
Warner Home Video - Warner Home Video
Release date: 2007-05-22
DVD
Director:Andrew V. McLaglen
Actors: John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett
Biopic [feature], Cattle Ranchers, Color, Drama, English, Feature, Gritty, Movie, Rousing, Suitable for Children, Tense, Traditional Western, USA, Western, Westerns




John Wayne starring in Chisum,filmed,1970,a true story based on the Lincoln County wars in the 1870's where the young painless Billy the Kid(Henry McCarty)the kids real name,alias William Bonney roamed the badlands of primitive New Mexico,where the name of the game is survival and a mans only chance was his own 44. John Chisum is a rancher who won't tolerate any of Billy's mischief or the crooked business transactions of Murphy(Forest Tucker) and his ruthless gang,consisting of outlaws hiding behind badges,Bruce Cabot is Sheriff Brady and Ben Johnson also stars as Chisum's sidekick and ranch foreman,this film is close to accurate of the true incident of the Lincoln County War,and some of Billy the Kid's exploits during this period,and this is one of the Duke's best westerns,may be the best,and a must for any western collection.
I don't know where to start other than saying that the movie Chisum is better than having no movie about John Chisum. I'm afraid Hollywood has done another number on history when it would have been just as easy to do a correct film. Where to start? Sallie came West with her father, James, brother's Will and Walter from Denton County Texas. Also her other uncle Pitzer was at the ranch as well. None shown in the film. Sallie never was "back East" and was just a girl of 17 when she came to Roswell (Where they lived, not near Lincoln.) John Tunstall was 24 years old, not middle aged as every film is somehow required to shown. John was 64 when he died, I guess you can call him aged. William Bonney was a meek, young, wet behind the ears, follower until there was not many left to led the Regulators. A product of the media of the times. John Wayne gives his usual good performance in this type of role. He can only follow the script. It's interesting, worth the money if you don't expect to find history here.
This movie is classic Duke. I have collected other John Wayne movies and this has his usual company of actors.
The clarity is excellent and the photography is great.
While the actual history of Chisum differs from this screen version, it is a great story.
I recommend this to any collector of the Duke's movies.