Directed by:
Henry HathawayCinematography:
Lucien BallardComposer:
Elmer BernsteinCast:
John Wayne, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer, Michael Anderson Jr., Earl Holliman, Jeremy Slate, James Gregory, Paul Fix, George Kennedy, Dennis Hopper (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Katie Elder bore four sons... and the day she is buried they all return home to Clearwater, Texas, to pay their last respects. John Wayne is the eldest and toughest son, the gunslinger. Tom (Dean Martin) is the gambler and good with a gun when he has to be. Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one - nobody ever called him yellow… twice. Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is the youngest. Any hope for respectability lies with him. Directed by Henry Hathaway, an acknowledged master of the Western, the story has a dual theme; not only is this a he-man’s story, but it is also a drama of the maternal influence of Katie Elder, movingly portrayed from beginning to conclusion. (Paramount Home Entertainment)
(more)Reviews (1)
Over time, you will simply get tired of watching too honorable heroes. People want someone less correct, less straightforward. That is why Sergio Leone's films "A Fistful of Dollars," "For a Few Dollars More," "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly," and especially "Once Upon a Time in the West" became so popular. They brought a fresh breeze into the sails of the western genre. Considering that Sergio Leone directed "For a Few Dollars More" in the same year as Hathaway's film "The Sons of Katie Elder," the contrast is even more noticeable. Americans still adhered to the standard, but it no longer had the necessary edge, the audience wanted something different, something more. The audience is demanding, they want something new, they want trends that haven't been seen before or that they have forgotten. How long will it take for us to get tired of comic book adaptations? The western genre held on for quite a while, but "The Sons of Katie Elder" only confirms that in the 60s, its death knell had already sounded.
()