UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

vorkapich "No matter where people go, the law follows, and no matter where people go, they find God has been there first." Thus utters The Duke in the title role of this typical product of John Wayne's waning years. He utters this after a considerable body count has accumulated in the course of recounting some of the events of the Lincoln County War in New Mexico in the 1870s. God was passive as all that corruption and killing, including some who were unarmed, was going on. Mysterious ways...The Chisum depicted here is the Wayne character that developed in the decade after Rio Bravo put him back in the saddle after excursions into non-Westerns: tough but fair; ready to do what it takes to make things right, i.e. be extremely violent; amiable but something of a loner (too many personal connections might compromise one at some point). Wayne wears the same togs he wore in all his Westerns from this period: vest, red or blue shirt, bandanna, high-crowned Stetson. He was already enshrined as the personification of the Old West, or the Old West by way of Hollywood. Next stop, Madame Tussaud's.The screenplay actually has some details here and there that are supported by the history of the events, but this is mostly a warped and inflated version of the story. For instance, in this telling, Billy the Kid rides into town, big as you please, shoots Sheriff Brady in front of Chisum and co., then rides out without anyone so much as reaching for their six-shooter. In the actual incident, Billy the Kid (aka Henry McCarty) and his accomplices ambushed Sheriff Brady, a much wiser tactic. McCarty was wounded in the thigh when he broke cover to retrieve something (a warrant or a rifle) from Brady's body. The height of the ludicrous is reached, fittingly, at the film's climax, the shootout at McSween's store. A slew of bad guys are slain, even though they are barely visible (there were perhaps a half dozen casualties on both sides in the actual confrontation) and the whole shebang is wrapped up when The Duke and his boys come with guns blazing amid a herd of stampeding cattle. The Duke then dukes it out with the Murphy character (Forrest Tucker); they both fall from a balcony and Murphy is...impaled on steer horns. Wow! The real Chisum was a couple of days ride away on his ranch when that action was taking place in Lincoln. In fact, Chisum himself never fired a shot in the Lincoln County War. Murphy was ill with cancer by time the conflict in Lincoln County reached a fever pitch; he died a few months after the Battle of Lincoln.This is simply an excuse to make another Wayne Western, and dress it up as Something That Really Happened. The efficient director, Andrew McLaglen, assembled a passel of familiar faces — Forrest Tucker, Bruce Cabot, Ben Johnson, Christopher George (he had been a bad guy in El Dorado), Richard Jaeckel, all of whom could be depended on to give unsurprising performances. Wayne's house cinematographer (he did 21 films for Wayne's Batjac production company), William Clothier, keeps things in focus and the contrasts in the bright sunlight of the Durango, Mexico and other Southwestern locations well-balanced. The whole thing is a product of pros in the process of "keeping on", as the lyrics of the film's song say, without any urge to do much more.Filming was done in the late fall, which must have made for a nice working vacation for all involved.

LeonLouisRicci Any Movie that has Ben Johnson as a Cowboy can't be All Bad, and this John Wayne Western begins His Seventies Period that had some Highlights, "The Cowboys" (1972), "The Shootist" (1976), and is an Entertaining and Epic Yarn, but not as Good as the Aforementioned.The "Duke" must be given some Credit for Trying to Soften His Image as a Knee-Jerk Conservative (my way or the highway), as can be Witnessed by Inclusionary Characters and Situations where He makes some "Veiled Apologies" concerning some of His Previously Right Wing Notions in some of His Movies from the 1970's.It can be Seen in this one where He goes to Great Lengths to Yap about His Friendship with an Indian Chief now on a Reservation that "Chisum" finds Unsettling.This is a Sprawling Western that is Enjoyable with Many a Characters from the History Pages and some Capitalistic Concerns. There's not only Chisum, but Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett. Also Henry Tunstall (Patrick Knowles) who took Billy "Under His Wing" with Reform in Mind (it almost worked).There is a High Body Count and Bullets Flying, Cattle Stampeding, and John Wayne opens and closes the Movie Striking a Pose as Almost a Deity Among Men.Note...The opening credits are superimposed on some fine Western style Art that is different and memorable.

Dark Jedi Maybe it is because I grew up with watching John Wayne (my father was a big fan of western movies) but I still really like these old goodies with John Wayne. Actually there are few movies with John Wayne that I do not like even though all of them are rather outdated in this age of overkill action and special effects.This is definitely one of the better ones. John Wayne is doing what he does best. That is playing a slightly grumpy, hard-hitting cowboy. The role of Chisum is really perfect for John Wayne. That is not to say that the others are not doing a decent performance but it is really John Wayne that makes this movie.The movie itself is a fairly standard land-grabbing, cattle-steeling and bullying western story were two men spend most of the movie working themselves towards the final confrontation which, as good western tradition prescribes, involves a hearty exchange of gunfire. Just for good measure a bit of fist fighting was thrown in as well.There is nothing special with the story, there is nothing special with the acting, there is nothing special with the footage. It is just that everything is what I would expect, or at least hope for, in this kind of movie. The entire movie is just right in some old-fashioned way. The fact that the ending is reasonably happy is of course an additional plus.This movie is simply great uncomplicated entertainment.

SanteeFats While historically inaccurate concerning Billy Bonney (Billy the Kid) and Pat Garrett this is a very good movie. The plot is good. The acting is way above average, and the scenes and scenery are all very good. John Wayne as Chisum plays one of his most memorable characters in this movie. He seems to actually be playing himself to some extent. The fight scene between him and Forrest Tucker is memorable, especially with Tucker dying on the bull horns after falling from the second story. The bad guys generally act like bad guys and the good guys act like good guys. Of course good wins out in the end. The only problem I had with this movie was the slaughter of the attorney by the ugly fake sheriff.