Macho Callahan ** (1970, David Janssen, Jean Seberg, Lee J Cobb, James Booth, Pedro Armendariz Jr, David Carradine, Diane Ladd) – Classic Movie Review 12,562

Jean Seberg (November 13, 1938 – August 30, 1979).

The 1970 Mexican-American Western film Macho Callahan stars David Janssen and Jean Seberg: ‘A fugitive exploding from prison! Hunted by killers! Led by the woman who wanted him… beaten, broken, or dead!’

‘David Janssen – A fugitive exploding from prison! Hunted by killers! Led by the woman who wanted him… beaten, broken, or dead!’

The 1970 Mexican-American Western film Macho Callahan stars David Janssen, Jean Seberg, Lee J Cobb, James Booth, Pedro Armendariz Jr, David Carradine, along with Bo Hopkins, Anne Revere, Diane Ladd, and Richard Anderson.

Remember The Fugitive, where David Janssen was a hunted fugitive trying to find the man responsible for putting him in jail? Well, here is Janssen as hunted fugitive in the US Civil War trying to find the man responsible for putting him in jail.

David Janssen stars as Diego Callahan, a Union soldier jailed in a Confederate prison camp in the American Civil War, but escapes and is pursued by a gang of bounty hunters.

The good cast hold together an intriguing, unconventional violent revenge Western. A lavish production shot in Mexico with fine photography, an appropriately thumping score and Sergio Leone-style direction by Bernard L Kowalski.

David Janssen (born David Harold Meyer) (March 27, 1931 – February 13, 1980).

Jean Seberg wrote to her parents in November 1969: ‘I’ve been offered a good part for good money in a Western, to be shot entirely in Mexico, playing opposite David Janssen who, if I’m not mistaken, is one of Mom’s favourites.’ Seberg spoke Spanish fluently and acted as interpreter between the Mexican crew and the American cast. She enjoyed working with Janssen, saying he ‘had proved very amusing company’. She also said he was ‘just so wonderful.’ But while filming in Durango, Mexico, Seberg fell in love with Carlos Navarra, a ‘revolutionary’ who became the father of her daughter Nina.

Seberg was being spied on by the FBI during the making of this movie. J Edgar Hoover had said that Seberg ‘should be neutralised’ in retaliation for her support of the Black Panther Party.

Seberg died on August 30, 1979 at the age of 40 in Paris, the French police ruling her death a probable suicide. Her second ex-husband Romain Gary blamed the FBI’s campaign against Seberg for her mental demise.

Diane Ladd recalled that Seberg and Janssen became very close during production: ‘I don’t know how deep the friendship went, but they were wonderful people to work with. I loved working with her. Everybody did.’ Six years earlier, Ladd worked with David Janssen on the 1964 The Fugitive TV episode Come Watch Me Die.

Kowalski worked on Janssen’s first TV series, Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1957–1960), 13 years earlier.

Macho Callahan is directed by Bernard L Kowalski, runs 99 minutes, is made by Felicidad Productions, is released by Embassy Pictures, is written by Clifford Newton Gould [Cliff Gould], based on a story by Richard Carr, is shot in widescreen by Gerry Fisher, is produced by Bernard L Kowalski and Martin C Schute, and is scored by Patrick Williams.

It was released on August 17, 1970.

The cast are David Janssen as Diego Callahan, Jean Seberg as Alexandra Mountford, Lee J Cobb as Duffy, James Booth as Harry Wheeler, Pedro Armendáriz Jr as Juan, David Carradine as David Mountford, Bo Hopkins as Yancy, Anne Revere as Crystal, Richard Anderson as Officer, Diane Ladd as Girl, Matt Clark as The Jailer, Richard Evans as Mulvey, Cyril Delevanti as Old Man, William Bryan (as Bill Bryant) as Dealer, Robert Morgan (as Bob Morgan) as McIntyre, Bucklind Berry as Young Man, Steve Raines as The Bartender, Ivan Scott as Sheriff, David Carlile as Horseshoe Player, Bill Catching as Gruber, Michael Masters (as Mike Masters) as Guard, Jim Gurley as Player #1, Larry Finley as Player #2, Marco Antonio Arzate as Indian, Wallace Brooks as Dog Handler, John McKee as Farmer, Hugo Stiglitz as Man #1, James Gammon (as Jim Gammon) as 1st Cowboy, and Gene Shane as 2nd Cowboy.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,562

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