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John Wayne worked pretty much right up until the end of his life, and even in that last decade there are gems to be found. Chisum stars Wayne as the title character, John Chisum, a New Mexico cattle baron who ends up in a battle with a greedy tycoon named Lawrence Murphy (Forrest Tucker). As Murphy buys up all the local business in town and raises the rates on everything to milk the town dry, Chisum finds aid in the characters of Pat Garrett (Glenn Corbett) and Billy the Kid (Geoffrey Deuel). After much cattle thievin’, murder, and arson, Chisum ends in a climactic showdown with all the involved parties. It’s all based on a true story known as the ‘Lincoln County War.’

It may sound like a serious affair, but Chisum doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, it’s an odd mix of a 50’s technicolor musical and a made-for-TV movie from the 70s or 80s — grand and epic at times, cheap and trendy at others. Wayne’s a bit tired, but still commands the screen. I loved his relationship with Ben Johnson, who plays his grumbly right-hand man. But it’s Deuel as Billy the Kid who threatens to steal the show from everyone. He’s much more than a subplot or supporting player here, showing charisma to match Wayne’s own. It’s curious to me that he never went on to have much of a film career, though he did make decades worth of television. The cast are buoyed by pretty photography, sets built from scratch, a big score from Dominic Frontiere, and all the production value hundreds of horses and cattle can bring.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid as depicted in ‘Chisum’.