GOLD OF THE SEVEN SAINTS

US, 1961, 89 minutes, Black and white.
Clint Walker, Roger Moore, Leticia Roman, Robert Middleton, Chill Wills, Gene Evans.
Directed by Gordon Douglas.

Gold of the Seven Saints was probably an oddity when it was made and first released. It seems an oddity in retrospect.

The film is a buddies western with echoes of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. It was originally planned as a Howard Hawks film after Rio Bravo. His regular screenwriter of the time, Leigh Brackett, was a co-author of the screenplay. She had worked on Rio Bravo, was to work on Hawks' next film Hatari and was writing continuously until her death while working on The Empire Strikes Back.

On paper, the film has the camaraderie of the Hawks- Brackett films. However, Gordon Douglas gives the film his regular action style - and the film is enjoyable on that level. Clint Walker was popular from television and is an earnest if stolid hero. Roger Moore in his young days is the talkative and likable Irishman. There is a solid supporting cast led by Chill Wills although it is not a great cast. For some reason, the film, while made in Cinemascope, was photographed in black and white even though it has excellent Utah settings. On the whole, the film portrays buddies and their friendship, their being pursued by greedy westerners after the fold and betrayed by Mexican friends. Chill Wills is an amiable drinking doctor. There is romance and robust action and comedy. However, on the whole, the film seems fairly anti-climactic.