And what a coincidence that the director is the same who gave us GUNS OF NAVARRONE, which was the gigantism in the war movie. Excellent time waster, if not necessarily awesome, but tense, jawdropping, with many characters, as in a disaster movie from the next decade, the seventies. Terrific settings, special effects - very rare for a western - and we can say that this western is the equivalent of GUNS OF NAVARONNE, not concerning the story of course, but in the story telling, film making, budget. The climax is obviously the highlight of this unforgettable western, though not the best ever. From the same ambition DNA as John Sturges' HALLELUJAH TRAIL, made in the same period. But the question that I ask each time I watch this unusual disaster western, is : why Omar Shariff climbed after Gregory peck and the girl instead of running away with his share of gold? And the final fate of bad guy Shariff is also the biggest surprise of the whole.
Review of Mackenna's Gold
