Blast from the Past: Gregory Peck
J. Lee Thompson directed Mackenna’s Gold, an overwrought Western starring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Ted Cassidy, Camilla Sparv, and Julie Newmar in lead roles.
Joseph MacDonald photographed it in Super Panavision 70 and Technicolor, with original music by Quincy Jones.
Mackenna’s Gold is based on the novel by Heck Allen (pen name Will Henry) about how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people.
The novel was loosely based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings, crediting Frank Dobie’s account of the legend (Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver) in the author’s note.
The film was a box-office failure in America, but a major success in the Soviet Union and the Indian subcontinent.
An old legend tells of gold hidden in the “Cañon del Oro” (“Canyon of Gold”), later called the “Lost Adams,” which is guarded by Apache spirits.
A man named Adams is said to have found it when he was young, only to have the Apaches capture and blind him.
Years later, Marshal MacKenna is ambushed by Prairie Dog, old Apache shaman, and is forced to kill him. MacKenna thereby comes into possession of a map to the treasure, which he examines before burning it.
to get the map. Mexican outlaw John Colorado and his gang look for Prairie. They take shelter in the house of old judge in Hadleyburg, and later kill him, and kidnap his daughter, Inga.
Colorado captures MacKenna, forcing him to lead them to the gold. The gang includes Colorado’s right-hand man Sanchez and several Indians, among them Apache warrior Hachita and Apache woman Hesh-ke.
We learn thar Hesh-ke and MacKenna were once lovers, but she rejected him after he arrested her brother, who was then tried and hanged.
Ben Baker, a gambler who knows Colorado, arrives with townsmen (including blind Adam), who have learned about the latter’s plans, and Colorado is forced to include them in his party.
MacKenna warns Colorado and the townsmen to return home, as they will get themselves killed searching for gold that does not exist, but Colorado reveals what happened to Prairie Dog, and they stay.
The cavalry, led by Sergeant Tibbs, ambushes the party, and most of the gang is killed. The remaining hunters continue on their way, during which MacKenna and Inga fall in love.
Colorado pursues MacKenna and Inga at an abandoned Native American dwelling. They fight, but are interrupted when Apaches enter the canyon.
After a quake, the Apaches flee, and the three survivors ride away, escaping the collapse of the canyon walls, which seemingly buries the gold beyond reach.
In the end, MacKenna and Inga ride off together, unaware that the saddle bags of their horses are stuffed with gold nuggets.
The 1963 novel was based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings, according to the legend, teamster Adams and some prospectors in Arizona were approached by a Native American-raised Mexican named Gotch Ear, who offered to show them a canyon filled with gold. However, in the novel, the gang abducts Marshal MacKenna to find a way to the Canyon.
The film also adapts elements from “Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver” (1939) by J. Frank Dobie, a collection of tales about treasures of the Southwest, based on the legend of the “Lost Adams Diggins.”
Film rights were purchased by Highroad Productions, the company of writer-producer Carl Foreman, who had a deal with Columbia; it was Foreman’s first Western since the 1952 Oscar winning High Noon.
“I feel we should all do a Western from time to time”, said Foreman. “It’s the gym, the workout for basic cinema. This one bears a relationship with High Noon; it’s roughly about the same town 10 or 15 years later, and the lead role is Gary Cooper’s successor. High Noon never left town. This one never comes in but the town impinges on the story.”
Dimitri Tiomkin, who had known Foreman since they served together in the Signal Corps during the war, was hired as composer.
In October 1966, Foreman announced he wanted to make the film in the US, where he had not made a movie for almost fifteen years. He originally believed that he would have to make the movie in Spain where it could be done for the costs of $2.2 million, while a USA shoot would cost $3.2 million. He was persuaded to make the movie at the Grand Canyon, and the budget balooned to $7 million.
Director Thompson later called the film “sheer adventure in six-track stereo sound. Absolutely without any ‘other dimension’.”
The first star signed was Omar Sharif, whose casting was announced in February 1967.[10] His fee was $400,000.[11] Sharif said in an Italian interview that he would make this movie for his son, who was more impressed by action films but disapproved of Sharif’s romantic epics during this part of his career.
Thompson’s first choice for MacKenna was Clint Eastwood, who was looking to make an American Western film after the Dollars trilogy. He disliked the script and turned down the movie to play the lead role in Hang ‘Em High (1968). Steve McQueen was also considered for the lead role. A script was sent to Richard Burton who called it “a standard western script… Christ, what a lot of rubbish one reads.”
The role eventually was cast with Gregory Peck, who had worked successfully with Thompson and Foreman on The Guns of Navarone.
Mackenna’s Gold was drastically cut down prior to its release, from nearly three hours (plus intermission) to just over two hours.
The “Old Turkey Buzzard” theme song sequence was shot at Bryce Canyon in Utah and Monument Valley, on the Arizona-Utah border. The bird is actually a King vulture rather than a turkey vulture (buzzard).
Foreman allowed four film school graduates – two from USC, two from UCLA – to come on location and make their own short film around the shooting of Mackenna’s Gold. The filmmakers were Chuck Braverman, who did a documentary on Foreman; George Lucas, who made the short film 6-18-67; David MacDougal, who made a documentary on Thompson; and J. David Wyles, who made a film on the wranglers.
Lucas’ movie was originally intended to be a making-of documentary. He felt the films were a ruse by Foreman to get some “cheap, behind the scenes documentary films made” but did it for the chance to direct. Foreman reportedly hated Lucas’ short film but was forced to say he liked it in a PBS documentary about the project.
The original score and songs were composed and conducted by Quincy Jones, and the soundtrack album was released on the RCA Victor label in 1969. The opening song, “Old Turkey Buzzard,” is a recurring background theme. It was sung by José Feliciano and was composed by Jones with lyrics by Freddie Douglas (pseudonym for Foreman). José Feliciano also plays guitar and adds vocals in many parts of the soundtrack and Spanish version of the theme song “Viejo Butre” for the Movie’s Spanish-language edition.
The structure of the movie was so loose that a narrator (Victor Jory) had to be employed to explain the plot, as if it were a serial. Critics also faulted the sloppy matching of exterior and studio photography with miniature work for special effects.
Even Gregory Peck, a generous star who never talked against his movies, did not like Mackenna’s Gold, describing it as a “terrible, wretched western.”
Mackenna’s Gold was a box-office failure in North America, but it became a major success in the Soviet Union, France, and the Indian subcontinent. Combined, Mackenna’s Gold grossed an estimated $40,876,254 in all territories (including the U.S.)
Curio Facts:
Stills from the scene of Julie Newmar swimming naked were reprinted in Playboy magazine.
Cast
Gregory Peck as Marshal Sam MacKenna
Omar Sharif as John Colorado
Telly Savalas as Sergeant Tibbs
Camilla Sparv as Inga Bergemann
Keenan Wynn as Sanchez
Julie Newmar as Hesh-Ke
Ted Cassidy as Hachita
Lee J. Cobb as The Editor
Raymond Massey as The Preacher
Burgess Meredith as The Storekeeper
Anthony Quayle as Older Englishman
Edward G. Robinson as Old Adams
Eli Wallach as Ben Baker
