Blast from the Past: Burt Lancaster Revisited
John Sturges directed this wannabe Western mockumentary spoof, with top stars like Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton and Pamela Tiffin.
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Theatrical release poster
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Grade: C+ (**1/2* out of *****)
A slapstick parody of epic Westerns–targeting their grand vistas, huge all-star casts, stunt-filled action scenes–The Hallelujah Trail is based on Bill Gullick’s 1963 book.
It depicts a struggle between a businessman trying to deliver whiskey to Denver by wagon train, his striking Irish teamsters, a barfly militia from Denver eager to ensure that the liquid cargo reaches its destination, temperance women campaigners determined to destroy the booze, a swarm of Native Americans determined to hijack it, and—most essentially—a unit of the U.S. Cavalry trying to control the whole chaotic mess.
Claiming a running time of 2 hours, 45 minutes, the film was one of several large-scale widescreen, long-form “epic” comedies in the 1960s, such as The Great Race and It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.
Signs that the winter will be a hard one produce agitation in the mining town of Denver, as the hard-drinking citizenry fear a shortage of whiskey.
Taking advice from Oracle Jones, a local guide under the influence of alcohol, the populace arrange for mass shipment of forty wagons full of whiskey to be delivered by the Wallingham Freighting Company.
The whiskey wagon train heads out under the direction of company owner Frank Wallingham, who describes himself as “a good Republican tax payer.”
Soon, this cargo becomes the target of several diverse groups, each with their leaders and plans. Young Capt. Paul Slater of the Cavalry is assigned by Fort Russell commander Col. Thaddeus Gearhart to escort the Wallingham Wagon Train, and merely wishes to carry out his orders. A group of Irish teamsters, hired as wagon drivers, wishes to strike unless whiskey rations are distributed. Twice-widowed, crusading temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale and her followers, informed of the alcoholic cargo, wish to intercept the train and destroy its contents; the group therefore sets out escorted by a second cavalry division under the command of a reluctant Col. Gearhart (Lancaster).
Other interested parties include Sioux Indians, led by chiefs Five Barrels and Walks-Stooped-Over, and Denver citizens’ militia, led by Clayton Howell and guided by Oracle Jones.
Inevitably, the various groups converge, and the ensuing property struggle is depicted through comic set pieces and diplomatic overtures by the increasingly weary Gearhart.
Highlights include a massive shoot-out between the parties within a blinding sandstorm without a single injury, a hostage situation when the Indians capture the Temperance members in order to reinforce their demands for alcoholic drink, and Massingale tricking Wallingham into driving/leading his entire wagon train into a quicksand bog, where the wagons and cargo sink into the pits.
Presented in pseudo-documentary style, the film deployed a tongue-in-cheek narrator (unbilled John Dehner), who provides historical background, and periodically interrupts the story with animated charts that illustrate the groups’ positions.
Opening
“The land at first — mountains… thrust forth from the molten darkness of the earth. Mountain and valley… the virgin West. High plateau… and red rock of sandstone — wilderness West. Prairie land… rolling on and on… to the end of sight. Oh, pioneer West! What fervent dreams lay half-buried in this land of promise — dreams crushed by a cruel nature — or the lance of an Indian warrior.
Closing
“Companies A and B of the Cavalry escorted the ex-temperance marchers back to their husbands and hungry children at Fort Russell. It is to be assumed, some time passed before the Indians were able to regain their customary composure. But it is known that the exploits of their journey became tribal legend…to be told over and over again, from generation to generation… with slight revisions. The Denver free militia dissolved… never to march again. And of course, the strike of the Irish teamsters failed…and the Wallingham freighting company went bankrupt, having no visible assets….
Shot in Ultra Panavision 70, it was presented in selected theaters via the oversized Super Cinerama process.
Originally budgeted at $4.5 million, the budget ballooned to $7 million, with additional $3.5 million planned for prints and advertising.
Vet stuntman Bill Williams was killed on November 13, 1964, while performing stunts involving a wagon going over a cliff, but the scene was kept in the movie.
The film was originally 181 minutes long, but initial screenings triggered a cut to 165 minutes, which was still too long.
Many critics complained that it was basically a one-joke plot, with vignettes and gags strung on along the way, held together by Dehner’s understated narration, which was only sporadically inventive or funny.
The movie was a commercial flop.
Cast
Burt Lancaster as Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart
Lee Remick as Cora Templeton Massingale
Jim Hutton as Captain Paul Slater
Pamela Tiffin as Louise Gearhart
Donald Pleasence as Oracle Jones
Brian Keith as Frank Wallingham
Martin Landau as Walks-Stooped-Over
John Anderson as Sergeant Buell
Tom Stern as Kevin O’Flaherty
Credits:
Directed, produced by John Sturges
Screenplay by John Gay, based on The Hallelujah Trailmby Bill Gulick
Produced by John Sturges
Cinematography Robert Surtees, A.S.C.
Edited by Ferris Webster
Music by Elmer Bernstein
Production: The Mirisch Corporation
Distributed by United Artists
Release date: June 23, 1965
Running time: 165 minutes (Roadshow version); 155 minutes (1991 VHS version); 152 minutes (70mm General Release); 146 minutes (35mm General Release version)
Budget $7 million
Box office $4,000,000
