THE WAR WAGON is a 1967 western directed by Burt Kennedy and starring no less than two of the all-time Hollywood greats, John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. They make a great pairing as famous rivals who decide to team up in order to rob the titular vehicle of its precious cargo, namely sacks of gold dust belonging to corrupt businessman Bruce Cabot, once the star of KING KONG.Wayne and Douglas share nearly all of their scenes together and have plenty of dry wit and one liners. Their charisma is genuine here and Douglas in particular shines, particularly when he does pretty much all of his own stunts too (that jump on to the horse is particularly fine). Wayne is his usual solid self, noticeably ageing at this point - little surprise given his near-death real-life experiences - but still full of presence.The story is quite typical and reminiscent of the men-on-a-mission WW2 movies that were being made during the era like THE DIRTY DOZEN. Howard Keel is an unusual choice to play a Native American character but Wayne film regular Robert Walker has fun as the youthful drunk character. The most engaging thing about this film is that it keeps you interested in the story throughout, even if it does take a long time for the plan to pay off at the end; thankfully the climax is suitably chaotic and unpredictable.

The Duke plans vendetta on a powerful mine owner (Bruce Cabot) who stole his gold claim and accused him for killing for which he spent a great number of years in prison . Wayne then assembles a band to support him , including an impulsive , wise-cracking young (Robert Walker) , a dumb renegade Indian (Howard Keel) , an old man (Keenan Wynn) accompanied by a young girl , and , and of course , the fastest gun in the West , Kirk Douglas , as the hired hand sent by the ambitious owner who framed him to kill him . They are happily joined in harness against Cabot and his hoodlums . As the gang has to assault a heavily armored stagecoach where the nasty owner transports his gold from ¨Pierce Mining Company¨ .This Burt Kennedy Western contains noisy action , adjusted acting , being well-paced and nicely directed . Thrilling and well-written Western with lots of action dealing with an amusing caper in which Wayne has a twisted as well as moving plan : to rob the gold being shipped in an armor-plated stagecoach , ¨The war Wagon¨. Stirring as well as funny screenplay that keeps solidly in the best traditions , adding humor , from the prestigious Clair Huffaker who wrote a lot of Westerns and based on his book titled ¨Badman¨. John Wayne gives a nice acting , as always , here sits well with such other big successes of the sixties and seventies such as : McLintock , Undefeated , El Dorado , The son of Katie Elder , Train robbers , Rio Lobo , Chisum , Big Jack , Cahill , The cowboys , and his greatest hit : Tue Grit . Support cast is frankly excellent as Howard Keel , bizarrely cast as an ironic Redskin , Robert walker as a brave, stubborn young gunslinger , the beautiful Joanna Barnes ; add a succulent cast of villains that include Bruce Dern , Emilio Fernández , Gene Evans , Terry Wilson and a great secondary : Bruce Cabot , John Ford and Wayne's usual . It packs a colorful and evocative cinematography by William H. Clothier . And rousing and enjoyable musical score by the classic Dimitri Tiomkin . The motion picture was well directed by Burt Kennedy who maintains comfortably in the ordinary traditions , though has some flaws . Kennedy was a good professional , a fine director who made several Westerns and being usual screenwriter of the notorious filmmaker Budd Boetticher . As Kennedy directed quite a few Westerns as ¨Return of the Magnificent seven¨ , ¨Support you local sheriff¨, ¨The good guys and the bad guys¨ , ¨Rounders¨ , ¨Hannie Caulder¨, ¨Ride to Glory¨, ¨Train robbers¨, ¨More Wild Wild West¨, ¨Wild Wild West revisited¨ , and ¨Dynamite and gold¨, among others .

The Duke and Kirk Douglas are paired in this enjoyable Western / action film generally laced with knowing humor. The Duke plays Taw Jackson, former rancher who's released from prison after being wronged by a nefarious character named Pierce (Bruce Cabot). Taws' idea of revenge will be to plan a daring heist of the gold being transported in Pierces' "war wagon" of the title, an iron plated, gun equipped stagecoach that resembles a tank. Taw rounds up a few associates to participate in the heist: wise guy Indian Levi Walking Bear (Howard Keel), alcoholic young explosives expert Billy Hyatt (Robert Walker Jr.), transporter Wes Fletcher (Keenan Wynn), and a man named Lomax (Douglas), a gunslinger who Pierce wants to hire to kill Taw.Clair Huffaker wrote the screenplay, based on his own novel, and director Burt Kennedy, a man who often specialized in Westerns with strong comedy content, does a fine job of bringing it to life. The action is first rate, with an impressive explosion, a chase sequence, and a riotous barroom brawl adding to the fun. The War Wagon itself is pretty amusing to behold.Kirk and The Duke make a good team, generating a proper amount of chemistry. The supporting cast is solid and full of familiar faces. Cabot is great as the unrepentant villain, Wynn is at his loudest and funniest, and Keel regularly steals his scenes. Bruce Dern, Gene Evans, Terry Wilson, and Sheb Wooley all make the most of their screen time.Given a rousing score by Dimitri Tiomkin, this may not be among The Dukes' all time best, but it's an engaging diversion for an hour and 41 minutes.Seven out of 10.

To many westerns fans, John Wayne is the ultimate symbol of the silver screen cowboy, and in his long career he clocked up many classic westerns and some not so. He was also capable of shifting from serious westerns to much more humorous ones with ease. This is one that falls into the latter category. It's a fun film with a simple but engaging plot.The movie begins with Wayne been released from prison after been framed by a ruthless miner played by Bruce Cabot, who has taken his land away and Wayne wants revenge by robbing him of his gold which is been transported in an armour plated horse carriage. He forms a mismatched group of desperadoes - Kirk Douglas (a gunslinging safe cracker), Howard Keel (a conniving Indian), an alcoholic explosives expert and a greedy "inside" man.It's amusing to see Wayne on the wrong side of the law for a change and that's just one of the surprising aspects of the film. Another is the unexpected situations that occur now and again throughout the plot, most of which involves the wary relationship between Wayne and Douglas, which is ambiguous to say the least. You're never sure if they're going to stand by each other, con each other or shoot each other. The star chemistry, amusing character interactions, wisecracking banter, and fun action (a bar room brawl been a particular hilarious highlight, which has everything but the kitchen sink thrown in) all combine nicely to make it an entertaining, tongue in cheek comedy caper and one of The Duke's overlooked westerns from the latter part of his career.