Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County Land War in the New Mexico Territory of 1878.
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CinemaSerf
7
By CinemaSerf
When "Sallie" (Pamela McMyler) arrives at her uncle's ranch, she is immediately impressed by the huge scale of the place. "It'd take a man on a good horse most of the summer to cover it" explains her uncle, it's owner, John Chisum (John Wayne). Together with his weary sidekick "Pepper" (Ben Johnson) they fought pestilence and Indians and now have a cattle empire the envy of many - including the upstart "Murphy" (Forrest Tucker) who engages the help of legendary gunslinger "Nodeen" (Christoper George) and naive lawyer "McSween" (Andrew Prine) to address what he sees as a bit of an imbalance. Needless to say Chisum isn't going to just hands things over, and with the help of his decent neighbour "Tunstall" (Patric Knowles) decides to set up a bank and a store to combat their ever ambitious new nemeses. Tragedy ensues that adds the fury of "Billy the Kid" (Geoffrey Deuel) to this increasingly potent mix of treachery and gunpowder and leads to an exciting denouement with Yakima Canutt certainly earning his fee! It's a tad long, but Wayne is very much in his element here atop a solid story with a little humour from Johnson, plenty of gun-totin', and some grand cinematography set to a fine Dominic Frontiere score. If you like the genre - I do - then this is an easy watch with just an hint of moral fibre!
