Burt Kennedy

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. The lure of gold brings a number of people to the railroad watering-stop of Liberty, Texas. First to arrive is a trio of aging Union army veterans: Lane (John Wayne), Jesse (Ben Johnson) and Grady (Rod Taylor.) Together, with drifters Ben (Bobby Vinton), Sal (Jerry Gatlin) and Calhoun (Christopher George), they plan to accompany Mrs. Lowe (Ann-Marget), a train robber's widow, to the site where her husband had hidden a gold shipment. Lane observes that his band of adventurers will be hotly pursued by the deceased robber's gang members along with "every two-bit gunman in the territory." As the company crosses the Texas border and Rio Grande River in Mexico, just ahead of of a band of pursuers, a lone, well-dressed, cigar-smoking stranger keeps a careful eye on both groups. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>

Con artist Latigo Smith is on board a train travelling across frontier-era Colorado, with his would-be fiancée, a rich and powerful woman named Goldie. Looking for a way to escape this situation, he manages to slip off the train at a jerkwater stop, and finds himself in Purgatory, a small town wherein two rival companies of miners, led by Taylor Barton and Colonel Ames, are in a frantic round-the-clock race to find "the motherlode" of gold buried somewhere under the town. After consulting the town doctor about getting an embarrassing Goldie-related tattoo removed, Latigo succumbs to a gambling compulsion and loses all his money at roulette. After hearing a rumor that an infamous gunslinger named "Swiftie" Morgan is in town, Latigo concocts a scam, using the amiable ne'er-do-well Jug May to impersonate the man. In the process of this, the new arrival attracts the attention of Patience "The Sidewinder" Barton, the hot-tempered daughter of Taylor, who wants nothing more than to escape the town and become a woman of refinement in New York City. When Latigo and the fake Swiftie side with the Bartons, Ames sends a telegram to the real gunslinger, informing him of the impostor. Swiftie soon arrives in town, and confronts Latigo, who has replaced Jug for the climatic gunfight. The show-down ends with Swiftie shooting himself when he is startled by one of the massive mining blasts that regularly rock the town. Latigo accidentally finds the motherlode for the Bartons by setting off a load of dynamite with which he was attempting to bluff the gunfighter. The blast also cures his tattoo problem. Latigo's gambling compulsion finally pays off when, financially backed by the Bartons, he wins big at roulette. Now almost as rich as Patience, he marries her, she gets to send her numerous daughters to school in New York, and Jug goes on to "star in spaghetti westerns."

A frontier town in the Old West springs up almost literally overnight when the rather klutzy and hotheaded Prudy Perkins discovers gold in a grave during a funeral. Her father Olly becomes mayor of the new settlement. He and the other members of the town council bemoan the twin facts that the place has become a drunken round-the-clock free-for-all, and that in order to ship out all the gold they are mining, they must pay a hefty fee to the Danbys, a family of ranchers/bandits who control the only route out of town. Most people are too busy digging to take time out to be sheriff, and those who are willing to put down their shovel quickly die. This all changes with the arrival in town of Jason McCullough, a calm and hyper-competent man from "back East" who is passing through town "on his way to Australia." While in the town saloon, he sees young Joe Danby gun a man down, essentially for fun. Needing money after discovering the town's ruinious rate of inflation, McCullough demonstrates his uncanny firearms ability to the mayor and town council, and becomes the new sheriff. He breaks up a street brawl and while at the Perkins house meets Prudy under (for her) mortifyingly embarrassing circumstances. McCullough then arrests Joe and tosses him in the town jail, which has everything a sheriff needs - except iron bars for the cell doors and windows. McCullough keeps the none-too-bright Joe "imprisoned" through the use of a chalk line, some dribbles of red paint, and applied psychology. In the process of all this, McCullough acquires a semi-willing deputy in the form of the extremely scruffy Jake, who was previously nothing more than the "town character." The arrest ignites the wrath of the patriarch of the Danby family; while the rest of the town immediately quiets down under McCullough's reign, "Pa" mounts various efforts to get Joe out of jail. None of them work and he then brings in a string of hired guns, who are equally unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Prudy spars romantically with McCullough, McCullough and Jake go on an unsuccessful search for gold, and, much to Joe's relief, bars are finally installed in the jail. The climax of the film sees Pa Danby summoning scores of his relatives to launch an all-out assault. The sheriff's first impulse is to just leave town and resume his trip to Australia, but when Prudy expresses her sincere approval of this sensible idea, he announces that it sounds cowardly and decides to stay. The rest of the townfolk announce their disapproval of his new plan, and officially vote to not help in any way. Thus the Danby mob rides in faced only by McCullough, Jake and Prudy. After a lengthy gunfight, McCullough bluffs his way to victory using hostage Joe and the cannon mounted in the center of town. As the Danbys are all marched off to jail, the cannon fires, smashing the town brothel and scattering the resident prostitutes and visting civic leaders. McCullough makes his peace with the townfolk, he and Prudy get engaged, and he carries her home. In a closing monologue, Jake directly informs the audience that they get married and McCullough goes on to become governor of the state, while he, Jake, becomes sheriff and then "one of the most beloved characters in western folklore."

In New Mexico, looking for his son's murderer, Ben Kane takes a deputy marshal's job and runs into young Billy Young who's on the lam. A peace-loving man named Ben Kane takes a job as deputy marshal of Lordsburg, in the old West. Kane is no lawman, but he accepts the badge because he has an old score to settle with the town's chief trouble-maker. Once on the job, Kane must also deal with a young sharpshooter named Billy Young and a sharp and sassy saloon dancer, Lily. —Dan Navarro <daneldorado@yahoo.com>

Taw Jackson (John Wayne) arrives in his hometown fresh from a three year prison sentence after been framed by a corrupt businessman called Pierce (Bruce Cabot),so that he could take Taw's ranch after discovering gold on the land.When the sheriff tells Pierce that he's back,Pierce tells two of his men to find gunslinger Lomax (Kirk Douglas) for a price offer to kill him.Lomax had shot Taw for Pierce some time earlier but Taw had survived the shooting,leading to Pierce framing him instead. Taw looks for Lomax at the oriental palace saloon.Lomax appears with a gun at his back but Taw tells him he wants to offer him a deal.He found out in prison that Lomax was a safe cracker and he wants him to help him rob the war wagon - an armour plated stagecoach,which Pierce uses to transfer his gold.Once he tells him the plan and his share of the gold,Lomax agrees.Pierce's two men arrive to ask Lomax about the offer to kill Taw and are surprised to see them with each other.They attempt to kill him themselves but Taw and Lomax are ready and gun them down. Taw and Lomax track down indian,Levi walking bear (Howard Keel) and find him in trouble with some Mexican bandits who have him tied up after cheating them at cards.They help him escape and tell him about the job.They need Levi to ask his people to help them out.Taw also recruits Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker), an explosives expert,who also happens to be an alcoholic much to Lomax's worry, and Wes (Keenan Wynn) a greedy old man who works for Pierce and who immedietly dislikes Billy after he sees him trying to get friendly with his much younger wife,Kate (Valora Noland). Pierce meets Lomax at the saloon wanting an answer as to whether or not he will kill Taw.Billy walks in drunk and starts shouting about becoming rich soon.Lomax knocks him out to prevent him from mentioning anything about the robbery and accepts Pierce's offer of 12'000 dollars to kill Taw. At Wes' ranch,Wes gets angry and threatens Billy when he sees him having a friendly conversation with Kate.Taw arrives in time to protect Billy and asks him if he's checked out the bridge that they need to blow up in order to pull off the crime.Because of the short time frame that they have to do the job,Billy wants to use nitroglycerine instead of dynamite and Wes tells them that Pierce stores some in a safe at the ranch. Taw arrives at the saloon looking for Lomax.Lomax walks over to him for a chat but Pierce and his men enter, hoping to see Taw gunned down.Lomax sees them and starts to goad Taw into a fight.As the two prepare to face off,Levi walks in and starts a fight with Taw to cause a diversion.A bar fight breaks out during which,Lomax knocks out one of Pierce's men who he sees trying to shoot Taw.Lomax follows Taw and Levi out of town.Taw tells him he needs him to crack open the safe to get the nitro out.They wait until dark and sneak in to get the stuff. The next morning,Pierce unveils the newly fixed gatling gun on the war wagon and tries it out,while Taw and his accomplices prepare for the robbery.The warrior indian tribe pursue the wagon while the wagon guards fall behind to try and protect it from them.The wagon crosses the bridge,the horses trip the rope that Billy has placed and the nitro explodes preventing the guards from crossing and leaving the wagon isolated with only Pierce and his two men inside to defend it.Taw and Lomax jump on the wagon and Pierce's men decide to bail out.He shoots them both for trying to betray him and dies himself as one of the men fires back.Unable to stop the wagon,Taw and Lomax jump to safety as it crashes into a ravine.They manage to get the gold out and haul it onto the back of Wes' wagon,in the barrels which are filled with flour.However a tribe of Indians surround them and try to take the gold.One of them kills Wes.Billy pulls out a bottle of nitro to pretend it's alcohol,knowing that the Indians will take it from him.After taking a sip,the leader throws it and it explodes.The horses run off with the gold with Taw in pursuit,while Lomax takes cover in the war wagon from the Indians and Billy protects Kate.By the time Taw catches up with the wagon he finds that most of the gold has fallen into the possession of the peaceful Indians,who have assumed it was all flour.Levi joins them and Lomax angrily takes Taw's horse as part of his down payment from the money he owes him.But unknown to him,Taw has recovered some gold and he gives Billy a small amount to start a new life with Kate,until they divide it up properly after the robbery has died down.He tells him to tell Lomax where he got it from if he sees him. Lomax confronts Taw and wants his share of the gold.Taw tells him they'll divide it up in six months and in the meantime he better makes sure nothing happens to him or he'll never see it.

Two survivors of the original Magnificent Seven, Chris and Vin, recruit four new members to re-form the outfit and defend several Mexican villages from vicious bandits. After Calvera's defeat in The Magnificent Seven (1960), Chico, a former member of the original Seven, has settled down and started a family with his wife, Petra, in the newly liberated Mexican village. But instead of peaceful times ahead, trouble brews anew as sixty hired guns of lawless rancher Lopez force the farmers to build a church and memorial for his deceased sons. Once again, it is up to laconic leader Chris Adams to assemble a new team of brave protectors to stand up against the threat. However, can the new Magnificent Seven pull off the impossible and restore peace? —Nick Riganas Chico, one of the remaining members of The Magnificent Seven, has set down roots in the village that they had defended in the first film. One day, the village is raided by fifty gunmen under the employ of rancher Lorca. Lorca's bandits abduct all of the village's men to be used as slave labor, leaving the women and children behind. Chris, the former leader of the Seven, is sought out by Chico's wife Petra for help, and thus assembles a new Seven to come to the village's rescue once again. —rcs0411@yahoo.com When a bandit leader wants to build a church in memory of his dead sons, he raids three Mexican villages and kidnaps all the men for labour. One of these men is Chico, formerly of the original Magnificent Seven. His wife Petra immediately sets out to look for Chris and Vin, the other surviving members of the Seven. Chris recruits four others (a playboy, an avenger, a highwayman and an orphan) to reform the Seven, once again defending farmers from their oppressors. —Korgath

A man saves a woman who had been kidnapped by Comanches, then struggles to get both of them home alive. Loner Cody trades with the Comanches to get a white woman released, a life he has fallen into ever since his own wife was kidnapped. He is joined on his way back to the woman's husband by an outlaw and his sidekicks. It turns out there is a large reward for the return of the woman, and with the Indians on the warpath and the outlaw being an old enemy of Cody's, things are set for several showdowns. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

A bounty hunter escorts a killer to be tried for murder, with the killer's brother after them. A wanted murderer, Billy John (James Best), is captured by Ben Brigade (Randolph Scott), a bounty hunter, who intends to take him to Santa Cruz to be hanged. Brigade stops at a staging post, where he saves the manager's wife (Karen Steele) from an Indian attack, and enlists the help of two outlaws (Pernell Roberts, James Coburn) to continue his journey more safely. However, the Indian attacks persist, the outlaws plan to take Billy for themselves, tempted by the offer of amnesty for his captor, and Billy's brother Frank (Lee Van Cleef) is in hot pursuit to rescue him. But Brigade has plans of his own.. —David Levene <D.S.Levene@durham.ac.uk>

A locksmith gets caught up in a bank robbery. There's $200,000 in a Los Angeles safety-deposit box that mobster Willis Trent would like to have, so he gets two-timing, double-dealing Flo Randall to get the box number for him. He offers locksmith Tommy Dancer $5,000 to make the key but Tommy refuses. Trent threatens to harm Tommy's girl friend, Betty Turner, and Tommy gives in and goes to the bank. In a few nerve-racking minutes, Tommy makes the key and pockets the $200,000 for himself. Trent sends word that he has kidnapped Betty and the ransom is $200,000. —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net> The mobster Willis Trent is informed by one of his gangsters that the locksmith Tommy Dancer is efficient and fast in his work. Willis befriends Tommy in a bowling alley and invites him to open a trunk at his home. Tommy accepts the job and is then also invited to Willis' party, where he meets the wealthy Betty Turner. Later Tommy and Betty go back to his place and Betty forgets her fur stole when she goes home. The next morning, Tommy returns the fur to Betty and they go on another date that night. Willis offers five thousand dollars to Tommy to make the keys of the safe deposit box no. 315 in the Hollywood Bank that belongs to the rival criminal and head of gambling Paul De Camp and has two hundred thousand dollars of illegal money. Tommy turns down the offer, but Willis threatens to harm Betty's face to achieve his goal. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

A lone cowboy, Ben Stride (Randolph Scott) in the driving rain walks into a camp where two men sit around a fire. He complains that his horse was eaten by Chirakawa Indians as he recounts the story of a robbery of a Wells Fargo station and a killing by seven gunmen back in Silver Springs where he was sheriff. When one of the two men asks if he has found any of the culprits Stride looks at them and says that he has found two as he immediately dispatches the cowboys. As Stride continues to track down the other men responsible for the robbery and killing, he encounters John Greer (Walter Reed) and his wife in a wagon heading for Flora Vista where the criminals are believed to have fled. Stride helps the couple out and accompanies them for a while when they encounter Bill Masters (Lee Marvin) and his partner who are aware of the robbery and killing, and it comes out that it was Stride's wife who was killed by the criminals. Masters is not one of the criminals Strides seeks but someone who has been jailed by Stride in the past and the former sheriff views him suspiciously. It becomes clear that as they group approaches their destination Stride will have to have to shoot it out with the bad men who have killed his wife, and Masters, although not responsible for any crime thus far states clearly to Stride that he intends to obtain the Wells Fargo money for himself but as they near Flora Vista where the crooks are holed up an interesting detail comes out that links John Greer and his wife to Stride's fate.

Two bank robbers abandon their wounded partner to the posse and run with the loot but their partner, after serving time in prison, seeks revenge. Three outlaw buddies rob a bank, but one of them is wounded. His two partners and his girlfriend take his share of the loot and run off, leaving him to be captured by the sheriff. Years later, after he gets out of prison, he goes in search of his double-crossing partners and his faithless girlfriend. He finds them in a semi-deserted, run-down town, but instead of killing them right away, he decides to play cat-and-mouse with them first. —frankfob2@yahoo.com In 1885, Rem Anderson teams up with the outlaws Matt Rankin and Ralph Farley expecting to heist the Palace City bank and buy a ranch to live with his girlfriend Janice "Jan". However Rem is wounded and left behind by his comrades and girlfriend. He is arrested by a posse but he does not rat them. One year later, Rem is released from prison and seeks out his former partners. He meets the gunslinger Billy Deal that gives the name of the town where Farley and Rankin are. On the arrival, Rem meets Sheriff Morton and Deputy Lee; then he finds his horse that had been stolen by Farley. What will Rem do with Farley, Rankin and Jan? —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil In the Arizona Territory of 1880, Rem Anderson (James Arrness) is wounded during a bank holdup. With him are Matt Rankin (Robert Wilkie) and Ralph Farley (Don Megowan). They ride to a rendezvous at the house of Jan (Angie Dickinson), Rem's girlfriend. Here, Matt and Ralph decide to desert him and force Jan to accompany them. Rem is captured by a sheriff's posse and sentenced to a year in jail. Rem vows to find them, and finally locates them in Gunther Wells. Jan is killed by Rankin when she tries to warn Rem, and Farley is killed by a wild shot in the ensuing gunfight. Rem then follows Rankin, where he reduces him unconscious after a vicious fist-fight, and turns him over to Sheriff Morton (Emile Meyer.) —Les Adams <longhorn1939@suddenlink.net>