classicsoncall Well I'd like to be as confident as some of the reviewers here who thought the movie was just great but there are too many flaws in the picture to get that positive about it. I thought MacKenna (Gregory Peck) offered a pretty good hook for the story early on when he told Colorado (Omar Sharif) that "we can play some poker along the way". It gave the impression that there would be some compelling battle of wits here between the good guy and the bad guy, but sadly the story just didn't come together that way for me. And speaking of Sharif's character, he was supposed to be Mexican, right? So why not Juan instead of John? Still wondering about that one.If you wanted to come up with an all star Western movie cast I don't think you could have done a better job than this one, but boy, what a sad waste of talent. When the opening credits mentioned 'The Men From Hadleyburg' I was all set for something really special, and with Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, Burgess Meredith, Anthony Quayle, Edward G. Robinson and Eli Wallach in the lineup, there was no way there should have been any disappointment. Sadly, I was proved wrong, and I haven't even mentioned Keenan Wynn and Telly Savalas yet.If not for the presence of Julie Newmar, this might have been a real downer. I can't say for sure if she really did her swim scene in the nude, but at least that was a nifty diversion to take one's mind off the rest of the story. One of the things that really brought things down for me were the close-up riding scenes with Lancaster and Sharif, utilizing rear projection photography. When I see that in a picture I always ask myself why they couldn't have taken the actors outside and put them on a horse for real. What would be so hard about that? As far as the resolution to the story, this is where things take a real slide down hill, both literally and figuratively. When the ground started shaking apart and the mountain walls started separating I was reminded of the way all those cheesy prehistoric dinosaur flicks come to an end before the hero makes it out of harm's way. The film makers must have thought the idea was pretty cool because a couple of the same scenes were repeated more than once, which only served to lengthen the movie a few minutes more than it needed to.Sorry I can't be more positive about things but that's just the way it goes sometimes. I guess every actor winds up with a clunker every now and then, too bad so many otherwise great actors would up in this one all at the same time.

Edgar Allan Pooh . . . only it was just a bunch of dirt, rocks, and dust. It was called Canyon De Chelley National Monument, and you could camp there for about five bucks. The ground was 100% stable, except maybe for a few pebbles displaced every now and then by reptiles. However, this area is historically popular among Native Americans for "Vision Quests." These spiritual journeys were often taken under the influence of peyote, but some Hollywood producers probably dropped LSD to come up with the ending of MACKENNA'S GOLD. Now, in 2015, you can see the Truth in their Prophecy by just looking around. Nearly every chick in the South wears a crazed Sarah Palin-type expression as she's waving her brassiere above her head, snarling, "Frack, Baby, Frack!" Last year our old "Indian Territory," Oklahoma, recorded HUNDREDS of times more earthquakes than ever before, all due to Fracking, which is now taking place on a large scale coast-to-coast. So MACKENNA's GOLD is not so much about the people who caught "gold fever" in the 1870s as it is a drug-induced prophetic vision of Barack the Fracker, and his Big Oil henchmen. What we have coming will make the close of MACKENNA's GOLD, as well as the recent feature 2012 and the upcoming SAN ANDREAS look like child's play!

Neil Welch Marshall Mackenna (Gregory Peck) becomes the recipient of the location of a legendary hidden valley of gold. This makes him of considerable interest to assorted individuals who believe the legend to be true (Mackenna doesn't), chief among whom is outlaw Colorado (Omar Sharif).This 1969 western is a curious mix of extremes - when it's good, it is very good, and when it's bad it is truly awful. The workmanlike story is perfectly serviceable (if a little overburdened with sidetracks), but the script is abominable. The extensive cast is peppered with high profile names, but most of them have little to do while the obscure and uninspired Camilla Sparv is on screen through the latter two thirds of the film. The scenery is eye-catching and spectacular, but there are big chunks which are heavily (and obviously) studio-bound. The action is mostly pretty good, but the special effects are lamentable (poor rear projection, standard ratio shots unsqueezed, out of focus model work etc.).Peck is his usual upright self, and Sharif has fun chewing the scenery. Most of the support cast is OK, and Julie (Catwoman) Newmar as a moody Apache woman with her own agenda, puts in sterling service with a nekkid dip in a mountain pool.

oscar-35 *Spoiler/plot- MacKennas Gold, 1969, An Indian legend tells of a valley of gold protected by the Indian spirits. This valley was found twice and a group of Western gold hunters go on a quest to find it with varying degrees of failure and success in the late 1870's.*Special Stars- Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Julie Newman, Telly Savalas, Ted Casidy *Theme- In the West, mother nature and the Fates are nothing to bet your life on. You will lose.*Trivia/location/goofs- Monument Valley, but the film was shot mainly at Glen Canyon of Utah and Canyon DE Chelly of Arizona, specifically Spider Rock. The "Old Turkey Buzzard" theme song sequence was shot at Monument Valley, on the Arizona-Utah border.Some very interesting horse riders POV camera shots during chase scenes were used in this film. Also there are some aerial glider shots to show the spectacular landscapes during the 'buzzard' flying scenes. Julie Newmar's work on this film interfered with her re-curring 'Catowman' role that made her so famous in the 'Batman' TV series as such two other women filled the Catwoman role (E. Kitt & L. Meriweather) on the TV series. GOOF: The action of the rock promontory's shadow('Shaking Rock') showing the secret valley entrance is wrong at sunrise. It is only when the sun goes down in the west would the rock spire's shadow get long, not in the morning which would shorten it's shadow until noon when no shadow or a small would fall directly downward. George Lucas was a film school interns of this film and helped in suggesting some scene matters. Julie Newmar's swimming scene was changed by her to a nude scene. Clint Eatswood was offered and turned down the Marshal MacKenna role. John Garfield's son, David appears as the young many caretaker of the blind Mr. Addamms, Edward Robinson role. Eduardo Ciannelli appears in another of his famous ethic roles as native American 'Chief Prarie-dog' and he was the villainous Tug GURU leader in the original 'Gunga Din'.*Emotion- A enjoyable Western saga, one of a dying few produced at this time. In the same mold as 'How the West was Won' and others. An interesting large cast of screen favorites put into some dramatic scenes. More should have been done with the townspeople especially since they were the major bluff of stars receiving roles in this film. Julie Newman is and continues to be a beautiful 'force of female nature' on screen to deal with...Yum!