Cahill US Marshal *** (1973, John Wayne, George Kennedy, Gary Grimes, Neville Brand, Clay O’Brien, Marie Windsor) – Classic Movie Review 4254

Gary Grimes’s mere six film credits include the 1973 American Technicolor Western film Cahill US Marshal, where he stars as Danny Cahill alongside John Wayne’s Marshal J D Cahill.

American retired actor Gary Grimes’s mere six film credits include the 1973 American Technicolor Western film Cahill US Marshal, where he stars as Danny Cahill alongside John Wayne as his father, Marshal J D Cahill.

Though a bit creaky at the joints, John Wayne at 66 still has enough energy and charisma to head an amiable potboiler Western about a United States lawman who is understandably enraged when he discovers that his teenage sons Danny and Billy Joe (Grimes and Clay O’Brien) are involved in the bank robbery he is inquiring into. It hardly helps credibility that Wayne also looks old enough to be playing the boys’ grandfather. But no matter.

Cahill US Marshal starts strongly, then dips into a maudlin morass and some plot absurdities, but George Kennedy (as Fraser), Gary Grimes and Marie Windsor (as Mrs Hetty Green) are reliable assets, and there is added lustre from all the good old Western hands among the supporting cast.

The cast also includes Neville Brand, Denver Pyle, Royal Dano, Jackie Coogan, Harry Carey Jr, Paul Fix and Hank Worden.

It is also known as Cahill: United States Marshal.

The film is made by John Wayne’s production company Batjac Productions and released by Warner Bros.

Wayne recalled that the film had ‘a good theme but wasn’t a well-done picture because it needed better writing and a little more care in the making.’

It is shot on location in Durango, Mexico.

Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor (1919–2000).

George Kennedy

George Kennedy died on February 28 2016, aged 91.

Gary Grimes

Gary Grimes (born June 2, 1955) largely retired from show business in the late 1970s, working for a charitable organisation. He said the acting ‘work wasn’t up to the quality that I wanted’.

Grimes’s first major role was in the 1971 film Summer of ’42, Grimes then starred in The Culpepper Cattle Co and the sequel film Class of ’44 (1973). His other films include Cahill US Marshal (1973), The Spikes Gang (1974) and the Disney film Gus (1976).

The cast

The cast are John Wayne as US Marshal J D Cahill, George Kennedy as Fraser, Gary Grimes as Daniel Cahill, Neville Brand as Lightfoot, Clay O’Brien as Billy Joe Cahill, Marie Windsor as Mrs Hetty Green, Morgan Paull as Struther, Dan Vadis as Brownie, Royal Dano as MacDonald, Scott Walker as Ben, Denver Pyle as Denver, Jackie Coogan as Charlie Smith, Rayford Barnes as Simser, Dan Kemp as Joe Meehan, Harry Carey Jr as Hank, Walter Barnes as Sheriff Grady, Paul Fix as Old Man, Pepper Martin as Casey, Hank Worden as Albert, James Nusser as Doctor Jones, Murray MacLeod as Deputy Sheriff Gordine, and Hunter von Leer as Deputy Sheriff Jim Kane.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4,254

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert