I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Crappy film

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Squillionaire rancher and land baron John Chisum comes up against crooked and murderous business magnate Lawrence Murphy. Chisum is a hard nut, too, and no prizes for guessing who prevails in this highly inaccurate retelling of the Lincoln County range wars.One of John Wayne's last few westerns, directed by Victor Maclaglen's son Andrew (who usually turned out reliably entertaining cowboy fare) this one is full of action, colourful, long, and pretty much done by numbers. Many familiar faces from westerns of the day pop up in this absolutely bog-standard John Wayne oater.What else can I say? Not much. Wayne's stunt double in the final film is hilariously obvious, and the theme song is perfectly dreadful.Enjoy.

A typical star-driven late 60's Hollywood-oater, "Chisum" was entertaining but it's easy to see the rising appeal of grittier, harder Westerns like 1969's "The Wild Bunch" (a film reportedly disliked by John Wayne). Other than the iconic Wayne as the titular character and the always great Ben Johnson as his muttering sidekick, most of the cast looked like Hollywood actors and actresses playing at 'old-west' – hairstyles seemed anachronistic, women had tight fitting dresses, everyone had perfect teeth etc. Billy the Kid was portrayed as a pretty nice guy with his on-screen killings always justified (at least by him) and lots of references to him learning to read, do sums etc., and again, his mentor Tunstall is portrayed as an older British father-figure (he was actually less than 10 years older that The Kid). After watching John Wayne play a lot of 'larger-than-life' heroes like John Chisum, it's not surprising that some people were surprised by his actual acting ability when he finally played a more complex and ambivalent character in "True Grit". What I most disliked about "Chisum" was the music, especially the clichéd opening Ballad of John Chisum and the intrusive "Sally" song. All-in-all, an OK old-school western from an era when the genre was moving away from white hats vs. black hats story lines to more realistic (at least as realistic as a highly-fictionalised era can be), dirtier, and bloodier films.

At the outset of the 1970s, John Wayne seemed to be churning out as many old-fashioned westerns as was humanly possible for one actor. CHISUM is one such film, surrounding the veteran actor with some of his supporting favourites and one of his favoured directors. The plot is nothing new and merely an excuse to give a lot of actors a lot of screen time, show off some finely rugged scenery, and tell the kind of story familiar in western cinema.The sprawling plot features multiple protagonists and sub-plots, perhaps the most useful of which is the one featuring the real-life characters of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. With the emphasis of much of the running time on these two characters, Wayne sometimes feels like a supporting actor in his own film, although he's very good as the brash, braggardly man with a heart of gold. The action bits are well staged and exciting.The supporting cast helps to keep the interest going. Christopher George is extraordinarily mean as a bounty hunter and went on to marry Linda Day after appearing with her here. Forrest Tucker, veteran western villain, makes for an imposing bad guy. Ben Johnson, Bruce Cabot, Patric Knowles, and Richard Jaeckel are some of the familiar faces you'll spot en route. Geoffrey Deuel brings some good charisma to his role as Billy the Kid. CHISUM is no masterpiece and not one of the Duke's best either, but it's a reliable western made in a fast-changing world.

John Chisum(John Wayne)is a fair-minded and successful rancher who has built up something of an empire on the rolling New Mexico plains. However his interests are threatened by unscrupulous land baron Lawrence Murphy, who has started to dominate the nearby town of Lincoln by forcing business owners and other ranchers to sell up. Chisum becomes increasingly concerned by Murphy's tight grip on the territory and contempt develops between the two men, but Chisum vows to fight Murphy legally. When Murphy hires a band of killers to rustle cattle, including Chisum's, the fragile piece is shattered by cold-blooded murder. With range war now on the cards, Chisum joins forces with none other than Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to rid the territory of Murphy and his thugs.I haven't watched a John Wayne western in years and Andrew V. McLaglen's fictionalised re-telling of the Lincoln County War is a rip-roaring delight. It's one of those movies that gets you rooting for the good guys early on which successfully engages the viewer. The duke chews the scenery as the tough patriarch(who else?)and steals most of the movie's best scenes and lines. Forrest Tucker was also excellent as the ruthless businessman Lawrence Murphy. The verbal confrontation between Murphy and Chisum in the town's street is one of the most memorable scenes in the film. "If your men cross my land, touch any of my cows or do anything to that store over there, I'm not going to the sheriff, the governor or the president of the United States, I'm coming to see you!" exclaims Chisum before socking Murphy in the jaw when the latter plays the statement off as a threat. Glenn Corbett and Geoffrey Deuel were great as Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid respectively, as were Patric Knowles, Ben Johnson and Richard Jaeckel, not to mention Glenn Langan as Colonel Dudley.I've always thought that the soundtrack is one of the greatest things about the movie, particularly the rousing title song. The title song even has a superb voice-over running through it describing Chisum's struggle to build up his cattle empire. This accompanies an excellent title sequence which features colourful paintings of stampedes and Indian attacks complete with the sound of distressed horses and gunfire. The first half of the film does drag a little before kicking into gear in the second half. There's exciting shootouts between rustlers and cowboys as well as a chaotic river ambush. The subplot involving Billy the Kid taking revenge on the crooked deputies who murdered his mentor added drive to the film, but the best part is spectacular standoff in the town's street between Billy and his friends and the sheriff's posse. There's some severe ass kicking done here as Chisum stampedes his entire herd into the town with his cowpokes charging behind him causing complete destruction, before taking on Murphy in a frenzied hand to hand fight . (Murphy's death is unintentionally humorous!). The movie also features some pleasing vistas of the lush hills and plains.Extremely underrated, Andrew V. McLaglen's fun horse opera has the duke doing what he does best. 9/10