Mackenna’s Gold is beyond reach. Mackenna’s Gold goes beyond adventure. This tagline for J. Lee Thompson’s classical western Mackenna’s Gold (1969) fits neatly in its alternative tagline: A Giant of a Movie.
Gregory Peck plays the protagonist, Marshal Sam MacKenna, who sees the Apache map of a canyon containing a gold vein but the legend goes that it is guarded by Apache spirits. Enter Mexican outlaw John Colorado (Omar Sharif) along with his gang in pursuit of gold. Their guide to the spot – MacKenna, whom they hold hostage along with an abducted young woman Inga (Camilla Sparv). The journey is perilous and the result a possible disaster, MacKenna warns them all. But will they listen?
The story by Heck Allen and Carl Foreman has packed a lot in there, making it a giant of a movie – action, adventure, romance, drama, and a mythological narrative that adds a certain spiritual touch. The cinematography is eye-catching with mountains, deserts, and valleys captured as a continuum of nature’s character in the story that runs over two hours on the screen.
Mackenna’s Gold also brings some odd choices in casting and characterization. Omar Sharif playing a Mexican and Julie Newmar playing an Apache woman (Hesh-Ke) feels a bit out of place despite their acting prowess. Hesh-Ke also doesn’t speak in the movie for some unexplained reason. While the narrator’s voiceover gives the story an inviting opening with the traditional tale of a vulture waiting for the traveler, its use in the movie later sounds rather imposing with telling bits of it rather than showing. The ending is interesting and makes it a classical western with both leading men keeping their conflict in bounds of the values deemed ideal for real men of the time.
One interesting observation about the movie is the level of nudity in the swimming sequence – not vulgar by today’s standards or even those of the late 60s – but kind of unusual for a Peck-starrer and including Peck in the same frame as the nude character. The sequence along with mild level of violence earned the movie an M rating (mature audiences).
For Gregory Peck fans and lovers of classical westerns, Mackenna’s Gold is good entertainment from the good old days of Hollywood.
