Richard Dominguez In My Opinion The Best John Wayne Western I Have Seen ... Wayne Is Excellent As Lane The Leader Of The Group Hired To Help Mrs Lowe ... Fun, Action And Some Quick Fuuny Jokes Make This A Delight To Watch ... John Wayne, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson, Christopher George, Bobby Vinton (Yes The Teen Idol), Ricardo Montalban And The Ever (It Doesn't Matter What Role She Is In) Classy/Sexy Ann Margret To Name A Few Of The Stars That Make For An Interesting Stew Of Different Styles ... I Have Never Seen This One Before And If You Haven't You Should And If You Have "What Are You Waiting For" Here It Is Again ... The Scenery Is Magnificent To Top It Off ... I Love That You Never See The Bad Guys Closeup (I Thing Because The Movie Isn't About Them) And If You Want To Know Why The Movie Is Called "The Train Robbers" You Have To Wait Till The Last 60 Seconds (Which I Thought Was A Brilliant Touch ...

Scott LeBrun Rather routine but very well made Western - with touches of both humor and heart - starring The Duke as Lane, who, with his buddies Jesse (Ben Johnson) and Grady (Rod Taylor) and three other men, decide that they will help out a widow named Mrs. Lowe (a ravishing Ann- Margret). A long time ago her husband had participated in a major gold robbery, and now she wants the long-hidden gold recovered and returned to the bank in an effort to clear the guy's name. The group embarks on a somewhat treacherous, if not epic, journey to their destination, sometimes fighting amongst themselves along the way.Western expert Burt Kennedy wrote and directed this entertaining movie. It's got enough laughs, poignancy, action, and suspense to make it a good viewing. There are plenty of gorgeous vistas (and matte shots by Albert Whitlock), all wonderfully photographed by cinematographer William H. Clothier, in his final feature film. The story is really nothing truly special, but it holds your attention for a decently paced 92 minutes. Certainly the opening credit sequence does have a very tense, watchful quality going for it. The main asset is an array of engaging performances: The Duke is typically commanding, Johnson and Taylor very amiable, Ann-Margret quite appealing. Rounding out Lanes' gang are Christopher George as Calhoun, singer Bobby Vinton as Ben Young, and stuntman Jerry Gatlin as Sam Turner. Ricardo Montalban makes a few fleeting appearances as a mysterious character whose presence is explained at the end of the picture. And the big reveal is worth a chuckle.This may not be a great film of its kind, but it is a good one.Seven out of 10.

edwagreen A rather typical John Wayne western with the Duke literally very comfortable in his favorite genre of western films.Hired by the widow of a dead train robber, Wayne and others seek to locate the gold that her husband stole and return it to the authorities so that they can collect a reward and at least her husband's name can be cleared.The plot is revealed in less than 15 minutes after the film begins and is then devoted to traveling over difficult terrain, shooting between the good guys versus the original robbers and others, Wayne getting the "widow" Ann-Margret intoxicated so as to learn more and other Wayne riders such as Rod Taylor and Ben Johnson revealing themselves.As the story goes on it is highly predictable, but at the very end it is shown that you can't trust anyone or their respective stories.

Dark Jedi This is another old John Wayne classic that, despite being a bit of an oldie, is still so much fun to watch. Being made as late as 1973 it is one of the later works of John Wayne. I quite like these later works where he is often playing a grumpy old hero.This movie is a good classical old western with a decent enough chunk of humor. It starts off fairly hilarious when Lane punches his friend for bringing a guy along who "could not take orders". The continued muttering and bickering between Lane and his two old war-buddies is one of the things that makes this movie so fun to watch.The story is a fairly simple one. A widow of a bank robber hires Lane and his friends to track down half a million in gold that said widow's husband stole and hid. Naturally there are other parties searching for the gold. The entire movie centers around Lane & Co though with the other parties just being kind of "around" which is perhaps a bit unusual. Apart from a few close-ups of a Pinkerton agent played by Ricardo Montalban (who of course will always be Khan for us sci-fi fans) and who has no major part to play until the end, we never really see the bad guys in any detail. They are just a bunch of men on horses riding over the country side or shooting at our heroes.As is often the case with American western movies the landscape and scenery is also a contributing factor to the enjoyment of the movie. The choice of the abandoned train wreck in the desert was an interesting, a bit unusual, and visually pleasing one. I have to say that the "town" where the train arrived with Lane and where the final fight took place was a wee bit disappointing though.It looked like three scattered houses and a water tower.The ending was just as hilarious as the beginning. Actually more so. I just loved it when Lane rode after the train and in answer to his friends question explained that he was going to rob a train.This was some very enjoyable 90 minutes indeed.