Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)There is a group of people who love to feel superior by disdaining things that everyday people enjoy. One of those things is a John Wayne movie. I am one who really enjoys John Wayne movies. He had a great screen presence, even when he was older, as he was here, in the Rooster Cogburn movies, and especially in the great movie "The Shootist".
This movie is really about fathers and sons, and particularly absent fathers and sons who find the wrong path and try to get back to the right way. Wayne plays the title character, J. D. Cahill. The opening scene is him on the road taking on a band of five bad guys in a shootout that ends the way you would expect the hero to play in a John Wayne film.
Cahill is an older man and we learn that he has young sons, one, Danny, a young teen and the other, Budger, a young boy. Their mother died. In a touching conversation with Danny, regretting his not being around for them, he acknowledges that he has focused too much on his job. He does note that when Danny's mother (Cahill's dear wife) was dying her last words to Cahill were, "Go Get `Em!". And so, he has been ever since.
George Kennedy plays one of his best and menacing bad guys, Abe Fraser. I don't want to get into the plot, but he does suck Danny and Budger into his plans. And it is the boys trying to extricate themselves without letting their father in on their problems that ends up causing most of the problems. The crisis comes when some innocent men are facing death for the crimes the boys know they and Abe's gang committed and they have to get things right in time.
You expect things to turn out a certain way in a film like this. There aren't any big surprises, but there are some funny and some touching moments along the way. And Wayne is still quite good as he holds the screen with his unique presence. And Neville Brand as Lightfoot provides some very fine moments in the film.
I don't think it is one of the best things Wayne did, but it is still better then most films and suitable for families. It can provide some good discussion with your kids, as well.
And it is a John Wayne film.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Cahill: United States Marshal (1973)
Lawman J.D. Cahill can stand alone against a bad-guy army. But as a widower father, he's on insecure footing raising two sons. Particularly when he suspects his boys are involved in a bank robbery - and two killings. Filmed on location in the high desert of Durango, New Mexico, Cahill: United States Marshal offers a hearty helping of the stoic charisma that made John Wayne a lomg-time box-office champion. Summer of '42 discovery Gary Grimes - as Cahill's rebelllious older son - joins a cast of tough-guy favorites (Neville Brand, Denver Pyle, Harry Carey Jr. and George Kennedy) and such other Hollywood greats as Marie Windsor and Jackie Coogan in a deft blend of trigger-fast action and heroic sentiment. DVD Features:Audio Commentary:Commentary by Andrew McLaglenFeaturette:"Justice Under the Star" "The Man Behind the Star"Theatrical Trailer
Click here for more information about Cahill: United States Marshal (1973)
