Chisum (1970)
7KChisum: Directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. With John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson. Cattle baron John Chisum joins forces with Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett to fight the Lincoln County land war.
“The first few times I saw this movie, I hadnu0026#39;t read the history of the Lincoln County Land Wars.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHowever, in recent years, with the convenience of the internet at hand, I read the histories along with watching the movie. 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn fact, the amount of direct action that John Wayneu0026#39;s character, Chisum, took in the film, is probably the element that is the most out of place.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBilly the Kid really did work for an English rancher involved in the dispute. His boss really 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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eBilly the Kid really did get his outlaw career kicked off in seeking vengeance for his boss and mentoru0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSo 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).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAll in all, an enjoyable and surprisingly informative film about a real u0026quot;old westu0026quot; feud.”
