The Sons of Katie Elder (1965)
Short description
The Sons of Katie Elder is a western movie directed by Henry Hathaway. John, the eldest, is a well-known gunfighter.
The film is largely monotonous.
The characters are mediocre
The characters depicted have nothing special. Not even Curley, who should have been the most feared in the film. He's just strong, and nothing more. Each character has a story of their own, an avatar they believe in. The rest is just hearsay.
But this fits very well with the atmosphere that the director wants to to present to the viewer.
Tom seems to be the most interesting character, even if much of the mystery follows John.
Movie ending
The ending is meaningless. It's somewhat suspenseful enough at a rather difficult time for John. It's not a surprising one, neither in direction nor in the way it is ended.
Some memorable lines
| Sheriff Billy Wilson | How long you planning to stay? |
| John Elder | Well, I don’t know. People usually let you take your hat off before they ask you to leave, Billy. |
| John Elder | You've been trying real hard not to tell me something, Billy. What is it? |
| Tom Elder | Mr. Hastings, you know everybody around here: Can you tell us who is the dirty stinkin' lowdown rat that shot our pa? |
Main actors
- John Wayne as John Elder
- Dean Martin as Tom Elder
- Michael Anderson Jr. as Bud Elder
- Earl Holliman as Matt Elder
- Martha Hyer as Mary Gordon
- Jeremy Slate as Ben Latta
- James Gregory as Morgan Hastings
- Paul Fix as Sheriff Billy Wilson
- George Kennedy as Curley
- Dennis Hopper as Dave Hastings