Looking through the cast list, you might be forgiven for thinking that this film will be a rare treat. Well, it is, but not for the reasons you might imagine.
Most of the big name stars don't appear until about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and then only last for a few scenes (literally) before they are removed permanently from the film. Perhaps the intent was to have all these people show up and then savagely remove them to shake the viewer's complacency. Who knows? Anyway, my partner went to make a cup of tea and when she came back the likes of Edward G Robinson, Anthony Quayle, Lee J Cobb, Burgess Meredith and Co had all vanished. It was such a surprise that she looked at me accusingly, like I'd had something to do with it! So be warned, blink and you might miss them.
Regardless, it was nice to see so many famous faces in one film. I'd find it difficult to name a modern film where such an array of talent was assembled for a film, much less one where half of that talent is removed almost indifferently after a few scenes.
Anyway, I said this film was a treat, and it is. Seeing all those old faces from the good old days of cinema is pleasure enough. But combine it with a hokey story and hilarious effects and it's just a treasure.
My favourite of the lame effects has to be the back-projection horse riding sequences. These are just so funny to watch. Odd to think that at one point we wouldn't have batted an eyelid at them. How time, and technology, have moved on since those simpler days. Also watch out for the canyon collapse scene and the stop-motion mule on the bridge.
It's also great to see Lurch (Ted Cassidy) in quite a prominent role here as Hachita, the Indian guide (you could still call them Indians in those days). He doesn't really look much like an Apache, but who cares!
Apart from the hokum and silly effects the movie only made me scowl at one point. You see, there's this big rock spire and when the sun rises, see, the shadow points to where the hidden canyon is. Or that's the line you're fed. However, nobody apparently seemed to care that, as the sun gets higher, shadows get shorter in real life. So here we're treated to the rising sun casting longer and longer shadows. Or rather, just the rock spire's shadow. All the other shadows didn't change at all that I could see. A pointless oversight that could have been remedied by changing the line "rising sun" to "setting sun". Ah well.
Overall it's a standard treasure hunt story with a few big names doing it. Others have already mentioned the similarities to the Indiana Jones stories, so I won't go into them. The only real sub-plot concerns the identity of the female hostage of Omar Sharif and how to keep it a secret from him.
The movie is worth a watch as it'll have you smiling most of the way through.
Most of the big name stars don't appear until about 3/4 of the way through the movie, and then only last for a few scenes (literally) before they are removed permanently from the film. Perhaps the intent was to have all these people show up and then savagely remove them to shake the viewer's complacency. Who knows? Anyway, my partner went to make a cup of tea and when she came back the likes of Edward G Robinson, Anthony Quayle, Lee J Cobb, Burgess Meredith and Co had all vanished. It was such a surprise that she looked at me accusingly, like I'd had something to do with it! So be warned, blink and you might miss them.
Regardless, it was nice to see so many famous faces in one film. I'd find it difficult to name a modern film where such an array of talent was assembled for a film, much less one where half of that talent is removed almost indifferently after a few scenes.
Anyway, I said this film was a treat, and it is. Seeing all those old faces from the good old days of cinema is pleasure enough. But combine it with a hokey story and hilarious effects and it's just a treasure.
My favourite of the lame effects has to be the back-projection horse riding sequences. These are just so funny to watch. Odd to think that at one point we wouldn't have batted an eyelid at them. How time, and technology, have moved on since those simpler days. Also watch out for the canyon collapse scene and the stop-motion mule on the bridge.
It's also great to see Lurch (Ted Cassidy) in quite a prominent role here as Hachita, the Indian guide (you could still call them Indians in those days). He doesn't really look much like an Apache, but who cares!
Apart from the hokum and silly effects the movie only made me scowl at one point. You see, there's this big rock spire and when the sun rises, see, the shadow points to where the hidden canyon is. Or that's the line you're fed. However, nobody apparently seemed to care that, as the sun gets higher, shadows get shorter in real life. So here we're treated to the rising sun casting longer and longer shadows. Or rather, just the rock spire's shadow. All the other shadows didn't change at all that I could see. A pointless oversight that could have been remedied by changing the line "rising sun" to "setting sun". Ah well.
Overall it's a standard treasure hunt story with a few big names doing it. Others have already mentioned the similarities to the Indiana Jones stories, so I won't go into them. The only real sub-plot concerns the identity of the female hostage of Omar Sharif and how to keep it a secret from him.
The movie is worth a watch as it'll have you smiling most of the way through.