In his well-researched landmark biography of John Sturges, film critic Glenn Lovall points out the failure of “The Hallelujah Trail” at the box office forced John Sturges back into being a contract director. Unfortunately, this ambitious, $ 7 million dollar, two-hour and forty-five minute western extravaganza did prove to be Sturges’ undoing. Sadly, according to Wikipedia, this United Artists’ release generated only $4 million during its initial release. Nevertheless, I’ve always thought it was an incredibly hilarious and splendidly staged western comedy. The closest that Sturges had come to making a comedy was the Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin western “Sergeants Three,” but “The Hallelujah Trail” (*** OUT OF ****) was far from anything that “The Magnificent Seven” helmer had ever undertaken. Sturges assembled a first-rate cast. Burt Lancaster, who starred in Sturges’ first big western “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,” took top billing as Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart. Gearhart was a traditional, straight-laced U.S. Calvary commander who is in charge of a frontier fort who has a beautiful daughter, Louise Gearhart (Pamela Tiffin of “One, Two, Three”), who is hopelessly in love with an officer, Captain Paul Slater (Jim Hutton of “Major Dundee”), who serves under Gearhart at the fort. At one point, Gearhart finds Slater and his daughter rolling around on his bear skin rug. The hugely funny western takes advantage of the usual elements of most standard-issue oaters. There is the inevitable clash between the U.S. Calvary and the Native Americans. Similarly, the alcoholic frontiersmen ruffle the feathers of the Ladies of the Temperance Movement. This sprawling, ‘battle of the sexes’ western brings together all these parties for an incredible finale in a swamp.
John Gay’s complicated screenplay based on William Gulick’s
entertaining western novel concerns the efforts of desperate Denver merchants inspired
by 'Oracle' Jones (Donald Pleasence of “The Great Escape”) to get a wagon train
of liquor to them before they exhaust their supplies for the winter. Signs indicate that the winter will be the
worst in years, and the merchants refuse to run out of suds. Moreover, a citizens’ committee shares the
merchant’s anxiety. Meantime, beer
merchant Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith of “The Wind and the Lion”) organizes an
emergency shipment of booze to Denver. However, he must contend with some obnoxious Irish
teamsters, led by Kevin O'Flaherty (Tom Stern of “Clay Pigeon”), who feel
he is exploiting them. O'Flaherty
constantly addresses Wallingham as “your lordship,” and Wallingham grumbles
about it the entire time. Of course,
when the Indians learn about this huge shipment of liquor, they decide to help
themselves to it. Walllingham demands
that Gearhart provide an escort to safeguard his booze from Chief
Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau of “Impossible Impossible”) as well as Chief
Five Barrels (Robert J. Wilke of “The Magnificent Seven”) and they bring along
their respective tribes. If contending
with Indians armed with Winchester repeating rifles weren’t enough of a challenge,
Wallingham faces opposition from a well-known Temperance champion, Miss Cora
Templeton Massingale (Lee Remick of “The Omen”), who just happens to be holding
meetings at Gearhart’s fort. Massingale
decides to intercept the shipment of suds and destroy the cargo, and Gearhart’s
daughter joins her. Naturally, an upset
Colonel Gearhart decides Sergeant Buell (John Anderson of “The Satan Bug”) and he must provide an escort for these dames to keep them out of harm’s
way.
Lancaster is absolutely brilliant as the square-jawed, Calvary
colonel who must supervise everything in this massive sagebrusher. His comic timing is impeccable. The scenes he has with Lee Remick will
keep you in stitches as she manipulates him skillfully throughout the
narrative. The contempt these two
characters have for each other inevitably brings them together in the long
run. The dialogue is crisp and smirk
inducing, especially when Gearhart reprimands his top sergeant to his lack of
Army strategy. Sturges doesn’t slight
anybody, and he gives some rather unusual parts to actors who had never done
anything like these roles. Martin Landau
is terrifically amusing as Chief Who Walks Stooped Over, and British actor
Donald Pleasence, who eventually played villain in “Will Penny,” is cast as a
barfly. Crowning all these wonderful
performances is Elmer Bernstein’s impressive orchestral score and “Satan Bug”
lenser Robert Surtee’s radiant widescreen photography. In addition to “The Hallelujah Trail,”
Surtees photographed not only “Escape from Fort Bravo,” but also “The Law and
Jake Wade” for Sturges. If you enjoy happily-ever-after
comedies where the performers behave as if they were is a serious dramatic
saga, “The Hallelujah Trail” qualifies as ideal entertainment.
