When you have James Stewart in a cast, you get entertainment. He is easily the biggest asset here. George Kennedy is fine as a second banana. Dean Martin is okay too. To me one of the bigger assets is the Goldsmith composed sound track.
Welsh definitely grabs some attention. So where does it fall short? First is some of the sequencing as some scenes do not make sense. Second is the motivation, with a distant reference to Quantrill's raiders who actually did exist in history during the Civil War. While the reference here is just that, it seems that every time a movie references these raiders, it falls short.
The plot with Stewart as the brother of Martin coming in as a hangman to save his brother from certain death was used several times in other movies in the 1960's. So while it is entertaining, it is hardly original here. If there had been an extra twist somehow, it might have elevated the film, but the way the sequence at the hanging is staged seems to be a little contrived.
I listed the 2 reasons to watch this, strong cast and Goldsmith's music. As far as Quantrill's raiders, the best film about them is quite fictional but Raoul Walsh's Dark Command is the most entertaining film using the Quantrill story. It is uneven, but entertaining and while Stewart here is robbing a bank because it is easy to do, Dark Command's bank sequence is much more interesting.
I only wish the plot had some better scripting here, as this story is what lets down a stellar cast. It could have been better.
Welsh definitely grabs some attention. So where does it fall short? First is some of the sequencing as some scenes do not make sense. Second is the motivation, with a distant reference to Quantrill's raiders who actually did exist in history during the Civil War. While the reference here is just that, it seems that every time a movie references these raiders, it falls short.
The plot with Stewart as the brother of Martin coming in as a hangman to save his brother from certain death was used several times in other movies in the 1960's. So while it is entertaining, it is hardly original here. If there had been an extra twist somehow, it might have elevated the film, but the way the sequence at the hanging is staged seems to be a little contrived.
I listed the 2 reasons to watch this, strong cast and Goldsmith's music. As far as Quantrill's raiders, the best film about them is quite fictional but Raoul Walsh's Dark Command is the most entertaining film using the Quantrill story. It is uneven, but entertaining and while Stewart here is robbing a bank because it is easy to do, Dark Command's bank sequence is much more interesting.
I only wish the plot had some better scripting here, as this story is what lets down a stellar cast. It could have been better.