THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL (1965)



THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL video artwork


(out of 5)


BURT LANCASTER.....Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart
LEE REMICK.....Cora Templeton Massingale
JIM HUTTON.....Captain Paul Slater
PAMELA TIFFIN.....Louise Gearhart
DONALD PLEASENCE.....Oracle Jones
BRIAN KEITH.....Frank Wallingham
MARTIN LANDAU.....Chief Walks-Stooped-Over

Produced and Directed by JOHN STURGES
Written by JOHN GAY


REVIEW BY THE MOTION PICTURE GUIDE ANNUAL


This is a farce about the Old West and the western films. The humor that gets the film started has Denver about to face the winter of 1887 without a drop of whiskey to gladden the tidings. This sets up situations for a whole range of characters and resulting ways they handle the crisis. Remick is leader of the local temperance union-whiskey guardians. They are traveling to Denver under the hopefully safe guard of the cavalry, led by Lancaster. Of course no one can touch a drop of the precious liquid, save for Remick who uses it "for medicinal purposes." Landau hysterically portrays the deadpan leader of a whiskey-craving band of Sioux. Basically it's all a one-joke plot with a few vignettes and gags strung on along the way. The whole thing is held together by an understated narration, which itself is fairly clever. Though directed with the appropriate mix of tongue-in-cheek and out-and-out slapstick, the film runs too long at more than two hours.



Review © 1985 CINBOOKS. All Rights Reserved.

Video artwork © 1991 MGM/UA HOME VIDEO. All Rights Reserved.

Title and logo designed by Karen Rappaport




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