The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965)

The four adult sons (John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Michael Anderson Jr.) of Katie Elder reunite at their mother's funeral. Although their mother was beloved by the townspeople, the four sons are not. Especially the eldest who are a gunfighter (Wayne) and a gambler (Martin) with unsavory reputations. Very loosely based on LIFE OF THE MARLOWS by Glenn Shirley and directed by Henry Hathaway (NORTH TO ALASKA), this is standard western fare. It's a perfectly decent western which never manages to be more than average in spite of the presence of the iconic Wayne. The film is overlong which causes it to drag here and there and there is one brawl that's reminiscent of the worst of John Ford (Elmer Bernstein even scores it with an Irish jig). There's also the suspension of belief when you accept Wayne and Martin as brothers! Maybe if they had different fathers but that's not the case here. Michael Anderson Jr. as the youngest member of the clan is annoying, not the actor but the character he plays. It looks nice but why wouldn't it, it was shot by Lucien Ballard (THE WILD BUNCH) who makes the Mexican location look like Texas. With Martha Hyer (wasted), Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy, James Gregory, Jeremy Slate, Paul Fix and Strother Martin.