The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)

★ 7.0 2h 2m IMDb
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The four sons of Katie Elder reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas for her funeral and discover that the family ranch is now in the hands of Morgan Hastings, a corrupt businessman who wants to exploit the area around the town.

The Sons of Katie Elder

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Cast

John Wayne
John Wayne as John Elder Died 1979 · Winterset, Iowa, USA Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison) (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed Duke, was an American actor and filmmaker. An Academy Award-winn...
Dean Martin
Dean Martin as Tom Elder Died 1995 · Steubenville, Ohio, USA Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included Memories Are Made of This, That's Amore, Everybody Loves Somebody, Mambo Italiano, Sway, Vo...
Martha Hyer
Martha Hyer as Mary Gordon Died 2014 · Fort Worth, Texas, USA Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924, Fort Worth, Texas - May 31, 2014, Santa Fe, New Mexico) was an American actress. She attended Northwestern University and was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. After c...
Michael Anderson Jr.
Michael Anderson Jr. as Bud Elder Age 82 · Hillingdon, Middlesex, England, UK ​From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.   Michael Joseph Anderson, Jr. (born 6 August 1943) is an English actor.
Earl Holliman
Earl Holliman as Matt Elder Died 2024 · Delhi, Louisiana, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Henry Earl Holliman (September 11, 1928 - November 25, 2024) was an American actor, animal rights activist and singer known for his many character roles in films...
Jeremy Slate
Jeremy Slate as Ben Latta Died 2006 · Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Jeremy Slate (born Robert Perham; February 17, 1926 - November 19, 2006) was an American film and television actor. Description above from the Wikipedia articl...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 7/10 Oct 04, 2015
The Magnificent Four!

John, Tom, Matt and Bud, these are the Elder boys, who upon meeting up at the funeral of their recently deceased mother, find that their father may have been murdered over a card game. The boys must cast off sibling rivalries and find out just what has been happening in their childhood town of Clearwater, Texas.

Unfairly given harsh treatment upon its release by the critics and beset with behind the scenes problems, The Sons Of Katie Elder actually holds up rather well in this day and age. All the required traits are in the film to make it an oater of some worth, a splendid cast with as much macho beef as you can shake a stick at, a top Elmer Bernstein score, the wonderful use of the Casa Blanca location and a revenge driven plot of some note. So why is it hard to actually sell this picture to the staunch Western crowd? Well coming as it did in 1965 it certainly has something of a modern sheen to it, an uneasy bed fellow with the wild west theme of the picture. The casting of the brothers just about works, but Michael Anderson Jr (Bud) and Earl Holliman (Matt) do seem to be overawed by the presence of John Wayne (John) and Dean Martin (Tom), meaning as a foursome it never quite gets to being a tight acting unit. The length of the picture may also be an issue to some? Long periods of inaction work to me personally because the characters (family unit) are gaining much needed depth, but for those wanting guns a toting at frequent intervals are not exactly catered for.

Yet what action there is surely more than makes it worth the viewers patience? From the Duke swinging a nice piece of hickory to a wonderful riverside shootout, Henry Hathaway's Western is not found wanting for memorable sequences, in fact if you ask me then the mere sight of the Duke blasting away with a six shooter in each hand is a truly blood pumping joy, and don't get me started on a delightful Dean Martin scene as he raffles his glass eye! So all in all it's not without its itches, but as 60s Westerns go, The Sons Of Katie Elder is a hugely enjoyable picture to enjoy by the fireside on a Sunday afternoon. 7/10
CinemaSerf 7/10 Mar 26, 2024
When "John" (John Wayne) returns home for the funeral of his mother and to reunite with his three brothers, he sets the cat amongst the pigeons. It turns out that their ranch now belongs to gunsmith "Hastings" (James Gregory) and with their father having been shot in the back, they start to investigate. Now "John" is a notable man with a gun, so tensions heighten when "Curley" (George Kennedy) arrives in town as a bit of muscle for the ambitious "Hastings". It's all a little predictable this but it builds to quite an explosive denouement and there's an enjoyable degree of chemistry between Wayne and kid brothers "Tom" (Dean Martin) and the baby of the pack "Bud" (Michael Anderson Jr) who has a notion to put a marble angel on top of his mother's grave - that or an horse. What ensues delivers quite an entertaining western with plenty of shoot 'em ups, quite a menacing baddie and a pretty wimpish Dennis Hopper in there too. It's a solidly written and paced action adventure that showcases some of the less laudable elements of the pioneering spirit - with plenty of splinters.

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