The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

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  • THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL


    DIRECTED BY PRODUCED BY JOHN STURGES
    MUSIC BY ELMER BERNSTEIN
    KAPPA PRODUCTIONS


    INFORMATION FROM IMDb


    Plot Summary
    A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners.
    Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry,
    the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.
    Written by Steve Crook


    Cast
    Burt Lancaster ... Col. Thaddeus Gearhart
    Lee Remick ... Cora Templeton Massingale
    Jim Hutton ... Capt. Paul Slater
    Pamela Tiffin ... Louise Gearhart
    Donald Pleasence ... 'Oracle' Jones
    Brian Keith ... Frank Wallingham
    Martin Landau ... Chief Walks-Stooped-Over
    John Anderson ... Sgt. Buell
    Tom Stern ... Kevin O'Flaherty
    Robert J. Wilke ... Chief Five Barrels
    Dub Taylor ... Clayton Howell
    Whit Bissell ... Hobbs
    Helen Kleeb ... Henrietta
    Val Avery ... Denver bartender
    Noam Pitlik ... Interpreter
    William 'Billy' Benedict ... Simpson - Miner (as Billy Benedict)
    Hope Summers ... Mrs. Hasselrad (as Hope Sommers)
    Ted Markland ... Bandmaster
    Larry Duran ... Brother-in-law #1
    Jerry Gatlin ... Brother-in-law #2
    Marshall Reed ... Lt. Carter
    Jim Burk ... Elks-Runner (as James Burk)
    John McKee ... Rafe Pike
    Bing Russell ... Horner - Miner
    Buff Brady ... Bilkins - Miner
    Carl Pitti ... Phillips
    and many more..


    Directed
    John Sturges


    Writing Credits
    William Gulick ... (novel) (as Bill Gulick)
    John Gay ... (screenplay


    Produced
    Robert E. Relyea ... associate producer
    John Sturges ... producer


    Music
    Elmer Bernstein


    Trivia
    Stuntman Bill Williams was killed performing a stunt with a colleague during this shoot.
    The stunt called for Williams and another stuntman to guide a horse-drawn wagon toward a cliff.
    As the horses separated, both men were supposed to jump clear as the wagon
    continued over the cliff.
    Williams didn't manage to jump clear in time and died during the fall.


    Burt Lancaster was forced by United Artists to make four films
    for $150,000 a picture in the 1960s: The Young Savages (1961),
    Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Train (1964) and The Hallelujah Trail (1965)
    rather than his normal fee of $750,000, because of cost overruns at his production company,
    Hecht-Hill-Lancaster, for which he was personally responsible.


    During location shooting in New Mexico the crew was confronted
    with the heaviest rainfalls in that region in 50 years.
    It washed away the tents as well as the set and props.


    According to screenwriter John Gay,
    Doris Day was interested in the role that ultimately went to Lee Remick.


    Goofs
    Anachronisms
    During the scene when the Col. Gearheart is drinking Sgt.
    Buell at the end of the Temperance meeting the supposed oil lamp
    has a electric cord running from it.
    1 of 1 found this interesting | Share this
    Rifles issued to Indians in the year 1867 are Winchester 1894 models,
    which were obviously not available until 1894.


    The acetylene miners' lamps worn throughout the film would
    not be introduced for another 30 years.


    Col Gearhart threatens to send the army band to Alaska,
    but Alaska was only purchased from Russia in March of the year the film is set (1867).
    It is unlikely that Alaska would have been an option for a posting quite so quickly.


    Character error
    While the Indians are holding the women hostage and demanding 20 wagons for their release,
    a trooper calculates it at 3 7/8th women per wagon,making the number of women 77 1/2!
    Late the Colonel states the number to be 27, a number not disputed by the leader of the women.


    Continuity
    During the close up of 'Oracle' Jones squatting during the dust storm,
    his horse is behind him.
    When they pull back to show the various groups ride by his horse cannot be seen.


    When the townspeople and miners first meet with Oracle Jones,
    the cork of the whiskey bottle appears and disappears atop
    the table where Jones is playing solitaire.


    When Col. Gearhart comes back to his shave after confronting Cora
    in her bath the trooper acting as barber puts shaving soap in selected spots on his face.
    When they go to a full face shot of the Col.
    his chin is fully lathered and then the lather is only in selected spots
    again as they cut back to the side view.


    When Cora Massingale is in her bath 3 rapid cuts
    show her with her arms outside the bath, then inside, then outside again.


    Crew or equipment visible
    The Indian horses obviously have saddles under their horse blankets.


    Errors in geography
    The locations are supposedly Denver and points east.
    The terrain should include the front range of the rockies, and high prairie.
    Instead, arid rugged red rock terrain more typical of Utah is shown.


    Memorable Quotes


    Filming Locations
    Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA
    Gallup, New Mexico, USA
    Portal, Arizona, USA
    Coyote Canyon, New Mexico, USA
    Santa Rosa, New Mexico, USA
    Shiprock, New Mexico, USA
    Tohatchi, New Mexico, USA
    Twin Lakes, New Mexico, USA


    Watch the Movie

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    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • The Hallelujah Trail is a 1965 American Western mockumentary spoof
    directed by John Sturges, with top-billed stars
    Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton and Pamela Tiffin.


    The film was one of several large-scale widescreen, long-form "epic" comedies
    produced in the 1960s, much like The Great Race and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,
    combined with the epic grandeur of the Western genre.
    Its running time is 2 hours, 45 minutes.


    The movie is part of a group, which was filmed in Ultra Panavision 70
    and presented in selected theaters via the oversized Super Cinerama process.
    Stuntman Bill Williams was killed on November 13, 1964 while performing a stunt
    involving a wagon going over a cliff.
    The scene was kept in the movie.


    On October 19, 1968, three years and four months after its release,
    the film had its television premiere in a three-hour timeslot on NBC Saturday Night at the Movies.



    User Review


    A Wonderful Movie Experience For People Who Don't Take Themselves Too Seriously
    13 March 2004 | by bobbanks (Memphis, TN)

    Unfortunately, the pleasure of enjoying this life-affirming romp through fantasy is greatly diminished without the large screen for which it was designed. The cast is spectacular and so is the music. The dialog is nonstop humor but the narration by John Dehner is even better. I can't think of anyone who could have delivered the lines with such self-parodying pomposity. The interaction between the characters played by Lancaster and Remick leaves one wondering why the two actors weren't teamed regularly. Male and Female have seldom been more accurately and understandingly portrayed. The treatment of the Indians will likely offend many today. Mel Brooks may be one of the few (perhaps the only) movie-makers since the 60's who would have taken such a risk. At the time, tolerance was "in" and conditioned hyper-sensitivity and the thought police weren't taken seriously. We get to see Jim Hutton in one of the few roles he could handle well. We are also given a chance to appreciate Pamela Tiffin as more than just the background for a bikini. I'm sure her decision not to pursue a film career more aggressively was a wise one for her but it was nevertheless our loss.

    Best Wishes
    Keith
    London- England

  • A curious item here, entitled ‘Navajo cowboys impersonating John Wayne: Roswell Angier’s best photograph’.


    “… John Wayne. Navajo men of a certain age were absolutely fascinated by him. I later discovered that the source of this fascination was the movie The Hallelujah Trail, which was shot in the mid 1960s in locations around Gallup – even though Wayne is not in it. The film actually stars Burt Lancaster. But this detail did not seem to matter, and in the collective imagination of legions of Navajo males Wayne was forever associated with Gallup. And of course, in talking about Wayne, these guys would inevitably start to act out various fantasies of being powerful and masculine.


    https://www.theguardian.com/ar…otograph-hallelujah-trail