and its voice-over. All moving into that classic opening shot of Wayne like an immovable great rock on horseback and the horizon. Probably no definitely my favourite opening to a movie.True to history - if it ever is then its by accident. But what do you expect - its a classic old-style western! Finally, was this the last US movie to feature characters with allegedly British accents as heroes. ;-

Mexico, most people think of Billy the Kid as a hero, and several things he did, and sides he took, in the Lincoln County war give some proof to this. Governor Bill Richardson is now looking into giving Billy the Kid a pardon, and talking with Pat Garrett's descendants on this matter. This movie was ahead of it's time on concepts like Billy the Kid being the good guy~~or the writers did some very good research. Sure, this movie has the typical romanticized view of westerns, and very clean cut, but that was the film-making style back then. This is not an odd thing, of Billy the Kid being a good guy. New Mexico has been fighting that battle for a long time.

watched her in this movie: a young Kate Hepburn! As for John Wayne...the Duke, well, his role in this film has to be his best since "The Searchers". The complexity of his character, the dark foreboding...it just blows me away! The Lincoln County War would have been better if there HAD been a John Chisum involved. I highly recommend this movie, but a caution for those of you with young children: the violence is highly realistic and graphic. It may be best to watch this after the youngsters have been tucked away.

shattered by cold-blooded murder. 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. McLaglen's fictionalised re-telling of the Lincoln County War is a rip-roaring delight. It's one of those movies that gets you rooting for the good guys early on which successfully engages the viewer. The duke chews the scenery as the tough patriarch who else? and steals most of the movie's best scenes and lines. Forrest Tucker was also excellent as the ruthless businessman Lawrence Murphy. The verbal confrontation between Murphy and Chisum in the town's street is one of the most memorable scenes in the film. "If your men cross my land, touch any of my cows or do anything to that store over there, I'm not going to the sheriff, the governor or the president of the United States, I'm coming to see you!" exclaims Chisum before socking Murphy in the jaw when the latter plays the statement off as a threat. Glenn Corbett and Geoffrey Deuel were great as Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid respectively, as were Patric Knowles, Ben Johnson and Richard Jaeckel, not to mention Glenn Langan as Colonel Dudley.I've always thought that the soundtrack is one of the greatest things about the movie, particularly the rousing title song. The title song even has a superb voice-over running through it describing Chisum's struggle to build up his cattle empire. This accompanies an excellent title sequence which features colourful paintings of stampedes and Indian attacks complete with the sound of distressed horses and gunfire. The first half of the film does drag a little before kicking into gear in the second half. There's exciting shootouts between rustlers and cowboys as well as a chaotic river ambush. The subplot involving Billy the Kid taking revenge on the crooked deputies who murdered his mentor added drive to the film, but the best part is spectacular standoff in the town's street between Billy and his friends and the sheriff's posse. There's some severe ass kicking done here as Chisum stampedes his entire herd into the town with his cowpokes charging behind him causing complete destruction, before taking on Murphy in a frenzied hand to hand fight . Murphy's death is unintentionally humorous! . The movie also features some pleasing vistas of the lush hills and plains.Extremely underrated, Andrew V. McLaglen's fun horse opera has the duke doing what he does best. 9/10

all of the other "John Wayne" movies available today to the American Public. Since at least 100 of John's flicks are currently in hiding, embargoed, or otherwise being suppressed, I cannot speak for their content; maybe they all feature Hombre Love Connections, for all I or most anyone else know s . At a time when police in Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, and elsewhere are running rampant over the American citizenry, CHISUM's campaign to show that ALL Lives Matter resonates more today than when it was shot nearly 50 years ago. In this movie, CHISUM isn't afraid to tell White U.S. Army honchos that if they shove one of America's Minority People, he'll kill such a heavy-handed lout. Wouldn't it be peachy if we had 100 such CHISUM's on the front line of every American city today?

end. The only problem I had with this movie was the slaughter of the attorney by the ugly fake sheriff.

Cowboy Life. Then after the opening credit you see John Wayne sitting on his horse and looking absorbed in thoughts on to a green and pictographic valley. What do you need more as a Duke Fan? I don't know what John Wayne was doing in his free time but maybe this was one of his things.After this climatic beginning the audience get what it's deserved. John Wayne rides through beautiful places, drinks, shoots and punches at the bad Boys. In a way his role reminds me on "McLintock!" but now more serious. Not so many typical action scenes with him as in other movies but well done. Duke has some great lines to speak, funny, cynical and sometimes philosophical about the end of the frontier. Next to him there is a mumbling Ben Johnson as funny Side Kick. Of course there are all the other actors as supporting cast you know from John Wayne Movies in it. Interesting about it this time John Wayne isn't the only one with action scenes and good lines. Next to him there are several young actors which have some screen time. Glenn Corbett as Pat Garret, Geoffrey Duel as Billy "the Kid" Bonney, Andrew Prime as Alex McSween, two gorgeous ladies Linda Day Gregor as his wife and Pamela McMyler as Chisums Nephew Sallie. These young actors are all doing good performances but I wished the Role of Billy the Kid would have played a more popular Actor round the beginning of the 1970's. Christopher George has a memorable role as scary Bounty Hunter Dan Nodeen. He looks like one of the unshaved characters of a Spaghetti Western. Most of the action scenes didn't include John Wayne but these young actors. There are more action scenes with Duke at the second half of CHISUM. One fight scene of the Duke makes me smile. It's obliviously a Stuntman who looks quite different as John Wayne. I was surprised that the violent shootouts didn't look like any fair duel as Western Buffs knows from former flicks.As I stated before the song in the opening credit is very good and there are several climatic music themes during the movie. The music was pretty fine and fit to the Movie. The action scenes are well done and the photography of the western world shines bright and cupful. In fact it's again a good example of the artful work of the great photographer William H. Clothier. He is one of the reasons why most of Duke's Movies looks so good. I was curious about CHISUM because it's one the last great commercial successes of John Wayne. The formula seems to be easy. A climatic western with John Wayne but he is more like a clever punching grandfather who takes care of the young. IMO this formula works best in THE COWBOYS 1972 but IMO CHISUM 1970 comes close.

did fund a rival general store with a lawyer. Both the English rancher and the lawyer were murdered by the faction controlled by the rival general store.Billy the Kid really did get his outlaw career kicked off in seeking vengeance for his boss and mentor's murder. Pat Garret really was supported for sheriff by John Chisum, who somehow managed to stay out of the thick of the feuding even though his use of huge tracts of public grazing land was part of the heart of the dispute.So history buffs can safely enjoy this movie knowing that history is just bent a little, and not ripped completely asunder as the case would be with most movies. LOL That said, this is a very entertaining western. John Wayne is on top of his game as a cattle baron, and the supporting cast does a fine job. It includes a bit of everything: rustling, gunfights, stampedes, crooked sheriffs, greedy bad guys, heroic good guys. It has more plot surprises than the normal western and that is precisely because it kills off certain characters approximately when and how they died in the real events .All in all, an enjoyable and surprisingly informative film about a real "old west" feud.

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. The movie ends rather abruptly, never letting us know what happens to Chisum, Billy or the Lincoln County war.