The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

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

[extendedmedia]

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)

Quote from bob

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.