"Mine hit the ground first." "Mine was taller."

So say Kirk Douglas and John Wayne, respectively, just after gunning down two outlaws in The War Wagon (1967), a funny and very enjoyable Western in which the two stars play friendly rivals who put aside their differences to join forces on a daring gold heist. It's daring because the $500,000 batch of gold is traveling in a fortified wagon armed with a Gatling gun, and under guard by two dozen men on horseback.

The rivalry between Douglas and Wayne is the heart of what makes The War Wagon work so well. They play off each other well, with a rapport that is entertaining and believable. When production started in Durango, Mexico, in 1966, Douglas and Wayne had already worked together twice in the previous two years, on In Harm's Way (1965) and Cast a Giant Shadow (1966). Undoubtedly that history helped, but another contributing force here was certainly director Burt Kennedy. One of Kennedy's great strengths was in fostering this kind of easygoing character rapport, and he achieved it consistently both in the movies that he directed (like The Rounders, 1965 and Support Your Local Sheriff, 1969) and the ones that he wrote (like The Tall T, 1957, Seven Men From Now, 1956, and Ride Lonesome, 1959, all directed by Budd Boetticher).

Still, unless the director was John Ford, Wayne was not an easy man to direct, especially if his company was also producing the picture - as was the case with The War Wagon. Douglas recalled years later that even though the Duke was starting to develop lung problems during this production, "he was always the first one on the set, usually checking out what the special-effects guys were doing. He butted into everything¿ He would push directors around¿ Burt Kennedy was having trouble with Wayne. Burt was a very talented director, but gentle. Wayne was a less talented director, and far from gentle."

Kennedy acknowledged the tensions, saying that Wayne "felt responsible for everything; he'd make it tough," but he added, "you cannot change him. He is obdurate and obstinate and he thinks one way. Sometimes he is rough and sometimes he is mean, but he is always himself and he is not phony and bogus."

Kirk Douglas was 50 when he made The War Wagon, an impressive fact when you see him leaping railings and vaulting onto horses with the athleticism of someone much younger. Douglas loved making Westerns and had made nearly a dozen of them. He said, "No actor I know would turn down a good role in a Western. They may claim they want to do one as a change of pace, or a chance to show their versatility. The truth is that they are just as much drawn to the gun-toting hero as the child who wants his first present to be a 'hogleg' and holster and cowboy hat."

Producer: Marvin Schwartz
Director: Burt Kennedy
Screenplay: Clair Huffaker
Cinematography: William H. Clothier
Film Editing: Harry W. Gerstad
Art Direction: Alfred Sweeney
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Cast: John Wayne (Taw Jackson), Kirk Douglas (Lomax), Howard Keel (Levi Walking Bear), Robert Walker, Jr. (Billy Hyatt), Keenan Wynn (Wes Fletcher), Bruce Cabot (Frank Pierce).
C-101m. Letterboxed.

by Jeremy Arnold