Guns of Diablo (1964)

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Guns of Diablo (1964) ** 1/2 (out of 4) By the numbers Western will work a lot better if you're fans of Charles Bronson and Kurt Russell. In the film, wagon trail leader Linc Murdock (Bronson) and his young pal (Russell) head into town for some supplies but once there Linc sees the woman (Susan Oliver) who he fell in love with years earlier but also the three brothers who kept them apart and now want him dead. This feature was taken from episodes of "The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters" and you can see in various scenes that it has a TV look. While there's nothing overly special here I think fans of Bronson and Russell with enjoy their performances enough to make this film worth viewing. What we've got here are two TV episodes built around some new footage, which includes a pretty risqué love scene between Bronson and Oliver, which was clearly added for the European market where this film mostly played. This and the rather violent shoot-out at the end are two of the better sequences but we also get a pretty good open with the wagons trying to cross a violent river when Bronson must jump in to save a man. Another good sequence is a 20-minute flashback where we see how Bronson came to be so hated. This here was taken from the TV episode but it actually features some pretty good cinematography and nice drama. Bronson actually turns in a pretty good performance here as he gets to throw in some romance as well as tender drama, which is something he wouldn't get to do decades later when he was appearing in various Canon films. He works well with Oliver and the two have great chemistry together and really sell the love story side of the film. Russell is also very energetic here and makes for a good sidekick to Bronson. Seeing the two (now) legends together was a lot of fun and I think fans of both will enjoy seeing them here. The supporting villains aren't written too well and John Fiedler (12 ANGRY MEN) doesn't come off too well either. Douglas Fowley gets some good scenes with Russell as the elderly man who claims to be a millionaire. If one comes to this film expecting a John Ford production then they're going to be disappointed. If you have 79-minutes to kill and are a fan of the cast then I'm sure you'll at least stay entertained from start to finish.

Guns of Diablo was originally a two part episode from the short lived series The Travels of Jamie McPheeters in which Charles Bronson was a regular.The series was a juvenile that served to introduce audiences to young Kurt Russell who got his first real notice in the show though it only lasted a season. The Pulitzer Prize winning novel from where the series was adapted concerned a journey west on a wagon train seen through the eyes of young Jamie. Bronson was the wagon-master for the train.Bronson and Russell goes into town for supplies and meets a part of his past he'd like to both remember and forget at the same time. The part to remember is a lost love in the person of Susan Oliver. The part to forget is three hard case brothers named Macklin, one of whom has lost a right arm, courtesy of Bronson and who is now married to Oliver. I have to confess I was somewhat surprised at a flashback, scene where both Oliver and Bronson are in a state of semi undress by a creek. It's rather obvious even to juvenile viewers what's been going on and I can hardly believe it was allowed in a program aimed for kids.The episodes were edited together and released as a feature film to take advantage of the growing popularity of both Russell and Bronson. Still it betrays it's television origin, although from this film you wouldn't know that Russell and not Bronson who was the star of the show.

Nay-sayers there are many... but I feel this is one of Charlie Bronson's best western flicks (much better than that long, tired, over-rated "Once Upon a Time in the West"). Bronson plays a mentor to a young Kurt Russell. Taking the boy into town one day, Bronson comes face to face with a woman... and some dangerous men... from his past. Very sexy flashback sequence (how did that one ever get past the censors in 1964???)... as well as copious amounts of gunplay and fisticuffs! The final showdown scene is a classic... much more exciting than anything that hack Sergio Leone could ever come up with. This film was ripe for a sequel... because the wagon train that Bronson was a part of never did get to its final destination. I'd like to know if they ever made it!

This is actually a couple of episodes of the short-lived TV series "The Travels Of Jaimie McPheeters" edited together. Though the production values are decent, it never quite shakes the TV feel it has. It's not terrible at all - just rather ordinary, with not much excitement and a lot of chat. However, there is definite interest in seeing a young Kurt Russell, especially seeing him with Bronson. Bronson fans might get more enjoyment out of this, because he plays a different character than the usual hard-ass he played. He even has a love scene, which is surprisingly revealing for the period - hard to believe they got away with it on American TV in the early '60s!