With our John Wayne film season continuing the next offering I had to sit through was The Sons of Katie Elder. Hubby says that this is this third favourite John Wayne film so I was expecting quite a lot from it but sadly I was a bit let down.
The film see John Wayne playing the role of ... Read review
John Wayne recovered from his first bout of cancer to appear in 1965'sThe Sons of Katie ... more
Elderas the brother of Dean Martin, Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson Jr. All four characters are wandering souls prone to trouble, but after the funeral of their ...
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Katie Elder bore four sons. The day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater, ... more
Texas, to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son, the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun when ...
John Wayne recovered from his first bout of cancer to appear in 1965'sThe Sons of Katie ... more
Elderas the brother of Dean Martin, Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson Jr. All four characters are wandering souls prone to trouble, but after the funeral of their ...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
In this action-packed Western, three wandering sons return home to attend the funeral of ... more
their mother, Katie Elder, who's been murdered. The brothers then set their sights on the man responsible for her death, as well as for the death of their father, who was killed six months earlier. They receive help from a fourth brother, who has remained at home. However, getting revenge won't be easy because the culprit, who has also gained possession of the family's ranch, will do anything to stop them--including hiring an assassin to kill the oldest brother, John. This classic late-era John Wayne Western features a musical score that bears a suspicious resemblance to THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN theme. (Both were written by Elmer Bernstein.) Also starring in Henry Hathaway's excellent cast are Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, James Gregory, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, and Dennis Hopper.
John Wayne recovered from his first bout of cancer to appear in 1965'sThe Sons of Katie ... more
Elderas the brother of Dean Martin, Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson Jr. All four characters are wandering souls prone to trouble, but after the funeral of their frontier mother, they set out to avenge her death. Directed by Henry Hathaway (Wayne's director onTrue Grit), the film moves like a conventional, latter-day Western, with good performances from Wayne and Martin, who'd already costarred with the Duke in Howard Hawks'Rio Bravo. There's also nice support from Dennis Hopper (who had a legendary conflict with Hathaway on this film), Strother Martin and George Kennedy. --Tom Keogh
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Production Year: 1939 - Westerns - Director: John Ford - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, George Bancroft, Andy Devine, Thomas Mitchell, John Carradine, Donald Meek, Tim Holt
Advantages: Good acting by co-stars, lovely scenery Disadvantages: Very average performance by J. Wayne
...John Wayne film season continuing the next offering I had to sit through was The Sons of Katie Elder. Hubby says that this is this third favourite John Wayne film so I was expecting quite a lot from it but sadly I was a bit let down.
The film see John Wayne playing the role of John Elder. The eldest of 4 brothers. Three of the brothers have met up at the train station in Clearwater to pay their respects at their mothers funeral but ... ...but they soon discover that the ranch is now owned by Morgan Hastings. He ‘acquired’ it after the death of the boys father. John is not happy about this and with the help of his brothers sets about finding out just why his mother gave up the land and how the Hastings got their hands on it. John needs to watch his back though as the Hastings have hired a gun hand to watch over them as they are scared of John.
With our John Wayne film season continuing the next offering I had to sit through was The Sons of Katie Elder. Hubby says that this is this third favourite John Wayne film so I was expecting quite a lot from it but sadly I was a bit let down.
The film see John Wayne playing the role of John Elder. The eldest of 4 brothers. Three of the brothers have met up at the train station in Clearwater to pay their respects at their mothers funeral but the eldest being John is not there. As the funeral is coming to an end we see John is watching from afar and later he meets up with his brothers at their late mothers home. After a lot of banter and petty arguing they all decide that they will go into town to get their mothers debts and things sorted out.
They all head into Clearwater town hoping to come away with some money as their mother owned a massive ranch but they soon discover that the ranch is now owned by Morgan Hastings. He ‘acquired’ it after the death of the boys father. John is not happy about this and with the help of his brothers sets about finding out just why his mother gave up the land and how the Hastings got their hands on it. John needs to watch his back though as the Hastings have hired a gun hand to watch over them as they are scared of John.
Will John and his brothers be able to find out the truth and will they like what they are going to find?
OK, well we all know John Wayne always played the cowboy but for some reason in this film as with the last one I watched him in he just seemed to add nothing to this character to try and make it different from any of the other roles which he played. I was amazed though that he was not wearing his trademark red shirt and he did in fact wear a blue one for the duration of this film! Now don’t get me wrong he did do a good job in the film but there was just nothing new about John Elder. John Wayne was supported by a list of great actors including, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson Jr who all did wonderful jobs with their characters and they all had a good on screen chemistry together.
I did enjoy the film but the story was a bit bland for my liking and there was nothing really going on apart from the brothers trying to stop their petty arguments and then trying to find out just how the Hastings got hold of the land. We did have some good gun fights and action scenes but nothing in this film really stood out for me. There was an element of humour in the film with the brothers and their arguing and I think this was much needed with the ordinary storyline.
The film was set again in Texas in the old wild west times and the sets and costumes were all very good and looked authentic. I have to say that the best bit if this film for me was in fact the scenery as we did have some wonderful shots over the mountains and countryside and I thought that all of the views were amazing. The music was also very good and helped to set the tone of the film and the music director did a wonderful job with this.
We have the 100th anniversary DVD edition which does not contain any bonus material which I was glad of. The running time of this film is 117 minutes which I felt to be too long and it has a certificate of Universal which means that it is suitable for all ages and I do agree with this.
I will recommend this film as long as you are not expecting too much as John Wayne was not the star of this film for me, the supporting actors were! Hubby gives this a full 5 stars as he loved ever aspect of it but their was just something missing in it for me. Definitely not one of John Wayne’s best!
It is left to Bud, the youngest of Katie Elder's four sons, to retain respectability for the family name. After her death Katie's maternal influence returns again and again.
Release details
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DVD
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PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT; TECHNICOLOR DIST. SERVICES
Dolby Digital Mono English French German Italian Spanish
DVD Description
In this action-packed Western, three wandering sons return home to attend the funeral of their mother, Katie Elder, who's been murdered. The brothers then set their sights on the man responsible for her death, as well as for the death of their father, who was killed six months earlier. They receive help from a fourth brother, who has remained at home. However, getting revenge won't be easy because the culprit, who has also gained possession of the family's ranch, will do anything to stop them--including hiring an assassin to kill the oldest brother, John. This classic late-era John Wayne Western features a musical score that bears a suspicious resemblance to THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN theme. (Both were written by Elmer Bernstein.) Also starring in Henry Hathaway's excellent cast are Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, James Gregory, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, and Dennis Hopper.
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