The Train Robbers (1973)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

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 successful, if predictable, "Wayne Western."

Mrs. Lowe (Ann Margret) is the widow who enlists the help of Lane (John Wayne) in finding a gold shipment that had been stolen five years ago…

In that time ten men rode away with half a million in gold… The fellow that was running the show figured they better hide it until things cooled off… So he took the Fargo box and rode south into Mexico… He had the misfortune of getting shot… But before he died, he told his wife—the mother of his little boy— where the gold was…

But his widow decided to get the gold, return it to the train company for a $50,000 reward, and clear her husband's name… The reason: she doesn't want her kid growing up thinking his old man ran around robbing trains…

In mid way, and as 'gold has a way of bringing out the larceny in all of us,' Wayne, with his old-times pals and two young helpers, find themselves followed by mysterious riders who also want the buried loot…

"The Train Robbers" features plenty of gorgeous vistas, from rocky scrub to a sea of rippling sand dunes… Also Wayne delivers one of his most memorable lines addressing Margret, 'I've got a saddle that's older than you are, Mrs. Lowe.'