Mackenna's Gold is based on the novel of the same name by Heck Allen using the pen name Will Henry, telling the story of how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people. The novel was loosely based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings, crediting the Frank Dobie account of the legend (Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver) in the author's note. The film was a box-office failure in North America, but went on to become a major success in the Soviet Union and the Indian subcontinent.
Plot
An old legend tells of a fortune in gold hidden in the "Cañon del Oro" ("Canyon of Gold"), later called the "Lost Adams", guarded by Apache spirits. A man named Adams is said to have found it when he was young, only to have the Apaches capture and blind him. Years later, Marshal MacKenna is ambushed by Prairie Dog, an old Apache shaman, and is forced to kill him. MacKenna thereby comes into possession of a map to the treasure. He examines it before burning it.
While being tracked by the US Cavalry, Mexican outlaw John Colorado and his gang look for Prairie Dog to get the map. They take shelter in the house of an old judge in Hadleyburg, kill him, and kidnap his daughter, Inga. Colorado captures MacKenna, intending to force him to lead them to the gold. The gang includes Colorado's right-hand man Sanchez and several Indians, among them Apache warrior Hachita and Apache woman Hesh-ke. Hesh-ke and MacKenna were once lovers, but she rejected him after he arrested her brother, who was tried and hanged.
Ben Baker, a gambler who knows Colorado, arrives with townsmen who have learned about Colorado's plans when one of the latter's men got drunk in town and said too much. Colorado is forced to allow them to join his party. The townsmen include the blind Adams himself. MacKenna warns them to return home, that they will get themselves killed searching for gold that does not exist, but Colorado reveals what happened to Prairie Dog, and they stay.
The cavalry, led by Sergeant Tibbs, ambushes the party at a water hole, and most of the gang is killed. The remaining gold hunters continue on their way, while MacKenna and Inga begin to fall in love. A jealous Hesh-Ke now wants MacKenna back.
When the cavalry patrol is whittled down to just Tibbs and two others, Tibbs kills them and joins the gang. After a shoot-out with the Apaches, they reach "Shaking Rock", a feature on the map. According to MacKenna, they will see the canyon the next morning. Mackenna says that he wants his guns and the girl and if there is no gold he still expects that Colorado will keep his word. Colorado reveals that he is not going to waste his share of the gold in bars and clubs but shows Mackenna a copy of the magazine La Vie Parisienne[a] and Mackenna realizes that Colorado's ambition is to live as a millionaire in Paris. He warns Inga to be alert for any opportunity to escape. When Inga protests that she too wants some gold, he tells her there is no gold, that he has been bluffing.
The next morning, when the first sunlight shines down, the shadow of the pinnacle of "Shaking Rock" starts to move and eventually points to a hidden passageway. On the other side, they see below them a vein of gold in the canyon wall opposite. As everyone races to it, Hesh-ke tries to kill Inga, who fights back, making Hesh-ke fall to her death. MacKenna, suspecting that Colorado does not intend to leave anybody else alive, tries to escape with Inga up the canyon wall. Tibbs is killed by Hachita. Colorado then pulls his gun on Hachita, only to find that it is unloaded. Hachita removed the bullets, as the spirits had told him to do, but turns his back on Colorado, who kills him with a knife.
Colorado pursues MacKenna and Inga, catching up to them at an abandoned Native American dwelling up the cliff. They fight, but are interrupted when Apaches enter the canyon. Their shouts and the pounding of their horses trigger a rockfall which causes the valley floor to buckle and quake. The Apaches flee. The three survivors descend the cliff and ride away, escaping the collapse of the canyon walls, which buries the gold beyond reach.
Colorado warns MacKenna to stay away from him, but MacKenna tells him that he will be coming after him. MacKenna and Inga ride off together, unaware that the saddle bags of the horse MacKenna is riding are stuffed with gold nuggets.
The film was based on a novel by Will Henry (pseud. of Heck Allen) which was published in 1963.[2] The novel was based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings. According to the legend, a teamster named Adams and some prospectors in Arizona were approached by a Mexican Native American named Gotch Ear, who offered to show them a canyon filled with gold. However, in the novel as well as the film, the gang abducts a Marshal named MacKenna to find a way to the Canyon.
The film also adapts elements from another work, Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver (1939) by J. Frank Dobie, a collection of tales about the fabulous treasures of the Southwest, based on the legend of the "Lost Adams Diggins".
Title
Although Allen's novel title and hero shared the same spelling of the name "Mackenna", and the film's title according to the studio is "Mackenna's Gold", Peck's character is listed in publicity materials as "MacKenna".
Development
Film rights were purchased by Highroad Productions, the company of writer-producer Carl Foreman, who had a deal with Columbia. It was Foreman's first Western since High Noon.[3]
"I feel we should all do a Western from time to time", said Foreman. "It's the gym, the workout for basic cinema. In a sense this one bears a relationship with High Noon; it's roughly about the same town 10 or 15 years later and... [the lead role is] Gary Cooper's successor. High Noon never left town. This one never comes in but the town impinges on the story."[4]
In April 1965, it was announced that composer Dimitri Tiomkin had joined the company as producer and his first project for the company would be Mackenna's Gold. Tiomkin would also do the music.[5] "It was practical appreciation of my efforts", said Tiomkin, who had known Foreman since they served together in the Signal Corps during the war.[6]
In October 1966, Foreman announced he wanted to make the film in the US, where he had not made a movie for almost fifteen years. He originally believed that he would have to make the movie in Spain where it could be done for below the line costs of $2.2 million, while a USA shoot would cost $3.2 million. However, on further research, Foreman felt a US shoot would cost only 10% more than a foreign one.[1] He was persuaded to make the movie in America to use the Grand Canyon.[7] (The budget would eventually rise to $7 million.)
In January 1967, it was announced the film would be shot in Cinerama. Columbia provided the finance and J. Lee Thompson would direct.[8] "I've always wanted to do an American Western", said Thompson. "We're taking a big new approach to this one, striving for an over-all presentation, rightly or wrongly, that will appear new – techniques that may now be acceptable when applied to the big screen."[1]
Thompson later called the film "sheer adventure in six-track stereo sound. Absolutely without any 'other dimension'."[9]
Casting
The first star signed was Omar Sharif, whose casting was announced in February 1967.[10] His fee was $400,000.[11] Sharif said in an Italian interview that he would make this movie for his son, who was more impressed by action films but disapproved of Sharif's string of romantic epics during this part of his career.
Thompson's first choice for the role of MacKenna was Clint Eastwood, who was looking to make an American Western film after his success with the Dollars trilogy. He disliked the script and turned down the movie to play the lead role in Hang 'Em High (1968).[12]Steve McQueen was also considered for the lead role.[13]
A script was sent to Richard Burton who called it "a standard western script... Christ, what a lot of rubbish one reads."[14]
Gregory Peck's casting was announced in March. He had worked with Thompson and Foreman on The Guns of Navarone.[15]Zero Mostel was going to play a role but had to pull out due to a scheduling clash with The Producers.[16]
Julie Newmar signed a long-term deal with Highroad Productions as part of her casting.[17]
Raymond Massey was the last major cast member to join the film.[18]
"This is contemporary without being tricky", said Foreman.[1]
Shooting
Filming started May 16, 1967 on location in Oregon.
The plan was to show it in single lens Cinerama with reserved seat roadshow engagements. Columbia eventually pulled the plug on that idea, and Mackenna's Gold was drastically cut down immediately prior to its release, from nearly three hours (plus an intermission) to just over two hours.[13]
Although most of Mackenna's Gold was photographed on 65mm stock, a handful of scenes were filmed in 35mm anamorphic.
Locations and props
Zuñi Mountains were the locations[19] of digging according to the legend, but the film was shot mainly at Glen Canyon of Utah and Canyon de Chelly[20] of Arizona, specifically Spider Rock. Parts of the film were also shot at Kanab Canyon, Paria, Sink Valley, and the Panguitch Fish Hatchery in Utah as well as Medford, Oregon.[21] In the climax scenes, as the sun rises, the shadow of "Shaking Rock"[22] grows longer. In reality, shadows become shorter as the sun rises higher.
Stock footage was used for the waterfall peril in the rafting scene. It is actually High Force on the River Tees in the northeast of England.[23]
Stills from the scene of Julie Newmar swimming naked in the film were reprinted in Playboy magazine.[24]
Film School Students: George Lucas
Foreman allowed four film school graduates – two from USC, two from UCLA – to come on location and make their own short film on or around the shooting of Mackenna's Gold. The filmmakers were Chuck Braverman, who did a documentary on Foreman; George Lucas, who made the short film 6-18-67; David MacDougal, who made a documentary on Thompson; and J. David Wyles, who made a film on the wranglers.[25][26][27] Lucas' movie was originally intended to be a making-of documentary.[28]
Lucas felt the films were a ruse by Foreman to get some "cheap, behind the scenes documentary films made" but did it for the chance to direct. His project was supervised by Saul Bass. He was appalled by what he felt was a waste of money on location. Foreman reportedly hated Lucas' short film but was forced to say he liked it in a PBS documentary being made about the project. The film went on to earn a number of awards.[29]
The original score and songs of the film were composed and conducted by Quincy Jones, and the soundtrack album was released on the RCA Victor label in 1969.[30] The opening song, "Old Turkey Buzzard", is a recurring background theme. It was sung by José Feliciano and was composed by Quincy Jones with lyrics by Freddie Douglas. 'Freddie Douglas' was a pseudonym for writer/producer Carl Foreman. José Feliciano also plays guitar and adds vocals in many parts of the soundtrack and Spanish version of the theme song "Viejo Butre" for the Spanish-language edition of the movie.
The theme song was used on the Late Show with David Letterman in 2007 as a random running gag. A 13-second clip would be played after Letterman threw his blue index cards through the "glass" window behind his desk, and was often combined with a video clip of the turkey buzzard soaring in the sky during the movie's opening sequence. Letterman would gradually show increased mock irritation with the clip in discussions with bandleader Paul Shaffer, while at the same time calling it "exciting, moving, inspirational" and "stirring, haunting, beautiful". The running gag ultimately resulted in Feliciano making a guest appearance on the Late Show on October 16, 2007, singing a longer version of the song (with the buzzard video clip superimposed over him).
Track listing
All compositions by Quincy Jones
Track listing
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Overture"
4:36
2.
"Old Turkey Buzzard"
2:46
3.
"Canon del Oro"
5:13
4.
"Waterhole Trek"
2:37
5.
"Reve Parisien"
2:40
6.
"Old Turkey Buzzard (Instrumental version)"
2:30
7.
"Soul Full o Gold"
2:40
8.
"Main Title"
3:00
9.
"Apache Camp"
4:36
10.
"Massacre Montage"
2:42
11.
"Old Turkey Buzzard (Spanish version)"
1:30
12.
"Finale"
2:47
Total length:
37:37
Personnel
Orchestrations by Leo Shuken, Jack Hayes, and Hal Mooney. Unidentified orchestra conducted by Quincy Jones including[31]
The film was not well received by critics and audiences in North America.[13]Mackenna's Gold was reviewed in The New York Times by Vincent Canby, who considered the film an example of "stunning absurdity". He noted: "The structure of the movie is so loose that a narrator (Victor Jory) must be employed from time to time to explain the plot, as if it were a serial. Most surprising in a movie that obviously cost a good deal of money is the sloppy matching of exterior and studio photography with miniature work for special effects."[33] Gregory Peck did not like the film, saying: "Mackenna's Gold was a terrible western. Just wretched."[34]
Box office
In the United States and Canada, the film earned $3.1 million in theatrical rentals.[35] This was equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately $10 million.[36] It was a box-office failure in North America. Despite this, the film went on to become a major success in the Soviet Union and the Indian subcontinent.[37] In France, it was the 31st top-grossing film of 1969, selling 1,288,609 tickets,[38] which is equivalent to an estimated 4,303,954 F ($876,254).[b]
The film was popular in the Soviet Union. Mackenna's Gold was first shown at the VIII Moscow International Film Festival in 1973, followed by a cinematic premiere in 1974. The film was viewed by 63 million people and stands fourth in the all-time rankings of foreign film distribution in the Soviet Union. The title song "Old Turkey Buzzard" was dubbed with Russian lyrics by Leonid Derbenyov, a Russian poet and lyricist widely regarded as one of the stalwarts of 20th-century Soviet and Russian pop music. It was performed by then-popular Soviet singer Valery Obodzinsky.[39] The film's 63 million ticket sales[40] were equivalent to an estimated $30 million.[41] Combined, the film grossed an estimated $40,876,254 in North America, France and the Soviet Union.
Mackenna's Gold was and remains a very successful film in India.[37] It remained the top Hollywood grosser in India, until blockbusters like Jurassic Park (1993) and Titanic (1997) came along. Even worldwide, hits such as Jaws (1975) and Star Wars (1977) would not make as much money in India as Mackenna's Gold did. The film went through countless re-runs until well into the 1980s and could be seen in cinema halls across India, including small venues in the medium-size towns of North and South India.[37]
Awards
Quincy Jones was nominated for a Grammy Award for best original score written for a motion picture or a television special.[42]
Julie Newmar is an American actress, dancer, and singer known for a variety of stage, screen, and television roles. She is also a writer, lingerie designer, and real estate mogul. She won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Katrin Sveg in the 1958 Broadway production of The Marriage-Go-Round, and reprised the role in the 1961 film version. In the 1960s she starred for two seasons as Catwoman in the television series Batman (1966–1967). Her other stage credits include Ziegfeld Follies in 1956, Lola in Damn Yankees! in 1961 and, in 1965, as Irma in regional productions of Irma la Douce.
Force 10 from Navarone is a 1978 British war film loosely based on Alistair MacLean's 1968 novel of the same name. It is a sequel to the 1961 film The Guns of Navarone. The parts of Mallory and Miller are played by Robert Shaw, and Edward Fox, succeeding in the roles originally portrayed by Gregory Peck and David Niven. It was directed by Guy Hamilton and also stars Harrison Ford, Carl Weathers, Barbara Bach, Franco Nero, and Richard Kiel.
John Lee Thompson was an English film director, screenwriter and producer. Initially an exponent of social realism, he became known as a versatile and prolific director of thrillers, action, and adventure films.
In the Heat of the Night is a 1967 American mystery drama film directed by Norman Jewison, produced by Walter Mirisch, and starring Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. It tells the story of Virgil Tibbs (Poitier), a Black police detective from Philadelphia, who becomes embroiled in a murder investigation in a small town in Mississippi. The film was adapted by Stirling Silliphant from John Ball's 1965 novel of the same name.
Richard Egan was an American actor. After beginning his career in 1949, he subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for his performances in the films The Glory Brigade (1953) and The Kid from Left Field (1953). He went on to star in many films such as Underwater! (1955), Seven Cities of Gold (1955), The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956), Love Me Tender (1956), Tension at Table Rock (1956), A Summer Place (1959), Esther and the King (1960) and The 300 Spartans (1962).
They Call Me Mister Tibbs! is a 1970 American DeLuxe Color crime drama film directed by Gordon Douglas. The second installment in a trilogy, the release was preceded by In the Heat of the Night (1967) and followed by The Organization (1971). The film's title was taken from a line in the first film.
Serpent of the Nile is a 1953 American Technicolor historical adventure film produced by Sam Katzman and directed by William Castle. The film starred Rhonda Fleming, Raymond Burr, William Lundigan and Michael Ansara. In an early role, actress Julie Newmar appears as an exotic dancer clad only in gold paint. It also stars William Lundigan as Lucilius and Michael Fox as Octavius.
Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the award-winning films The Bridge on the River Kwai and High Noon, among others. He was one of the screenwriters who were blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s because of their suspected communist sympathy or membership in the Communist Party.
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The Guns of Navarone is a 1961 action adventure war film directed by J. Lee Thompson from a screenplay by Carl Foreman, based on Alistair MacLean's 1957 novel of the same name. Foreman also produced the film. The film stars Gregory Peck, David Niven and Anthony Quinn, along with Stanley Baker, Anthony Quayle, Irene Papas, Gia Scala, Richard Harris and James Darren. The book and the film share a plot: the efforts of an Allied commando unit to destroy a seemingly impregnable German fortress that threatens Allied naval ships in the Aegean Sea.
What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? is a 1969 American neo-noir thriller film directed by Lee H. Katzin with Bernard Girard (uncredited), and starring Geraldine Page, Ruth Gordon, Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller and Mildred Dunnock. The screenplay by Theodore Apstein, based on the novel The Forbidden Garden by Ursula Curtiss, focuses on an aging Arizona widow who hires elderly female housekeepers and cons them out of their money before murdering them.
Henry Wilson "Heck" Allen was an American author and screenwriter. He used several different pseudonyms for his works. His 50+ novels of the American West were published under the pen names Will Henry and Clay Fisher. Allen's screenplays and scripts for animated shorts were credited to Heck Allen and Henry Allen.
The Lost Adams Diggings are the subject of a Southwestern treasure story, dating to the early 1860s, that refers to the existence of a canyon rich in gold deposits somewhere in western New Mexico.
Casey Duane Tibbs was an American professional rodeo cowboy, and actor.
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References
Notes
1 2 3 4 Champlin, Charles (October 10, 1966). "Foreman Hopes to Reverse Runaway". Los Angeles Times. p.C23.
↑ "Good Guys and Bad Guys Oehler, C M.". Chicago Tribune. March 31, 1963. p.i8.
↑ Blume, Mary (June 16, 1968). "Blacklist Spins 'Gold' for Carl Foreman". Los Angeles Times. p.c16.
↑ Scheuer, Philip K. (July 23, 1967). "It's Back to the Old West for Basics in Movie Action: Old West---Film's Home ground". Los Angeles Times. p.c1.
↑ Martin, Betty (April 26, 1965). "CALL SHEET: 'Runaway' Actor Man in a Hurry". Los Angeles Times. p.d11.
↑ Champlin, Charles (February 19, 1967). "Tiomkin: Tovarich of Cinema". Los Angeles Times. p.12.
↑ Palmer, Raymond (February 1, 1967). "Producer Carl Foreman to Return to Hollywood". Los Angeles Times. p.e9.
↑ Martin, Betty (January 30, 1967). "'Gold' Will Be in Cinerama". Los Angeles Times. p.d21.
↑ Thomas, Kevin (February 6, 1969). "'Chairman' Shot in Crossfire". Los Angeles Times. p.h13.
↑ Martin, Betty (February 13, 1967). "Coppola to Direct 'Rainbow'". Los Angeles Times. p.c23.
↑ Haber, Joyce (March 31, 1969). "Lemmon to Direct Filming of 'Kotch'". Los Angeles Times. p.g23.
↑ Schickel, Richard (1996). Clint Eastwood: A Biography. Knopf. p.185.
↑ "Cinema Going". The Asian Messenger. 1–4. Center for Communication Studies, Chinese University of Hong Kong: 2. 1975. Archived from the original on January 18, 2023. Retrieved July 16, 2020. In Russia, where a movie ticket costs about 47 US cents, there are 154,200 cinemas
Baxter, John. Mythmaker: The Life and Work of George Lucas. New York: William Morrow, 1999. ISBN0-380-97833-4.
Calic, Marie-Janine, Dietmar Neutatz and Julia Obertreis. The Crisis of Socialist Modernity: The Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the 1970s. Göttingen, Germany: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011. ISBN978-3-5253-1042-7.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (DVD). Paramount Pictures Home Video. 2008.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (DVD). So Paramount Pictures Home Video. 2008.
Kline, Sally. George Lucas: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers Series). Jackson, Mississippi: University of Mississippi Press, 1999. ISBN1-57806-125-3.
Mackenna's Gold (DVD). Sony Pictures Home Video. 2000.
Raiders of the Lost Ark (VHS). Paramount Pictures Home Video. 1999.
Salewicz, Chris. George Lucas: Close Up – The Making of His Movies. New York: Da Capo Press 1999. ISBN1-56025-202-2.
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