The Hallelujah Trail (1965)

★ 6.1 2h 45m IMDb

A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance League, the US cavalry, the miners and the local Indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo.

The Hallelujah Trail

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Cast

Burt Lancaster
Burt Lancaster as Col. Thaddeus P. Gearhart Died 1994 · New York City, New York, USA Burton Stephen "Burt" Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American film actor noted for his athletic physique and distinctive smile (which he called "The Grin"). Later he took roles...
Lee Remick
Lee Remick as Cora Templeton Massingale Died 1991 · Quincy, Massachusetts, USA Lee Ann Remick (December 14, 1935 – July 2, 1991) was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the 1962 film Days of Wine and Roses, and for the 1966 Tony Awar...
Jim Hutton
Jim Hutton as Capt. Paul Slater Died 1979 · Binghamton, New York, USA From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Dana James Hutton (May 31, 1934 – June 2, 1979), usually credited as Jim Hutton, was an American actor in film and television probably best remembered for his r...
Donald Pleasence
Donald Pleasence as 'Oracle' Jones Died 1995 · Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England, UK Donald Henry Pleasence OBE (October 5, 1919 – February 2, 1995) was an English actor who gained more than 200 screen credits during a career which spanned over four decades. Often typecast as villaino...
Brian Keith
Brian Keith as Frank Wallingham Died 1997 · Bayonne, New Jersey, USA Brian Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997) was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his four decade-long career gained recognition for his work in movies such as the 1961 Disney f...
Martin Landau
Martin Landau as Chief Walks-Stooped-Over Died 2017 · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA Martin James Landau (June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supp...

Audience Reviews

John Chard 5/10 Jun 25, 2017
Quirks, Quandaries and Quicksand.

The Hallelujah Trail is directed by John Sturges and adapted to screenplay by John Gay from the novel written by Bill Gulick. It stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffin, Brian Keith, John Anderson, Martin Landau and Donald Pleasence. Music is by Elmer Bernstein and cinematography by Robert Surtees.

Depending on who you talk to about The Hallelujah Trail, it will either be called an ass numbing bore or a misunderstood gem, such is the reputation of it, it kinda demands to be seen so as to evaluate why so divisive.

It flopped on release and was savaged by critics, while it was a tough production from the off, one that badly over ran and was expensive to film. Cast members not getting on, bad weather, bad location provisions for cast, and the awful death of stuntman Bill Williams during one particular scene. Add in that lead man Lancaster looks bored - working at a time that he called his slavery period - then it felt doomed at an early stage.

Its failure has been contributed to a number of things, such as timing (comedy Western, and an epic one at that, too early? too late?) but really it's takes too many bites of the pie, rendering the whole as something resembling a garbled mess. The thin plot is stretched unbearably to fifteen minutes shy of three hours, thrusting a number of character groups to trudge around with a screenplay that ironically - given the temperance/alcoholic basis of story - feels like it was written by an inebriate.

Yet I personally would be a born liar if I said there wasn't a lot to like in the mix. Filmed not just in Technicolor and Panavision, but Ultra Panavision 70 no less! Pic looks terrific, with Surtees bringing the Gallup locales to vivid life, and Bernstein provides another technical highlight with his rambunctious score, big bold brass and percussion thunders around the settings. Some of the comedy works, when the cast get chance to come alive, and even though some aspects no doubt give the PC brigade kittens, the likes of Martin Landau as an Indian called Chief Walks-Stooped-Over are a joy. While for the red blooded among us, the huge running time at least allows for plenty of the positively yummy Remick...

So it's a tough call, I think its harsh to call it a bore, yet it's awfully messy. So with that I sit on the fence, where just one of my butt cheeks gets numb... 5/10

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