Wednesday, August 03, 2022

Movie review - "Journey to Shiloh" (1968) ** (warning: spoilers)

 A Western seemingly made with the main goal of showing off Universal's contract roster.  The cast is headed by James Caan, relaxed and confident but in an absurdly distracting wig. He plays the leader of seven cowboys who are riding from Texas to join the Confederate Army.

The seven are made up of Caan, Don Stroud, Harrison Ford, Jan Michael Vincent, Don Stroud, Paul Petersen and Michael Burns - that's not a bad hit rate from the Universal casting director. Ford gets a close up at the beginning but then I forgot him. Vincent overacts his death scene.

It's shot in that cheap ugly Universal style - clearly on the backlot. There's quite a decent little romance between Caan and Tisha Sterling. Caan gets to kick a little arse but is always undermined by his wig.

The film gets points for killing off six of the seven. You do feel Caan has been through the wars.  Some bits seem flat out dumb like the soldiers realising the South supports slavery.

The novelty of the cast is the only real reason to watch this

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