Chisum
Tags: revenge, humor, murder, violence

Plot synopsis:
John Chisum (John Wayne), a virtuous, patriarchal land baron, locks horns with greedy Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker), who will stop at nothing to get control of the trade and even the law in Lincoln County, New Mexico.
Chisum is an aging rancher with an eventful past and a paternalistic nature towards his companions and community. Murphy, a malevolent land developer, plans to take control of the county for his own personal gain.
The story begins with Murphy's men tipping off Mexican rustlers who plan to steal Chisum's horses. Chisum and his sidekick Pepper (Ben Johnson) stop the bandits with help from a newcomer to the area, William Bonney (Geoffrey Deuel), also known as Billy the Kid. A notorious killer, Billy has been given a chance to reform by Chisum's philanthropic neighbor, rancher Henry Tunstall (Patric Knowles). Billy also falls for Chisum's newly arrived niece, Sallie (Pamela McMyler).
Murphy is buying up all the stores in town and using his monopoly to push up the prices. He appoints his own sheriff and deputies. He also brings in a lawyer, Alexander McSween (Andrew Prine), whose principles lead him to switch sides and seek work with Chisum and Tunstall. The two ranchers set up their own bank and general store in town under McSween's control.
Chisum's land and cattle remain targets. Murphy's men attempt to steal Chisum's cattle before he can sell them to the Army. Chisum's ranch hands are warned by Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett), a passing buffalo hunter. Garrett agrees to help Chisum and soon befriends Bonney. Together they foil an attack by Murphy's men on the wagons bringing in provisions for the new store.
Fed up with Murphy's underhanded activities, Tunstall rides off to Santa Fe to seek the intervention of Gov. Sam Axtell (Alan Baxter). On the way he is intercepted by Murphy's deputies, who falsely accuse him of cattle rustling and shoot him dead. Chisum and Garrett hunt down the deputies and bring them back to town for trial. Bonney, seeking revenge for the murder of his mentor and skeptical that the men will truly face justice in town, overpowers Garrett by surprise and shoots dead both deputies. Before Sheriff Brady (Bruce Cabot) can organise a posse, Billy rides into town and kills him, too.
Murphy appoints bounty hunter Dan Nodeen (Christopher George) as the new sheriff, giving him orders to hunt down Bonney. Nodeen has a score to settle, as a previous encounter with Bonney has left him with a permanent limp.
Billy's plans for revenge are only just beginning. He breaks into McSween's store looking for dynamite to rob Murphy's bank. He is spotted by Nodeen, who surrounds the store with Murphys's men. McSween's wife is allowed to leave. McSween later comes out unarmed but Nodeen shoots him in cold blood.
Chisum is alerted by McSween's wife (Lynda Day George) and rides into town. The main street is blocked, so Chisum stampedes his cattle through the barricades. He tracks down Murphy and takes him on in a fist fight which ends with both men falling from a balcony. Murphy ends up impaled on steer horns. With his paymaster dead, Nodeen flees, with Billy in pursuit.
The film ends with Garrett taking over as sheriff and it is implied that is settling down with Sallie. It is learned that General Lew Wallace has become governor of the area. With law and order restored, Chisum can resume his iconic vigil over the Pecos valley.

Review: McLaglen's western showcases Wayne as John Simpson Chisum, an historical figure who was the largest owner of land, of horses and cattle in New Mexico territory around 1878 The Pecos River runs through the middle of his land He lets the water flow to all the ranches, big and small If another man, with more appetitelike Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker) owned that land he'd control a territory bigger than most states and some countries The story is based on the bloody Lincoln County cattle war Things come to 'one hell of a fight' when Murphy's men kill Chisum's friend Henry Tunstall, mentor to Billy the Kid, and have Alex McSween, manager of their general store, with Billy and some men, trapped inForrest Tucker plays Chisum's enemy who really thinks himself skillful enough to 'own' the law Christopher George (Dan Nodeen) plays the half-crazy bounty hunter who gimps because of Billy the KidBen Johnson has one of the most impressive records of any supporting Westerner He came here to support Chisum all the wayAndrew V.
Compared to the amount of factual change that most movies based on a history put on film, this movie is not far from being spot on.In fact, the amount of direct action that John Wayne's character, Chisum, took in the film, is probably the element that is the most out of place.Billy the Kid really did work for an English rancher involved in the dispute.
But it certainly didn't with playing John Simpson Chisum, New Mexico cattle baron and key player in what has become known in history as the Lincoln County War. Of course the politics involved were a bit more complex than what you would see here.
Others in the cast worthy of note are Patric Knowles as Henry Tunstall, Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett, Geoffrey Deuel as Billy the Kid, and Christopher George as Dirty Dan Nodeen.
You can fault his no-frills acting style, the pious patriotism, the oft-uneven supporting cast, the predictable fight scenes, But even a lesser Wayne film still has John Wayne, and for his fans, that's nine-tenths of the battle in determining whether it's a good film."Chisum" is not going to convert non-Duke fans.
Much of the film focuses on young William Bonney (Geoffrey Deuel), a former gunman better known as Billy the Kid now trying to live "clean and forward, all the way" with the help of a fatherly rancher named Tunstall (Patric Knowles, Will Scarlet to Errol Flynn's Robin Hood some 32 years before).Geoffrey Deuel didn't go on to much of a career after this, and it's not hard seeing why.
I don't think Marlon Brando could have acted his way out of Deuel's bind.Other actors come off better, especially Forrest Tucker as the chief heavy, Lawrence Murphy, who showcases an affable menace that makes him a good foil to Wayne's straightforward Chisum; Glenn Corbett, who plays drifting gambler Pat Garrett, hard but decent, who joins Chisum and befriends young Bonney until he turns into The Kid again; and Christopher George, whose Dan Nodeen is a nasty bounty hunter obsessed with killing the Kid. One nice thing about this film is seeing these actors, all best known for TV series work, stretching out beyond their popular identities of the period.
George makes the strongest impression as the cold-eyed Nodeen."You just had to kill him," asks a sheriff when Nodeen brings in the body of a wanted man."No, less trouble that way," Nodeen replies.Ben Johnson and Richard Jaeckel also have their moments as companions to Chisum and Murphy respectively, as does Andrew Prine as a lawyer who switches sides halfway through.
Splendid John Wayne as a tough cattle baron fighting along with Billy the Kid in the Lincoln County war.
He became involved in the Lincoln County war of 1878-79 in which he opposed the Murphy (Forrest Tucker)-Dolan (Edward Faulkner) faction and backed cattleman Tunstall (Patrick Knowles) , whose gunfighters-cowboys included the handsome Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel's film debut).
It is said that Chisum was instrumental in making Billy the Kid an outlaw killer , he used his considerable influence in getting Pat Garret (Glenn Corbett) elected Sheriff of Lincoln County in 1880 and it was Garrett who hunted down and killed the young outlaw .
It's nice to see him finally drop the love interest that was so inappropriate in most of the movies he made after the age of 55.Some good supporting cast performances, especially Ben Johnson and Forrest Tucker.Pretty good story, based pretty solidly on real events of the Lincoln County range war in New Mexico.Tunstall's mentoring of Billy the Kid was very similar to "The Left Handed Gun", the 1958 film where Paul Newman played Billy.
Towards the end, the battle between Chisum and Murphy (the war) is completely set aside and we end up seeing all the same things happen to Billy that we've already seen in all the other movies about him, i.e., his relationship with Tunstall, meeting Pat Garrett and becoming friends (at first, then their falling out, well, kinda), him getting revenge on everybody, and the ol' shootout at McSween's store.
The movie alters history in some interesting ways, though, like instead of the U.S. Army helping the sheriff (a fictitious character that replaces Brady) during the McSween's store shootout, Chisum becomes the cavalry and he and Pat Garrett help Billy out.
Chisum's neighbor, Henry Tunstall (Patric Knowels) also doesn't like Murphy's plans, and hires a young man to work on his ranch, his name is Billy the Kid (played by Geoffrey Deuel).
The all star cast also includes John Wayne regulars- Ben Johnson as Chisum's sidekick, Bruce Cabot playing the sheriff who handles Murphy's dirty work, Andrew Prine playing Chisum's lawyer, Glenn Corbett turns in a fine job as playing Pat Garrett and Christopher George and Richard Jaeckel turn in their usual cowboy villians as the bounty hunters.
Chisum and his men with honest rancher Tunstall, Pat Garrett, William Bonney aka Billy the Kid and others are forced to battle Murphy in his crocked schemes.
Cattle ranchers John Chisum (John Wayne) and Henry Tunstall (an almost unrecognizable Patric Knowles) face off against villainous Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker).
Although having his character's name in the title, the movie actually plays out as an ensemble giving equal time to Pat Garrett and William Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid. However, Corbett and Deuel were mediocre and unable to pull their own weight in scenes with Wayne.
Overall, Chisum feels like a movie from a bygone era, out of time in 1970.Its plot follows the landowner John Chisum and details more specifically the Lincoln County War. Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid feature too in the years before the former assassinated the latter.I found Chisum for the most part a fairly tedious movie.
Only the grumpiest of gusses would complain about Chisum, a 1970 Wayner wherein Big John pretends that the real-life cattle baron was a nice man, and cleans up the town of Lincoln, New Mexico, marries off his niece, and delivers one of my favorite Wayne lines, "Let's break out some Winchesters!" The movie fits the viewer like a really cheesy but warm pair of (you name the garment) on a cold day.
The supporting cast is so good that you actually feel badly when the bad ones (and good) get killed off; Ben Johnson is the new Walter Brennan, Forrest Tucker is admirably sleazy, Bruce Cabot appears to have the IQ of one of Chisum's cows (I wonder if the cow wants it back--hah, hah), Geoff Deuel sweats a lot (but his hair is so cool!), Lynda Day George is scrumptious, but underused, and Glenn Corbett and Christopher George--two enjoyable manly men with creepy eyes and great voices--do exactly what they are asked to do, and do it well.There are a few clinkers in Chisum: Pamela Somethingoranother is ridiculous as Wayne's niece; I looked her up and she retired from acting in the 80's (whew!).
The movie is a product of the late 60's and, because of Warner Brothers desire to bring in young people to watch a 63 year old man kick western butt, they stocked the movie with a subplot of Billy the Kid (Deuel) trying to go straight and his romance with the aforementioned niece.
Old Guns : John Wayne Meets Billy The Kid. Cattle king and businessman John Chisum (John Wayne) teams up with Pat Garrett and Billy Bonney in anticipation of a range war against wannabe land baron Forrest Tucker.
Soon, Billy goes rogue and all hell breaks loose!This handsomely produced western starts well, sags just a little in the middle, then gets back on track for an exciting final act and excellent climax.Being that Wayne also executive-produced, there's a great cast of familiar faces backing him up, including personal favorites Ben Johnson, Richard Jaeckel, and Andrew Prine among others.Once again, Christopher George stands out as Tucker's slick hired-gun turned sheriff, sort of a meaner version of his role in Howard Hawks' El Dorado.The colorful title sequence featuring a moving camera capturing several vivid, action-packed western paintings is really nice too.George, Jaeckel, and Prine were all together again a few years later, battling the title animal in the 1976 creature-feature Grizzly..
This is another laid-back action Western from The Duke’s twilight period with a more ambitious scope than usual, since it features historical figures like John Simpson Chisum (the part played by Wayne), Pat Garrett (played by Glenn Corbett) and Billy The Kid (played by Geoffrey Deuel).Rather than having the typical token appearance by cronies, it provides substantial roles for Ben Johnson (as Wayne’s mumbling sidekick), Forrest Tucker (effectively cast against type as the villain), Bruce Cabot (as the corrupt sheriff), Richard Jaeckel (as Tucker’s lead henchmen), Christopher George (as a trigger-happy replacement for Cabot), Abraham Sofaer (as an Indian chief) and, most surprising of all perhaps, Patrick Knowles (as Wayne’s best friend and fellow patriarch).
It’s interesting to watch Ben Johnson participating in these old-fashioned type of Westerns, when a year earlier he had played a major role in Sam Peckinpah’s ground-breaking THE WILD BUNCH (1969) – a film which both John Wayne and Howard Hawks disliked!
Incidentally, it was while working on this film that John Wayne won his Golden Globe Award for TRUE GRIT (1969) and learned that he was up for an Academy Award for it (which he proceeded to win as well).Apart from a promotional featurette (discussed below), the Warners DVD of CHISUM includes a full-length Audio Commentary by director McLaglen which, basically, details the goings on behind-the-scenes – with special mention of the Durango locations (standing in for New Mexico) and, of course, his long-running association with Wayne (in all, they made 5 movies together).
McLaglen Western – it gives some background on the historical figure of cattle baron John Simpson Chisum and also delineates just how Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (his friends, but soon to be sworn enemies of each other) came to be involved in his struggle against unscrupulous landowners.
Fenady, and stars John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Ben Johnson, Geoffrey Deuel, Bruce Cabot, Andrew Prine & Richard Jaeckel.
Which involved such characters like Pat Garrett, Billy the Kid, John Tunstall, Alexander McSween and others.Hollywoodisation of the Lincoln County War and Billy the Kid mythology, Chisum is a fun and colourful movie.
This more fictional story is about the Cattle Baron John Chisum (John Wayne) and only a little bit about Billy the Kid. The movie starts with a great song and some pictures of cowboys and cattle's.
Fenady combine the western legends Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid with the legendary Hollywood actor John Wayne very effectively.
His real Christian name was John rather than Henry).Another real-life person involved in the Lincoln County War was William Bonney who under the name Billy the Kid was to become one of the most legendary figures of the Wild West.
Billy The Kid is bound to avenge the murder of his friend and boss John Tunstall, and the Duke is on the edge of the story as the commanding presence of decent authority, as opposed to the corrupt town leaders and sheriff who supported the murder.To the film's credit, it's not boring, there's always something going on, and there is a fair amount of late 60's style 'cowboy' action, but "Chisum" is not a standout western either.
The Lincoln County Range War takes second place to John Wayne being John Wayne in "Chisum." Sweeping, fictionalized account of the West's most famous range war has Wayne as a cattle rancher in conflict with another land baron, played by Forrest Tucker.
In the early days of the territory of New Mexico, the rugged land produces only what man is willing to work for, unless someone else has worked all his life and it just sits there for the taking, for anyone willing to risk it all in achieving it.Forrest Tucker is Murphy, a man who sees what John Chisum (Wayne) has and he wants it, not willing to work for it, just take it.
But with any great western the good guys need to prevail and on Chisum's side he has Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett), young gunslinger Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel) and Chisum's old friend and ride'em cowboy James Pepper played by the versatile actor Ben Johnson.
McLaglen, "Chisum" is based on the real-life Lincoln County War in New Mexico, which was a range war of feuding factions involving quite a few famous Old West people, like Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel), sheriffs William Brady (Bruce Cabot) and Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett), cattle rancher John Chisum (Wayne), lawyer and businessman Alexander McSween (Andrew Prine), and the organized crime boss Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker).
As far as women go, Pamela McMyler plays Chisum's likable niece and the Lynda Day George has a small role as the wife of the lawyer.Bottom Line: This is a realistic and rollicking latter-day Wayne Western based on real Old West characters.
western motion picture starring John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett, Geoffrey Deuel, Andrew Prine, Bruce Cabot, Patric Knowles, and Richard Jaeckel.
Fenady from his short story, Chisum and the Lincoln County Cattle War. Although this movie is historically inaccurate in many details, it was based on events and characters from the Lincoln County War of 1878 in New Mexico Territory, which involved Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid among others.Summary: John Chisum (played by Wayne), a virtuous, ranch-owning patriarch, locks horns with greedy Lawrence Murphy (played by Tucker), who will stop at nothing to get control of the trade and even the law in Lincoln County.
Also Henry Tunstall (Patrick Knowles) who took Billy "Under His Wing" with Reform in Mind (it almost worked).There is a High Body Count and Bullets Flying, Cattle Stampeding, and John Wayne opens and closes the Movie Striking a Pose as Almost a Deity Among Men.Note...The opening credits are superimposed on some fine Western style Art that is different and memorable..
Inevitably, a western cinematic legend like John Wayne had to make a movie about the relationship between Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, and "Chisum" is the Duke's version of the infamous Lincoln County War. Wayne plays the New Mexico patriarch who had a vested interest in these tumultuous events.
Geoffrey Duel, Pete Duel's younger brother, plays Billy, and he wears his six-gun in a holster on his right hip rather than his left like Paul Newman did in Arthur Penn's "The Left-Handed Gun." Several actors who appeared as regulars in Wayne's movies showed up, principally Ben Johnson as his foreman, Bruce Cabot as a slimy lawman, Glenn Corbett as Pat Garrett, along with John Agar, Christopher George, Hank Worden, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez, and Edward Faulkner.
Wayne plays cattle baron John Chisum as a more sympathetic figure than he probably was; the always excellent Ben Johnson is his sidekick Pepper and if you don't find any homoerotic subtext to their relationship you're a better man than I.
Thus the battle lines are drawn for New Mexico's 1878 Lincoln County Land War.The supporting cast is a who's who of the western genre: Ben Johnson, Andrew Pine, Richard Jaeckel, Patrick Knowles and Bruce Cabot.
With range war now on the cards, Chisum joins forces with none other than Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid to rid the territory of Murphy and his thugs.I haven't watched a John Wayne western in years and Andrew V.
The plot is nothing new and merely an excuse to give a lot of actors a lot of screen time, show off some finely rugged scenery, and tell the kind of story familiar in western cinema.The sprawling plot features multiple protagonists and sub-plots, perhaps the most useful of which is the one featuring the real-life characters of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. With the emphasis of much of the running time on these two characters, Wayne sometimes feels like a supporting actor in his own film, although he's very good as the brash, braggardly man with a heart of gold.
Geoffrey Deuel brings some good charisma to his role as Billy the Kid. CHISUM is no masterpiece and not one of the Duke's best either, but it's a reliable western made in a fast-changing world..
This shoot-em up Wayne western features 3 iconic names of the Old West: John Chisum, Billy the Kid, and Pat Garrett, who supposedly played important roles in the Lincoln County NM war of 1878.
John Wayne as Chisum plays one of his most memorable characters in this movie.
Not knowing what this John Wayne Western was all about, I was surprised when familiar names like Henry Tunstall, William Bonney and Pat Garrett began to show up.
Though CHISUM himself isn't exactly a 99 Per Center, he's more respectful of the Little Guy (that is, We 99%) than the characters he plays in all of the other "John Wayne" movies available today to the American Public.