It's beyond me what you all see in this movie! During the day their being chased, or at night their sitting around a campfire watching Ann Margret get Tipsey. Rather watch the Conqueror!
What I see, is as an immensely enjoyable film from the last part of Duke's career. It has all the right ingredients, even if they aren't mixed quite right, making for one his best of the final ten he made.
It never for one instant tries to be something that it isn't. It doesn't try to be of the grim and unrelentingly dark world of Peckinpah or midnight cowboy or Easy Rider. Instead this is John Wayne's response to the perverseness that was really beginning to show it's ugly head at the time. It's a throwback to those great and lighthearted films of the 40's and early 50's. It's a nice contrast to what was happening at the time.
Regarding the faceless threat represented by the guys after the gold, it was meant to represent an natural force more than anything else I think. After all where's there's gold, there is bandits. They were more symbolic than anything else.
One thing that I refuse to believe is that Rod Taylor is the voice of Pongo from 101 Dalmatians.
The only thing that still bothers me about this movie is that Montalban seems superfluous. He is really an unnecessary character, who's functions could have been done by the plot.
