ridiculous rating

People are voting emotionally.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Mackenna's Gold has a stellar cast led by a leading man who could act and who was at home in Westerns (e.g. the far more modest and far superior The Gunfighter and The Stalking Moon) and some wonderful scenery and action photography. But that's about as good as it gets. Marshall MacKenna (Peck) kills an old Apache who had ambushed him. The Apache had been carrying a map to a hidden seam of gold (the Lost Adams). MacKenna, who'd spent 3 years looking for the gold, burns the map. He is then captured by a gang led by his old Mexican enemy Colorado (Sharif) who had been hunting for the map. The fact that MacKenna has the map in his head is the only thing keeping him alive. Colorado's gang (including MacKenna's old lover played by Newmar as an Apache) have taken a captive, Inga, (Sparv) to provide some protection against the pursuing cavalry (including Savalas who's more interested in the gold than the gang). The gang is forced to join forces with a group of gold-hungry townsmen (including Robinson as Adams who'd been blinded by the Apaches decades before so he could never find his way back to the hidden canyon. You'd think he could still remember the features we see later in the movie but who cares). They all set off in search of gold. They'd have been better served looking for a screenplay and a director. A voiceover fills in the gaps in the storyline, often a bad sign. Some shots are obviously done in a studio. They don't match well with the location shots. The special effects haven't aged well (and I'm not talking about a shadow lengthening as the sunrises!), nor have the racial stereotypes. Some actors (Sharif, Wynn) ham it up. Most go through the motions. This is a film out of time. It looks like a studio thought if it threw enough money and enough names at a project it would suffice. It was released in 1969, a year that saw a good traditional Western (True Grit), a very good comedy Western (Support Your Local Sheriff!), a great revisionist Western (The Wild Bunch) and a hugely enjoyable one-off Western (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Mackenna's Gold is none of these.

Quincy Jones' opening score and the theme song Old Turkey Buzzard are so emotionally powerful (especially combined with the magnificent photography) that sometimes I will just play the beginning of the film for my enjoyment. This grand, sprawling western is an entertaining picture with mega cast names that results in an enjoyable adventure. Don't  look on it as a typical western. It just happens to be set in a western setting. This movie is centered around GREED. Its directed by J. Lee Thompson (The guns of navarone, cape fear). The direction is generally good, there is some striking photography of the desert landscapes, and sequences such as the fight scene between Mackenna and Colorado and the final earthquake are well handled. We also have quality thespians like Omar Sharif (Hidalgo, Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago). Eli Wallach ( The good, the bad n the ugly). Edward G. Robinson ( The Cincinnati Kid, The Ten Commandments). Raymond Massey ( How the West Was Won). Telly Savalas (dirty dozen, cape fear, on her majestys secret service). Burgess Meredith (Rocky, clash of the titans). Lee J. Cobb ( The Exorcist, Our Man Flint, 12 angry men, On the waterfront). Keenan Wynn (The Mechanic, Point Blank, The Night of the Grizzly), Anthony Quayle (Lawrence of Arabia, The guns of navarone) n Ted Cassidy ( The Addams Family, Poor Pretty Eddie). Screenplay by Carl Foreman ( The Bridge over the River Kwai, High Noon, Guns of navarone). Cinematography by Joseph MacDonald ( The Sand Pebbles, Taras Bulba). Edited by Bill Lenny.

There has to be a worst western ever made. In my view, this is it. Let me tell you why...First - the story. It's another banal hunt for a lost gold mine, a line that's been done to death already, and long before this movie was ever thought of. The producers should have thought of that.Second - the plot. Even though there are claims the movie was ruined by lousy cuts, there are too many inept jump cuts, too many holes in the narrative, too many bizarre changes of landscape (it's all supposed to occur in a desert), and way too many unnecessary characters.Third - the photography. Granted the desert scenery is imposing and impressive, but I've already seen better in Koyannistqatsi (1982). Unhappily, the director ruined it all when he insisted on placing the camera, too many times, on horse so that we "look through" a character's eyes. And, most egregious, the not-so-special effects guaranteed the ending was no where near as good as that I've seen in any Japanese Godzilla movie from the 1950s.Fourth - the acting. Even at best of times and in his best movies, Peck was usually quite wooden, but adequate; in this, he's just dead wood. Sharif was totally miscast as Mexican; where was Anthony Quinn, or Eli Wallach? Oh, sorry, Eli turned up in this turkey as just another gold digger along with Lee J. Cobb, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle, Keenan Wynn, Raymond Massey, and Edward G. Robinson - all great actors and who all get killed off within twenty minutes or so. Telly Savalas at least managed to stay alive until near the utterly absurd end. Good job he missed it, in my opinion. And, to cap it all, the sub-plot of the rivalry between the two women, Inga (Sparv) and Hesh-ke (Newmar) simply weighs the story down with unnecessary non-sex. On the other hand, it's inadvertently comedic.Finally, the music and voice over (the latter by Victor Jory, an actor I admired) should have been removed entirely - the first because it's worse than a Roy Rogers outing, the second because it's totally unnecessary in a movie that's beyond resuscitation.Considering all the good or great westerns of that time - A fistful of dollars (1964), A few dollars more (1965), The good, the bad and the ugly (1966), Once upon a time in the west (1968) and The wild bunch (1969), there was absolutely no need for producers to spend the estimated seven million to finance this waste of time and resources.This movie is so bad, I'm sure it will never get back the money invested. And it shouldn't.Not recommended at all - except for those who actually want to see the worst western of all time.Give it one out of ten - and that's for old Prairie Dog (Eduardo Ciannelli) for suffering so much for being in it.February 23, 2014.

See it – This is "Indiana Jones" disguised as a western. It is overflowing with action and adventure as a group of outlaws, Indians, soldiers, townspeople, and a sheriff played by Gregory Peck search for fabled treasure in the old west. The impressive cast also includes Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Eli Wallach, Edward G. Robinson, and Lee Cobb. Although most movies during this time period were very family friendly, be aware that in addition to some violence, this movie has one of the first female nude scenes in a western. So keep it in mind before watching it with the kiddos. But if you are looking for a movie with non-stop action, this is one of the most action-packed, epic westerns you'll ever see. You've got Indian fights, cavalry fights, gunfights, knife fights, tomahawk fights, and…belt fights? No joke.