Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

jimbo-53-186511 Four brothers arrive back in town initially to pay their respects to their mother who has died recently, but the plot thickens when they learn that their father died in a rather unscrupulous card game. The brothers are suspicious about what has happened in their absence and are determined to seek the truth out...The set-up of the story (involving four brothers grieving the loss of their mother is touching) and I suppose this can extend two-fold in respect of their father, but the truth is that The Sons Of Katie Elder is so boring that any aspects that set the story up seem to almost burn into insignificance...Yes I'm sorry, but I'm prepared to go on record and say that this film is boring and that almost nothing happens; John Wayne and his brothers swagger around from place to place seemingly creating incidents, but little seems to exist to advance the story leaving this film feeling a little boring. John Wayne himself is terrible and like with any of his other films one can only take him seriously ironically; i.e 'Hey you know what'...RIDICULOUS PAUSE... I genuinely think'...RIDICULOUS PAUSE... that it is hard to take me seriously.. He is bad here, but almost in a way that makes it fun. Perhaps less so is the guy that plays the younger Elder Bud; his acting wasn't great and he became annoying the longer the film progressed. Aside from the terrible acting, the film seems to have no real point; George Kennedy is established as the antagonist earlier on, but does very little of significance in any part of the story (and makes very little impact throughout). Although to be fair he does his best with what he has to work with. There's no real tension or suspense throughout the film and it seems to just coast to its safe and inevitable conclusion. That's about all I can say I'm afraid, it's got a great cast but it's a fairly crappy western that I couldn't possibly recommend to anyone.

classicsoncall Though I enjoyed the picture well enough, I kept getting sidetracked by events in the story that managed to distract. The main one had to do with the ages of the Elder Brothers, particularly John (John Wayne). The family Bible had a notation that Katie Elder married in 1850, so even if she were pregnant with her oldest son at the time, and John Wayne looking every bit of his fifty seven years, the story would have taken place around 1907!That certainly wouldn't have been the case, so let's say John Elder was in his forties. A reference was made by youngest son Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) about the Dalton Gang, saying he wanted to ride with brother John and become famous just like them. John's response was intended to give Bud pause, stating that the Dalton's were hung. But that wasn't correct either - Grath and Bob Dalton were killed during an attempted bank holdup in Coffeyville, Kansas in 1892 (another hint about when this story took place). Emmett Dalton was captured and sentenced to life in prison, though he was pardoned after fifteen years in 1907 (about the time John Wayne's character would have been fifty seven). So again, some simple math works against the picture if one wants to get technical.Be that as it may, there's something to be said about the basic premise of the picture. The recently departed Katie Elder must have been a saint of a woman as every resident of Clearwater, Texas held her in the highest regard. On the flip side, three of her four sons wound up on the questionable side of the law, and Bud was headed that way if his siblings didn't send him back to college. But first, things have to be set right regarding the death of Bass Elder and the loss of the Elder ranch to Morgan Hastings (James Gregory).What one might not expect in a film like this is the number of scenes written for humorous effect. The argument the brothers had about the Katie Monument was pretty comical, and Dean Martin's glass eye raffle was a hoot. It seemed only appropriate that Strother Martin would be the winner.Probably the film's biggest missed opportunity came when gunman Curley (George Kennedy) was killed in the ambush at the bridge. His character was introduced as the antidote to gunfighter John Elder's presence in Clearwater, hired by Morgan Hastings in case the brothers got too close to the truth about their father's death and the ranch's new ownership. So the expected showdown that was suggested never became a reality. On top of that, Curley wasn't curly, and if I had to guess, a screen writer who saw this movie might have been inspired to give the same name to the Jack Palance character in "City Slickers".

Spondonman This was Rio Bravo Meets The Magnificent Seven, not as good but even more sprawling and undisciplined. John Wayne was the hero again, but now sans one lung and finding good films gradually harder to come by…as was everybody if only they'd known it. He churned this type film out by the dozen every year in the '30's, this long and lazy oater would have made three Lone Star's.The four useless sons of the late Mrs Elder return to her funeral, try to reform to help get their youngest brother an eddication but trouble dogs their every hoofbeat. There's some dark secret being kept from them and baddie James Gregory is probably at the bottom of it all; when the secret is revealed you have your work cut out wondering what exactly the secret was. I liked the melodrama, the OTT acting of the leads, the matter-of-fact corniness of the loose plot. I liked an ethical doctor for treating the youngest brother for a gunshot wound without even caring whether or not he was a smoker. I liked the limping possible romance that is allowed to peter out and flatline. In fact, it's a pleasant time-filler, nothing terrible and definitely nothing great. The great gunfight on the bridge was a little savage for my taste – except the classic moment when the deputy sheriff hilariously got shot dead in mid-air, and I don't think anyone knew the correct moral outcome for shot-in-the-back brother Dean Martin as he was on his own admission a rather callous murderer. Ah well, even if it's all rather pointless the biggest justification for the movie is that folks got jobs and some money must have been made.

SanteeFats This movie is a decent one from the Duke. Dean Martin is his usual charismatic, charming, con man self. Earl Holliman plays one of the four brothers and it actually surprised me when he got killed. Katie Elder is never seen but a verbal portrait is painted over the length of the film of a tough, no nonsense, honest woman. Wayne plays the oldest and toughest of the brothers. A known gunfighter, not necessarily a hired gun though. The scenes when the three oldest gang up on the youngest, Bud, where they are going to see their mothers wish that at least one brother amounts to something admirable, are pretty funny. The frame up the bad guy pulls is kinda smart. Dennis Hopper does his usual fine acting as the cowardly son and of course he gets killed in the end. George Kennedy plays a gunslinger for hire and does a good job.