Posts from alamo221 in thread „The Train Robbers (1973)“

I wonder if Rod Taylor was considered for any other Duke movies after The Train Robbers.

From what I've read and heard, overall, Duke loved children and had a soft spot for them-no doubt. Mark Rydell told how, on the set of The Cowboys, the kids were constantly "all over" Duke (I think he said something like Duke was like a big teddy bear to them). I know that there were certain elements Duke wanted in his film for emotional involvement, to keep them entertaining for families. There weren't many films tho, where I think he let youngsters have big scenes unless he liked them (or the story called for it-The Cowboys, Cahill, Donovan's Reef).

That was a curious thing to me. I read somewhere that Duke had problems with dogs and kids in films being scene stealers. As a result dogs didn't seem to have much longetivity in his films, and he didn't often work with children (except for his own, tho he did work with other children from time to time). Elam probably would have been a BIG thief in TRs. Taylor was grand in the part, but it always IMHO, seemed too small a part for him. As for Strother, you're dead-on. Maybe Duke really liked him.

Well we KNOW who they are-more thieves out for the gold. I agree that it needed villain/leader, but I don't feel it was mandatory.

This is a curious film. It has a lot of the normal Duke film trappings, but also tries for more-not quite succeeding. It's a fun ride tho, and it's a pity Rod Taylor didn't have a chance to do more films with John Wayne (and/or Ben Johnson) they all had good chemistry. I too would watch this more than, say, Rooster Cogburn. it's a good time killer. I just feel it's missing one undefinable element that could have made it REALLY good.