Actor turned director Sam Wanamaker and Academy Award winning "King and I" lead Yul Brynner teamed up for the second time as director and star respectively in "Catlow," a harmless, featherweight adaptation of bestselling western writer Louis L'Amour's novel. Wanamaker and Brynner collaborated earlier on the espionage thriller "The File of the Golden Goose." Anyway, this 101-minute, PG-13 rated oater deals with the camaraderie between roguish cattle rustler Jed Catlow (Yul Brynner), and Richard Crenna's determined, arrow-straight, U.S. Marshal Ben Cowan.
"Star Trek" star Leonard Nimoy is cast against type as Catlow's nemesis who wants to put a bullet in him. Daliah Lavi and Jo Ann Pflug provide suitably distracting love interests for both Brynner and Crenna. The austere scenery around Almeria, Spain, substitutes marvelously for the Old West in this frivolous frontier yarn about maverick steers, two million dollars in stolen Confederate gold, Mexican soldiers, and savage, bloodthirsty Indians. Roy Budd's orchestral soundtrack enlivens this tolerably entertaining epic.
One of the gags in the average but unexceptional Scot French and J.J. Griffith screenplay appears to have been lifted from Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West." Our amiable anti-hero Catlow surprises a bad guy and shoots at him through the sole of his boot with his six-shooter concealed in his footwear. Jason Robards performed a similar stunt in the train sequence of Leone's classic. The most distinctive feature of this otherwise ordinary but entertaining oater is Nimoy's hand-to-hand combat with Brynner in the nude. That's right. Mr. Spock shows his butt and a glimpse of something else when our protagonist catches him off-guard with his britches down. Nothing dirty, mind you.
As "Catlow" unfolds, Cowan has a warrant to bring Catlow in for rustling cattle, but the charges have been trumped up by greedy cattlemen who don't want anybody rounding up maverick steers. It seems that their own hands demand extra pay that their bosses refuse to pay for the hardship involving in such activities. Ben Cowan is on Catlow's trail when Apache's jump him, wound him in the leg with an arrow and about about to kill, when Catlow's opportune intervention saves Ben's bacon.
Meantime, the cattlemen have hired a hardcase, Miller (Leonard Nimoy), and several gunslingers to corral Catlow. During a showdown in the desert, Catlow spoils Miller's necktie party. As he is putting on his boot, Catlow shoots at Miller through the sole with a gun. A brief gunfight erupts, and Catlow's men scatter Miller's minions. After Catlow sells his steers for $23 dollars a head, he allows Ben to take him into custody. Ben claps Catlow in irons, and they take a stagecoach back to Fort Smith. Catlow's men rescue him in route. Naturally, the cattlemen aren't happy about Catlow's escape.
Cowan rides into Mexico and Miller trails him. In a border town, Cowan finds Catlow long enough for our hero to lock him up. Catlow has set his sights on a mule train loaded with stolen Confederate gold that the Mexican army has discovered in a cave. Audaciously, Catlow hijacks the mule train right out from under the Mexican Army's nose. Cowan sounds the alert inadvertently when he stumbles onto the vicious Miller and all hell breaks loose. Catlow leads his unwilling men into the desert with the army nipping at his heels. One of Catlow's oldest accomplishess, Rios, doesn't cotton to Catlow's plans and plots mutiny.
No sooner has his men and he plunged into the desert than they find themselves at the mercy of the vicious Seri Indians. Catlow and company reach a fortress in the desert that lays in ruins. Cowan beats them to the fortress and spoils an ambush that the jealous Rosita has set up for Catlow. Catlow and his men cut down most of her gunmen and Catlow ties her up. Meanwhile, Rios decides to double-cross Catlow, join forces with Rosita and take the gold. They steal all the guns from Catlow's men and leave them unarmed to face the advancing Seris. Catlow, Cowan, and the outlaws are between a rock and a hard place when the Mexican Army ride to their rescue.
The ending is entirely improbable. Miller's reappearance, however, restores some drama. Nimoy excels as a rough and tumble villain with hate in his heart. Sadly, "Catlow" doesn't have enough grit to qualify as genuinely dramatic. The antics between Catlow and Cowan become rather childish and unbelievable, particularly the last minute reversal. "Catlow" isn't a bad western, but it is neither top drawer. The performances are adequate, the scenery is rugged, and the editing is incisive, but the story unravels toward the end.
"Star Trek" star Leonard Nimoy is cast against type as Catlow's nemesis who wants to put a bullet in him. Daliah Lavi and Jo Ann Pflug provide suitably distracting love interests for both Brynner and Crenna. The austere scenery around Almeria, Spain, substitutes marvelously for the Old West in this frivolous frontier yarn about maverick steers, two million dollars in stolen Confederate gold, Mexican soldiers, and savage, bloodthirsty Indians. Roy Budd's orchestral soundtrack enlivens this tolerably entertaining epic.
One of the gags in the average but unexceptional Scot French and J.J. Griffith screenplay appears to have been lifted from Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in the West." Our amiable anti-hero Catlow surprises a bad guy and shoots at him through the sole of his boot with his six-shooter concealed in his footwear. Jason Robards performed a similar stunt in the train sequence of Leone's classic. The most distinctive feature of this otherwise ordinary but entertaining oater is Nimoy's hand-to-hand combat with Brynner in the nude. That's right. Mr. Spock shows his butt and a glimpse of something else when our protagonist catches him off-guard with his britches down. Nothing dirty, mind you.
As "Catlow" unfolds, Cowan has a warrant to bring Catlow in for rustling cattle, but the charges have been trumped up by greedy cattlemen who don't want anybody rounding up maverick steers. It seems that their own hands demand extra pay that their bosses refuse to pay for the hardship involving in such activities. Ben Cowan is on Catlow's trail when Apache's jump him, wound him in the leg with an arrow and about about to kill, when Catlow's opportune intervention saves Ben's bacon.
Meantime, the cattlemen have hired a hardcase, Miller (Leonard Nimoy), and several gunslingers to corral Catlow. During a showdown in the desert, Catlow spoils Miller's necktie party. As he is putting on his boot, Catlow shoots at Miller through the sole with a gun. A brief gunfight erupts, and Catlow's men scatter Miller's minions. After Catlow sells his steers for $23 dollars a head, he allows Ben to take him into custody. Ben claps Catlow in irons, and they take a stagecoach back to Fort Smith. Catlow's men rescue him in route. Naturally, the cattlemen aren't happy about Catlow's escape.
Cowan rides into Mexico and Miller trails him. In a border town, Cowan finds Catlow long enough for our hero to lock him up. Catlow has set his sights on a mule train loaded with stolen Confederate gold that the Mexican army has discovered in a cave. Audaciously, Catlow hijacks the mule train right out from under the Mexican Army's nose. Cowan sounds the alert inadvertently when he stumbles onto the vicious Miller and all hell breaks loose. Catlow leads his unwilling men into the desert with the army nipping at his heels. One of Catlow's oldest accomplishess, Rios, doesn't cotton to Catlow's plans and plots mutiny.
No sooner has his men and he plunged into the desert than they find themselves at the mercy of the vicious Seri Indians. Catlow and company reach a fortress in the desert that lays in ruins. Cowan beats them to the fortress and spoils an ambush that the jealous Rosita has set up for Catlow. Catlow and his men cut down most of her gunmen and Catlow ties her up. Meanwhile, Rios decides to double-cross Catlow, join forces with Rosita and take the gold. They steal all the guns from Catlow's men and leave them unarmed to face the advancing Seris. Catlow, Cowan, and the outlaws are between a rock and a hard place when the Mexican Army ride to their rescue.
The ending is entirely improbable. Miller's reappearance, however, restores some drama. Nimoy excels as a rough and tumble villain with hate in his heart. Sadly, "Catlow" doesn't have enough grit to qualify as genuinely dramatic. The antics between Catlow and Cowan become rather childish and unbelievable, particularly the last minute reversal. "Catlow" isn't a bad western, but it is neither top drawer. The performances are adequate, the scenery is rugged, and the editing is incisive, but the story unravels toward the end.