Chisum (1970)

A land baron by the name of Chisum (John Wayne) is challenged by a greedy newcomer (Forrest Tucker) who is intent on taking over the town and eventually Chisum's land, too. This is pretty much a standard late John Wayne western entry, directed without much style by Andrew V. McLaglen (who directed five Wayne westerns). A tacky main title sequence accompanied by Merle Haggard singing the cheesy lyrics leaves you expecting the worst but while it's generic Wayne, it's nothing to be ashamed of. The most interesting aspect of the film is how it incorporates two actual western legends, Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett) and Billy The Kid (Geoffrey Deuel), and has them meeting up here for the first time. McLaglen whips up an effective showdown between the "good" (though most of them are outlaws) guys and the bad guys in a standoff that lasts from the night to early morning. There is (at least for me) a disturbing cattle stampede sequence in which one can clearly see a cow falling over and being trampled on by the other cattle which appears to be accidental but still. The wide open vistas are nicely done by William H. Clothier and the unmemorable score is by Dominic Frontiere. The large cast includes Ben Johnson, Richard Jaeckel, Christopher George, Patric Knowles, Bruce Cabot, Andrew Prine, John Agar, Pamela McMyler and Lynda Day George.