Sons of Katie Elder

Actors:  John Wayne, Dean Martin, Earl Holliman, Michael Anderson, Paul Fix, James Gregory, Dennis Hopper, George Kennedy
Rating: 8 out of 10, one of my favorite movies of Wayne’s older years and while the Duke was starting to show his age for a part like this – he still dominates the screen like few actors ever.  He plays the eldest brother of four who return to bury their mother and find she was cheated out of her land by Gregory.  The scenes with the four brothers struck me as very realistic.  You can forget that Dean Martin was actually a fairly good actor until you see him holding his own in a major film such as this.  The plot is a bit contrived but you know there had to be a final shootout with the bad guys and this is delivered with the Duke’s fabled eighteen shot six-shooter.  It was kind of jarring to see an incredibly young Dennis Hopper but this movie still stands the passage of time well.  Any time passed with the Duke is time well spent
MVP:  The Duke (of course) as gun fighting son John Elder