenery like a branded bull, and his characters increasingly desperate actions remain shocking even now, 65 years later.


Directed by: Billy Wilder
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur, Richard Benedict, Frank Cady, Ray Teal
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #176: 'The Fury' (1978)

Peter Sandza (Kirk Douglas) is happily holidaying with his son Robin (Andrew Stevens), when he is betrayed by his lifelong friend Ben Childress (John Cassavetes). He is attacked by missionaries with machine guns, only to kill a few himself before apparently being blown up. Ben escapes with Robin, a boy Ben believes to have a powerful telekinetic and psychic ability. As Peter begins his frantic search, fellow psychic Gillian (Amy Irving) is admitted to the Paragon Clinic under the supervision of Dr. McKeever (Charles Durning), who may be linked with Robin's disappearance. As Gillian's power becomes stronger, she feels a connection with Robin, just as Peter comes close to discovering the whereabouts of his son.

Brian De Palma's career is somewhat of a mixed bag. Highly influenced by Hitchcock, his films are packed with homages and winks to a wide range of classic movies. He was prolific with his quality output in the 70's and 80's (Blow Out (1981), Carrie (1976), Scarface (1983), Dressed To Kill (1980)), but his late 80's through to the present have been littered with the dodgy and the dire (Casualties Of War (1989), Mission To Mars (2000), The Bonfire Of The Vanities (1990), The Black Dahlia (2006)), albeit with a few decent films (Carlito's Way (1993), The Untouchables (1987), Mission: Impossible (1996)). 1978's The Fury, made just two years after the similarly-themed Carrie, lurks somewhere in between his very best and his worst.

Where Carrie announced the arrival of a potentially brilliant horror/thriller director, with its high tension, gore-drenched climax, and that jump ending that bred a thousand horror copycats, The Fury tackles the same supernatural themes, but just comes off as a bit silly. One half a badly staged action film, with an old Kirk Douglas outwitting a mass of secret agents, and one half a nicely plotted, but rather unspectacular supernatural horror. Although there are few glimpses, it certainly lacks De Palma's knowing cinematic style, best displayed in balls-out Hitchcock homage Dressed To Kill.

Although the film is sporadically entertaining, it's about twenty minutes too long, and seems to slow down to a snail's pace in the middle. It takes too long developing a story which is pretty straightforward, and characters that aren't particularly interesting. However when the climax comes, it's a lot of fun, and is just mad enough to save the film. I don't recall ever seeing a man exploding repeatedly from so many angles before, which is always a bonus. It literally happens about fifteen times. For a more defining telekinetic/exploding bodies film, seek out Scanners (1981).


Directed by: Brian De Palma
Starring: Kirk Douglas, Amy Irving, John Cassavetes, Charles Durning, Andrew Stevens
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie