The Rare Breed (1966)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Andrew V. McLaglen

Writer:

Ric Hardman (written by)

Release Date:

25 February 1966 (West Germany)

Genre:

Action | Drama | Romance | Western

Plot:

When her husband dies en route to America, Martha Price and her daughter Hilary are left to carry out...

Plot Keywords:

Bull | Cattle | Texas | Shot In The Back | Tea

Cast

James Stewart	...	Sam Burnett
Maureen O'Hara	...	Martha Price
Brian Keith	...	Alexander Bowen
Juliet Mills	...	Hilary Price
Don Galloway	...	Jamie Bowen
David Brian	...	Charles Ellsworth
Jack Elam	...	Deke Simons
Ben Johnson	...	Jeff Harter
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Ed Mabry
Perry Lopez	...	Juan
Larry Domasin	...	Alberto
Silvia Marino	...	Conchita
Alan Caillou	...	John Taylor
Gregg Palmer	...	Rodenbush
Barbara Werle	...	Gert

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Iceland:12 | USA:Approved (Certificate #21023) | USA:Not Rated (DVD) | Australia:PG | Finland:K-8 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

Maureen O'Hara adored Jimmy Stewart, but Jimmy was not "perfect." She said "Jimmy - bless his heart - pulled another ... well, Jimmy. Jimmy was never one to happily share a scene. One day on the shoot, Maureen poured everything she had into the scene they were doing and knew, Maureen had stolen it from Jimmy. We broke, and between takes, Jimmy went to his dressing room while my new makeup man, Whitey Snyder, within a few minutes, the assistant director came to the set and announced that they were wrapping for the day. Mr. Stewart had suddenly come down with a mysterious illness and was unable to return to the set.They showed up for work the next day to finish shooting the scene, new pages of script were handed out. The scene had been completely rewritten overnight and was now impossible for Maureen to steal" Maureen was more amused then mad; there was no friction or anything.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Martha Evans: What on earth are they doing?
Charles Ellsworth: It's called bulldogging, ma'am. That's Bulldog Burnett. He works for my outfit.
Hilary Price: Well, it's a perfectly silly way to handle cattle if you ask me.

Lumpy western is pure bull...

Curious western handled in cartoony fashion: it's all fired-up, though it ultimately misfires. Fiesty Brit Maureen O'Hara and daughter Juliet Mills bring a royal bull for breeding to Old West America, where both ladies wind up with suitors. Capable cast holds interest but, despite some pleasurable moments, Andrew V. McLaglen's perplexing direction is way over-the-top. The screenplay by Ric Hardman keeps all the characters spouting off and hopping mad, turning the movie into a western parody (culminating in a laughable blizzard sequence which McLaglen stages on a set--with the results looking far worse than the typical blue-screen effect). O'Hara juggles the affections of both James Stewart (completely rote) and Brian Keith (hamming with abandon as a wild-eyed Scotsman). She was better off with the bull. ** from ****