Will Tenneray and Abe Cross are two aging, famous gunfighters, both in need of money. Tenneray comes up with the idea to stage a duel to the death in a bullfight arena, with the ticket proceeds going to the winner.
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Reviews
CinemaSerf
6
By CinemaSerf
Hmmm, I’m not sure this is really anyone’s finest hour nor does it really pay much of an homage to it’s genre as we see two ageing shootists struggling to make ends meet. “Cross” (Johnny Cash) fancied his chances pan-handling but all he got was backache; “Tenneray” (Kirk Douglas) satisfies his days trading on his reputation whilst poncing drinks from the gullible and the easy impressed. With two such famous gunpokes in town, the locals are expecting a bit of fireworks, but what they actually get are a couple who come up with a somewhat less murderous and more theatrical solution to their cash flow problems. They are going to have a shoot-out, ok, but it’s not at any coral - it’ll be in an arena and they’ll be selling tickets! As the big day approaches, the pair start to find that not only are they helping each other to stay one step ahead of some visiting opportunist gunmen, but they are actually becoming quite fond of each other. Believe it or not, they now don’t really want to drop the other when the time comes - but what to do now they’ve sold out? There is a sense of mischief throughout, but for me that misses more often than it hits and Cash is about as wooden as the Gibson he uses to accompany his theme song. There were loads of much better “buddy” westerns, not least the “War Wagon” (1967) that Douglas did with John Wayne and that shows this up as a rather drab, low-budget, comedic affair that I struggled to stay engaged with. There are a few familiar faces in support to bulk it out a bit and a few of the scenes show the glint in both of their eyes, but nowhere near often or consistently enough to make this worth recommending.
