Product Details

• Actors: Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Camilla Sparv, Keenan Wynn
• Directors: J. Lee Thompson
• Writers: Carl Foreman, Heck Allen
• Producers: Carl Foreman, Dimitri Tiomkin
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: August 6, 1996
• Run Time: 128 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303257275
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #226,369 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Attempting to do for Westerns what his Guns of Navarone had done for World War II action epics, director J. Lee Thompson crafted Mackenna's Gold as a lavish, absurdly ambitious variation on Erich Von Stroheim's Greed, resulting in a last-gasp Western so eager to encompass the genre's traditions that it turns into a big, silly, wildly entertaining mess. Gregory Peck surely had more serious intentions when he signed on, and he brings prestigious gravitas to his glum role as Marshall Mackenna, who gets shanghaied into searching for the gold-filled canyon of an elusive Apache legend. The rest of the 1969 film labors to undermine Peck's respectable demeanor; how else to explain Omar Sharif as a Mexican villain, Julie Newmar as a hot-blooded Apache temptress (with underwater nude scenes that were celebrated in Playboy magazine), and a jaw-dropping finale that's so ridiculous it's impressive in spite of itself?

Formerly blacklisted screenwriter Carl Foreman and composer Dimitri Tiomkin joined up to coproduce the film, and one can only imagine how Anthony Mann or Howard Hawks might've handled Foreman's sensible script. Thompson goes for scenic splendor, heavy action, and heavier emotions, casting everything at a fever pitch that's wildly enjoyable without betraying his "serious" intentions. A stable of Hollywood veterans (Eli Wallach, Raymond Massey, Edward G. Robinson, and others) appear in lively supporting roles--they're all dispatched in a garish Apache ambush--and Camilla Sparv is an ingénue with plenty of fighting attitude. Gold fever reaches its peak, along with some awesome special effects, and divine intervention reaches new heights of intensity. Top it off with José Feliciano's theme song, and you'll be in zany Western heaven. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tribute to my childhood., July 17, 2000

By 

Alexander Suraev - See all my reviews

This review is from: MacKenna's Gold (DVD)

I am not going to categorize and compare this western in the more
appropriate context because it's very special for any Russian male in
my generation (I am 33).

The only Westerns we were allowed to see
were produced by East German studio DEFA with only one star - the
Yugoslav hunk Goiko Mititch. And mostly only one plot - the greedy
prospectors come to take the Indian land and the feathered patriots
put on the warpaint, flex their muscles - they all were very athletic,
unlike the whites who were depicted as the degenerates in every sense
- and gallop to sweep the terrain clean of that capitalist scum.

But
we were grateful even for that substitute, tired of seeing the other
Red Against White flicks - the films about the Russian Civil War
heroes killing the White Guards by hundreds for the sake of Mother
Russia's communist future.

And then "Zoloto Makkeni" was
imported. Why? The message was clear - "Look at these gold-crazed
American bastards! Preachers, journalists, merchants,
bandidos,soldiers, adventurers - all of them are ready to sell their
Momma's for a speck of golden dust! And this time they testify
themselves, not our East German friends." -

But who cared about
all that? The authentic American Western! With the real Indians
instead of East German Olympic Team painted in gouache! The film's
mildly idiotic background commentaries did not make us flinch - they
fit into the didactic tradition we were used to.

And the opening
song! It was translated in Russian and sung in the film by the
Russia's much-adored sweet-voiced drunk Valeri Obodzinskij. In the
restaurants, at a campfires, in a streets the young males were singing
- Vnov, vnov zoloto manit nas! - The gold lures us again and again! -

I was 8-9 year old at that time. Seen the film weekly. The boys in
the playground asked in a whisper: - Do they show something there?
You know...- And I told them: - Oh yeah! The Indian girl...--
They really do! Wow!- Well, speaking about childhood traumas...Once I
took my mother along and seeing the bathing scene she suspected what
was coming and obscured my view with her hand....But seriously, the
remastering crew did a superb job. The sights, the sounds - perfect!
These were the times they were still happy to shoot in mostly natural-
maybe slightly enhanced - colors, without these annoying tints and
shades of today, when they seem to dip the freshly shot rolls of films
in a can of blue paint.

I do not know how I would see the film today
without that cinematic abstinence/communist background. Who can tell?

But I am so fond of it that even being between the jobs - a period
where every dollar counts - I HAD to buy the disc. And I do not
regret..

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars No Widescreen?, February 6, 2006

By 

Roy Kristiansen (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: MacKenna's Gold (DVD)

In the past I've seen this movie only in 1.33:1 pan and scan. From its opening titles, I knew it was a Super Panavision film, which means to me it was released in 70mm widescreen. The case clearly states that Side A is 2.35:1 and that Side B is 1.33:1 pan and scan, and I bought it hoping finally to see it in all its glory. I've always had a "thing" for the Arizona and southern Utah canyon lands.

Except for the opening credits and end titles, there is no widescreen version on this disc. In fact, contrary to the advertising it's a one-sided disc. I consider this product misrepresentation and a big disappointment. With virtually the entire film presented in close-ups, every flawed and cheesy process shot appears as if under a microscope. You can see every bad matte painting, every poorly blended green screen (or did they use a blue screen?), every transition from full-sized live to miniature. Worst of all, most of the great southwestern scenery is somewhere offscreen beyond the edges of my television.

I'd still really like to see this film in widescreen. Any hope?

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Another Sony Reissue Scam, March 14, 2009

By 

dougt55 "Movienut" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: MacKenna's Gold (DVD)

Three stars for the film, NO stars for Sony.
Columbia Pictures released many of its classic films on DVD in double-sided, widescreen & pan-and-scan format. However, after Sony bought out the Columbia film library, it then proceeded to reissue them in SINGLE-SIDE, PAN and SCAN ONLY format WITHOUT CHANGING THE UPC CODE OR FRONT COVER ARTWORK. Mackenna's Gold is only one example of this.

So because online DVD sellers cannot separate the two versions by UPC code (and some list the wrong aspect ratio or none at all), people who buy these titles for the widescreen content are cheated. The only way to tell the difference is looking at the back cover AFTER receiving the DVD (and sometimes that's wrong too) or by playing it. This is deceptive practice at its worst.

If you're a widescreen fan, beware of any Columbia title released by Sony.