moonspinner55 Review of Mackenna's Gold

Mackenna's Gold (1969)

Masochistic western...ridiculous, overblown, and generally miscast

[5/10 · 28 July 2010]

In 1874 Arizona, a marshal is bushwhacked by an elderly Apache Indian chief carrying a treasure map detailing the whereabouts of a hidden valley of gold; upon the chief's demise, the marshal (who has memorized the map and destroyed it) becomes the prisoner/reluctant ally of a bloodthirsty outlaw and his men who want the gold all for themselves. Trimmed by Columbia Pictures before its release from a three-hour length down to just over two hours, "Mackenna's Gold" features a simple-minded narration by Victor Jory--ostensibly to fill us in on the bothersome story details--but the filmmakers needn't have gone to so much trouble, because their picture is a catastrophe anyway. The Super Panavision 70 vistas are breathtaking to behold (as are the roller-coaster point-of-view shots from the galloping horses), but the intermingled studio footage is an eyesore by comparison, and the film has some of the choppiest editing I've ever seen in a major motion picture. Worse, the strong cast of supporting players are mostly used for target practice, allowing maniacal killer Omar Sharif to practically own the film's entire second-half. Sharif is game but he isn't convincing, and his character Colorado falls prey to some glaring gaps of logic in Carl Foreman's messy screenplay. As the stalwart marshal, Gregory Peck looks understandably sheepish--not even two attractive females in the group rouse his excitement. The finale is a jaw-dropping display of effects, noise, and brutality, and it makes no more sense than the rest of the picture, yet interest is sustained (incredibly) and one is apt to feel they have witnessed something here. Something most definitely wrong-headed, but peculiarly intriguing nonetheless. ** from ****