The Train Robbers (1973)

Director:

Burt Kennedy

Writer:

Burt Kennedy (written by)

Release Date:

7 February 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Tagline:

The gold or the grave. The young widow could lead them to either.

Plot:

A gunhand named Lane is hired by a widow, Mrs. Lowe, to find gold stolen by her husband so that she may return it and start fresh. |

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Train | Beautiful Woman

Cast

John Wayne	...	Lane
Ann-Margret	...	Mrs. Lowe
Rod Taylor	...	Grady
Ben Johnson	...	Jesse
Christopher George	...	Calhoun
Bobby Vinton	...	Ben Young
Jerry Gatlin	...	Sam Turner
Ricardo Montalban	...	The Pinkerton man

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Singapore:PG | UK:U | West Germany:12 (f) | Finland:K-12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Durango, Mexico

Company:

Batjac Productions

Trivia:

John Wayne's and Ann-Margret's character names, "Lane" and "Mrs. Lowe," are the same as Wayne's and Geraldine Page's characters' names in Hondo (1953).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: As the gang is searching for a sand-covered railroad track in a sand storm they have yet to find anything. Yet behind them, to the right of the picture, as the camera moves to the right slightly, we get a clear view of the camera dolly track, shiny and sand-free.

Quotes:

Calhoun: Someone said this gold was already dug.
Lane: Keep digging.

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Wayne Train (1973) (TV)

A pleasant enough flick--nothing more

Late in his career, John Wayne made quite a few very leisurely films where he just kind of walked through the parts. Of course, considering he was pretty old and had been battling with cancer, it certainly isn't much of a surprise. What is a surprise is that he was, on occasion, able to play some of the roles he played--such as in BRANNIGAN and his final film, THE SHOOTIST. THE TRAIN ROBBERS is such a leisurely romp. Sure, they ride their horses a lot (probably too much, if you ask me), but the action scenes were pretty subdued other than a gunfight here and there and a couple punches--sort of a kinder, gentler sort of John Wayne.

This film is about a widow who wants Wayne and his friends to cross into Mexico to rescue some stolen gold and return it for the reward. Along the way, there are a lot of good moments of dialog between those in the party and, not surprisingly, the old professional Ben Johnson came off best in these scenes.

While the overall film offered few big surprises, the ending was pretty exciting and for Wayne fans this is a must-see. For others, it's a pleasant enough Western--you could certainly do a lot worse!

By the way--Two final comments. Bobby Vinton was in the movie but you'd hardly notice. Also, in one scene, a mule knocks one of them into a huge mud puddle. Only seconds later, the same guy is barely wet at all--an interesting continuity problem.