The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Talbot Jennings (story)
William H. Wright (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

1 July 1965 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

If Texas coundn't tame 'em ...could she?

Plot:

Ranch owner Katie Elder's four sons determine to avenge the murder of their father and the swindling of their mother.

Plot Keywords:

Texas | Murder | Rocking Chair | Exploding Bridge | Shot In The Chest

Awards:

1 win

Cast

John Wayne	...	John Elder
Dean Martin	...	Tom Elder
Martha Hyer	...	Mary Gordon
Michael Anderson Jr.	...	Bud Elder
Earl Holliman	...	Matt Elder
Jeremy Slate	...	Ben Latta
James Gregory	...	Morgan Hastings
Paul Fix	...	Sheriff Billy Wilson
George Kennedy	...	Curley
Dennis Hopper	...	Dave Hastings
Sheldon Allman	...	Harry Evers
John Litel	...	Minister
John Doucette	...	Hyselman
James Westerfield	...	Mr. Vennar
Rhys Williams	...	Charlie Striker

Runtime:

122 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #20933) | USA:Not Rated (video release) | Australia:PG | West Germany:12 (re-rating) | West Germany:16 (f) (original rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:16 | South Korea:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Casa Blanca, Durango, Mexico

Company:

Hal Wallis Productions

Trivia:

When John Wayne is dragged into the river, you can hear a child calling out, "Dad!". This was his three-year-old son Ethan Wayne, who was watching off camera and knew how ill his father was.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the gunfight between John Elder and Morgan Hastings in the gun shop at the end of the movie John looks up from behind the counter and Morgan fires a round at him. You see a glow on the counter where the bullet strikes the counter before the bullet gets there. This is where the small charge is that simulates the bullet strike.

Quotes:

Bud Elder: I'm going with you. I can draw pretty fast. We can be famous -- like the Dalton Brothers!
John Elder: They're famous -- but they're just a little bit dead. They were hung!

Movie Connections:

Remade as Four Brothers (2005)

From the four winds four brothers came… Their eyes smoking and their fingers itching…

Katie Elder bore four sons… The day she was buried they all return to the Texas town of Clearwater to pay their last respects…

John (John Wayne) is the oldest, the toughest, the gunfighter… Texas, its bigness and its violence echoes in his empty soul… Tom (Dean Martin) is a different breed of hombre… He is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun—when he has to be… Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one… Nobody ever called him yellow—twice… Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is the youngest, but he is the rebel one...

At the funeral are Sheriff Billy Wilson (Paul Fix) and his grim young deputy, Ben Latta (Jeremy Slate) who's real conscientious about his job… Also at the burial, in addition to many townspeople, is the young Mary Gordon (Martha Hyer), the woman who tries the impossible…

Mary visits the four brothers, brings them food, and is sardonic about their desertion of their mother… Only Bud, who has been going to college, shows a possibility of becoming a fine, respecting young man…

As the brothers investigate into the past and present circumstances of their mother's life, they find the old place is no longer hers and that she was penniless…

John discovers that his father supposedly gambled away the ranch when he was pretty drunk and that on the same night he was shot in the back…The only witnesses are Morgan Hastings (James Gregory) and his son Dave (Dennis Hopper)… The sheriff warns the Elders to stop digging around and to stay out of trouble…

Realizing that the only tribute to Ma Elder would be for Bud to finish college, the brothers pledge themselves to that cause… Yet they feel the loss of the ranch was under peculiar circumstances, they decide to find out the truth…

Henry Hathaway was one of the great versatile directors whose Westerns have been as variable in quality as his other films…

Hathaway's strong points were atmosphere, character and authentic locations… In "The Sons of Katie Elder" he took particular care with locations, proud of the fact that he is one of the few directors who handle their own second-unit work, and when this element combines successfully with the other two the result can be impressive indeed…