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The Sons of Katie Elder

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The setting of this western is the town of Clearwater, TX (near Laredo), probably in the 1870's. The four sons of Katie Elder, who had not seen each other, or her, in years, come to her funeral. The eldest brother, John Elder (John Wayne), watches the funeral from a distance.

Why are some of the townspeople anxious for John Elder, a gunslinger, to leave the town as soon as possible after the funeral? The brothers do not get straight answers as to how it was that their mother had recently lost her property, and begin to smell a rat. They also learn that their father had been murdered, but no one will say who was responsible.

A woman who was a close friend of Katie Elder describes Mrs. Elder as a devout woman of character, and how disappointed she was in her four sons. At least some of Katie Elder's sons mailed her letters and money, but had otherwise gone down the wrong paths in life. Mrs. Elder at least wanted one of them to go to college, but he balked. The woman did not want to discuss the murder of Mr. Elder because Katie Elder didn't want vengeance and further violence.

Three of the brothers wanted to fulfill their mother's wishes that the remaining one go to college, but he continues to balk. John Elder keeps the pressure on.

Sibling rivalry exists even in adulthood. At one time, all four brothers are involved in a brawl. At another time, they drag each other into a body of water.

The conspiracy of silence about Mrs. Elder's property and her murdered husband begins to unravel despite the current owners' persistent efforts to have it stifled. In time, the current owners of Mrs. Elder's property frame the four sons for murder. The local law enforcement officials seem ready to believe the charge with no evidence, and a lynch mob surrounds the prison. There is a massive shootout, and three of the four brothers are wounded. Will any of these three survive? Will they be able to clear the Elder name of the murder charge?

In the 1960s, John Wayne went through his first fight with cancer and won, and coming back to the big screen the Duke didn't disappoint with The Sons of Katie Elder his first movie back. Following their mother's death, the four Elder boys, John, the gunslinger, Tom, the gambler, Matt, the businessman, and Bud, the youngest, return home to Clearwater, Texas for her funeral. In hopes of setting things right, the Elders try to leave a memorial for their mother by clearing their name, but right away things go awry. Their father Bass was killed under suspicious circumstances and lost the family ranch in a card game so can the Elders figure out what happened all while leaving something to make their deceased mother proud? When it comes to John Wayne westerns, this one is a notch above the others. It's a good old-fashioned western with the good guys vs. the bad guys. There's some great locations in Durango, including the Mexican village from Major Dundee, and Elmer Bernstein turns in a lively western score that you'll be humming for days afterward. John Wayne fans and western fans alike will not be disappointed with this one.

Playing the oldest of the Elder brothers, John Wayne stars as John Elder, the gunslinger who sees his brothers for the first time in years at his mother's funeral. It's John who leads the effort to make a name for the family in honor of their much-beloved mother. Dean Martin plays Tom, the second oldest brother who's quick with cards and a gun. Wayne and Martin are great here together, just like in Rio Bravo. Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson JR are the other two brothers, Matt and Bud, who doesn't want to go back to college even at his brothers' encouragement. The chemistry among the four brothers is very believable and makes the movie more fun to watch because of their interactions. Paul Fix and Jermey Slate are very good as Sheriff Billy Wilson, the experienced and somewhat world weary peace officer, and Ben Latta, his trigger happy deputy. James Gregory is solid as slimy Morgan Hastings, a local rancher/businessman trying to make something of Clearwater. Martha Hyer is good as Mary Gordon, a woman who was a close friend of Katie. The more than solid supporting cast also includes George Kennedy as Curley, a gunslinger hired by Hastings, Dennis Hopper, John Doucette, John Qualen, and Strother Martin.

The DVD is a really good purchase with the widescreen presentation included here. You'd never know the movie is over 45 years old. The only special feature here is a theatrical trailer. The Sons of Katie Elder is an above average Duke western with a good blend of action, humor, and drama. Don't miss it!

This is a vastly underrated western that deserves greater exposure. Its a wonderful morality play about a good woman's sons gone bad and the last chance they have to redeem themselves. John Wayne and Dean Martin are superb and the rousing musical score by Elmer Bernstien is itself worth the price of the video.

The film was roughly based on the 1888 true story of the five Marlow brothers (George H., Boone, Alfred, Lewellyn and Charles) of Graham, Texas, in Young County, and Marlow, Oklahoma.

The city of Marlow, Oklahoma is named after the Marlow family, including their parents, Dr. Wilburn Williamson Marlow, Sr., and Martha Jane (nee Keaton) Marlow. Dr. Marlow was the town's first physician and a very prominent citizen of Marlow. Marlow had previously been a Chisholm Trail rest spot near Wild Horse Creek.[1][2][3] There the Marlows built a dugout home that was called "Marlow Camp" in 1880. Ten years later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad would come through and build a station on the location, naming it Marlow.[4]

In addition to the five brothers, Dr. Wilburn and Martha Marlow had four additional children, Wilburn Williamson "Willie" Marlow, Jr. (died in Leadville, Colorado, in 1879, where he had been taken to convalesce after contracting malaria in Mexico [5]), Charlotte Murphy, Elizabeth "Eliza" Gilmore, and Nancy Jane "Nannie" Murphy.[6] Dr. Marlow died April 12, 1885.[7][8]

Three of the brothers (Boone, Alfred, and Lewellyn) would end up being killed, although in the film, the brother that had done the real killings (basis for the Dean Martin role) was not with the other four when they were first arrested.[1][2][3]

Boone had earlier killed James Holstein (or Holdson or Holston) in 1882, a man allegedly hired to "intimidate settlers", after an inebriation Holdson began shooting at him on the Gilmore farm near Vernon, Texas, just across the Red River in Indian Territory (his sister Elizabeth had married into the Gilmore family and the couple had set up a place there).[9][10] This killing seemed to be justified in self-defense, but would be brought up later by John and William Murphy, deputy marshal Edward W. "Ed" Johnson and Sam Criswell who were having a personal feud with Boone, and would be a witness against the bothers.[11]

Boone, Alfred (aka Alf), Lewellyn (aka Epp, Ep, Ellie) and Charles (aka Charles) were arrested near the Anadarko Agency headquarters (what would become Anadarko, Oklahoma), for stealing 19 horses in the area around Fort Sill. George went to the homestead in Marlow and took the women by wagon to Graham where he was then also arrested. Martha Jane bailed out all them and they went to their place in Young County.[1][2][3] A log and clapboard building on the farm of O. G. Denson, fifteen miles southeast of Graham.[12]

The popular sheriff, Marion DeKalb Wallace,[13] and his deputy, Thomas B. "Tom" Collier, went out to the Denson farm, December 17, 1888. Before they left Graham they had been drinking and were intoxicated.[14] The Marlows (Charles and his wife, Alfred's wife, Martha, Lewellyn, and Boone Marlow) were sitting down to noon dinner.[15] Boone saw Collier through the window and invited him in for dinner, to which Collier replied, "I'm not hungry." An altercation broke out between Collier and Boone, and without showing their warrant, Collier fired at Boone. As Wallace heard the commotion he came around from the other side of the house and came up behind Collier, Boone, aiming at Collier, shot sheriff Wallace by mistake.[16][14] As Collier and Charles attended to Wallace, Boone left the area. The other four brothers went into town and turned themselves in.

A mob then tried to avenge the sheriff and attacked the jail, January 17, 1889, but the brothers where able to fight off the mob.[1][2][3]

On January 19, 1889 (after dark),[17] the deputy then decided to move the four brothers, along with two other prisoners (William D. Burkhart and Louis Clift), chained together, to Weatherford, Texas. But the two wagons and one buggy were ambushed along the way at Dry Creek (about two miles from Graham).[3][18] The deputies guarding the brothers ran away, in league with the ambush party.[17][19]

The brothers managed to get some weapons, get to cover, and hold off the attack. But, Alfred and Lewellyn were killed. Also killed where three of the mob that attacked the Marlows; Frank Harmison, Sam Criswell, and Bruce Wheeler.[20] George and Charles were both wounded (Charles severely so) but escaped, using Burkhart as a hostage and being aided by Clift, and went to their mother's house on the Denson farm (about halfway there they stopped in Finis at a farm house, they asked to stay the night, but were refused. George spotted an ax and borrowed it to separate the remaining men. As soon Burkhart was free he ran off).[21] Also wounded were Johnson, Logan and Clinton "Clint" Rutherford.[20] The Marlows stayed there until lawmen from outside Young County came and then gave themselves up.[3] Deputy U.S. Marshal W. F. Morton of Dallas finally arrive, took them into custody, and transported them to first toward Weatherford, and then fearing another ambush to Dallas.[22][19]

"This is the first time in the annals of history where unarmed prisoners, shackled together, ever repelled a mob. Such cool courage that preferred to fight against such great odds and die in glorious battle." Judge Andrew Phelps McCormick, 1891.[23]

Boone had gone to stay with his girlfriend and her family, the Harbolts in the vicinity of Marlow, but the brother of Boone's sweetheart, William "G.E." Harbolt, put some poison in the food that his sister would take to Boone. William Harbolt had obtained the poison from a Dr. Carter. Harbolt, along with bounty hunters Jim "Martin" Beavers and John E. Derrickson (aka Direkson), shot his dead body for the $1,700 in total ($200 by the State of Texas and $1,500 by Young County) reward offered for his capture, dead or alive.[3][24] An autopsy, by Doctor R. N. Price, determined that he was already dead when he had been shot, and that he had died of arsenic poisoning.[25] The three men were arrested but released on bail. Harbolt was later shot in the Chickasaw Nation and Beavers and Derrickson each received 15-year sentences.[25]

The five Marlow brothers had been falsely accused of stealing horses, and after the shootout that left three dead, George and Charles were finally acquitted in a Dallas trial.[2][3] George and Charles then moved to Colorado and became deputies.

As deputy marshal Ed Johnson was lying wounded at his home he gave a newspaper interview to the Graham Leader. In the interview he said that deputy sheriff Eugene Logan had been one of the guards taking the prisoners to Weatherford, and had been wounded in doing so. In fact Logan had not been one of the guards but one of the men in the ambush party. The insistence of the Graham Leader in its January 24 edition that something be done and this slip up by Johnson would start an investigation into the affair by the U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, William Lewis Cabell. In addition the U.S. attorney sent an investigator to Young County.[26][19]

Collier, deputy Johnson, David "Dink" Allen, attorney Robert "Bob" Holman, Jack Wilkins, W. R. Benedict, county attorney Phlete A. Martin, deputy tax collector John Levell, constable Marion A. Wallace (the dead sheriff's nephew), Wil Hollis, William Bee Williams, Richard "Dick" Cook, deputy sheriff Eugene Logan, constable Sam Waggoner, Clint Rutherford, and Verna Wilkerson would all be charged with conspiring to falsify a case against the Marlow brothers, conspiring to kill the Marlow brothers in an ambush, and murdering Alfred and Lewellyn Marlow while they were in the protective custody of a United States Marshal.[19][27] Although only Cook, Hollis, Levell, Logan, Rutherford, Waggoner, Wallace, Wilkerson, and Williams, would go forward to trial.[28]

John William "Bee" Williams and Thomas B Collier (typhoid fever) died while in jail in mid-January 1891.[29]

George and Charles where summoned to testify and asked for and received protective custody from U.S. Marshal George A. Knight of Dallas. Additionally Knight made George a "Special Deputy", while Charles was made an "attached witness".[30] P. A. Martin and John Frank Spears (Spears was in jail with the Marlows at the time of the mob attack) both turned states evidence and testified against the conspirators.[19]

Clinton Rutherford was found not guilty on November 22, 1890, and the court removed Rutherford from the indictment, but bound over Eugene Logan and Verna Wilkerson. Logan, Waggoner, and Wallace were found guilty of conspiracy and not guilty of murder on April 17, 1891, and each sentenced to pay a $5,000 fine and ten years imprisonment, the other defendants (Cook, Levell, Hollis, and Wilkerson) were found not guilty.[19][31]

The case involving Eugene Logan, William Williams, Verna Wilkerson, and Clinton Rutherford (United States v. Eugene Logan et al.), would be separated from the other defendants, and would go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, see Logan v. United States, 144 U.S. 263 (1892), filed March 16, 1891.

"A citizen of the United States, in the custody of a United States Marshall under a lawful commitment to answer for an offense against the United States, has the right to be protected by the United States against lawless violence; this right is a right secured to him by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and a conspiracy to injure or oppress him in its free exercise or enjoyment is punishable under section 5508 of the Revised Statutes."[19]

The city of Graham had wanted to keep a federal court in their town, but after this incident the federal government denied that request.[32]

[edit] Screenplay

"Texas is a women, she used to say, a big wild beautiful women. You get a kid raised up to where he's got some size and there's Texas whispering in his ear smiling saying..come out with me and have some fun. Hard enough to raise children any place, when ya gotta fight Texas a mother hasn't a chance. That's why she pushed Bud so hard. She let Texas beat her with the rest of you. She was going to see Bud through college or die....well..she died."

Those quiet reflecting words were spoken by Martha Hyer, to the four brothers, to help try and get them to understand who their mother was and what her desires were. This is a very much under-rated movie. From the opening credits as the train pulls through the river gorge into town, with Elmer Bernstein's great musical score playing in the back, this is a good movie. It is about four brothers coming back to town from being away from their home for years. They are back to attend the funeral of their mother, Katie Elder, whom they really never knew.

We learn about Katie from the towns people who attend the funeral. From the mother who named her baby 'Katie' after their mother,the preacher, the rancher she traded the blind horse, the banker, the merchant and the undertaker. All these knew Katie better than her sons. She seems to have confided alot with Mary, Martha Hyer, and had her look in on her sons.

We learn about her sons, John the gunfigher..who attended the funeral from a distance, Tom the gambler..who always wants to bet, Matt the hardware man..who is really only there out of duty, and Bud the youngest..college man but doesn't want to stay or go to college...he wants to follow his exciting brothers.

We also learn that the ranch they thought they would inherit wasn't Katie's anymore..the banker let her stay out at the Lupin place. "Morgan Hasting owns the place", Sheriff Billy Wilson tells John. As the movie moves on we find out more about how Hasting, James Gregory, and his son, a young Dennis Hopper, got the ranch. We learn why he hired a gunman, George Kennedy, to watch to see if John shows up.

Soon the brothers are framed for murder and must make their stand and prove their innocence. With Hastings out to keep them from the truth, the movie moves down to the familar showdown shootout.

This movie isn't filmed or driven at the John Ford pace but it doesn't have to. This is a good solid well put together film by Henry Hathaway. It's pace is slower but some of the quiet reflecting moments are what make this movie what it is...A good movie..well worth adding to any western collection.

This is a great movie! The music is great (Of course it is! It's by Elmer Bernstein!), and the acting is good too. There is a lot of action, and plenty of funny parts. I am always in stitches when Tom (Dean Martin) auctions off his "glass eye". The brothers' family arguments are mighty funny too. Definitely a great Western! I highly recommend it.

I know the sixties films of Wayne will never get the same accolades as his Ford westerns, but dang it, this is a pretty decent movie. Couple of things to note: Even though Katie Elder is never shown in the movie, you feel her presence throughout, which I think is a testament to the quality of the screenplay and acting. You actually picture her in your imagination through all of the stories told about her. Secondly, Dean Martin's performance is exceptional. He's irreverent, funny, self-deprecating, and really intense when he faces the villains at the end. He shows once again what a good dramatic actor he was. Then there's Lucien Ballard's camera. Every shot is framed so beautifully--enhancing the locations where they shot the film. And finally, there's Elmer Bernstein's wonderful music. He could really score a western and became the Duke's preferred composer after Dimitri Tiomkin died in the early sixties.

I am so thrilled that someone thought of putting John Wayne and Dean Martin in a movie together. They fit and so does the other brother. Their brawl in the house is hilarious, and you cheer on as they beat the bad guys when they have such a small number of them. Of course, anything with John Wayne is so great, great, great! and the same with Dean Martin! If you wanta see an amazing movie, watch this.

Katie Elder bore four sons... The day she was buried they all return to the Texas town of Clearwater to pay their last respects...

John (John Wayne) is the oldest, the toughest, the gunfighter... Texas, its bigness and its violence echoes in his empty soul... Tom (Dean Martin) is a different breed of hombre... He is good with a deck of cards and good with a gun--when he has to be... Matt (Earl Holliman) is the quiet one... Nobody ever called him yellow--twice... Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.) is the youngest, but he is the rebel one...

At the funeral are Sheriff Billy Wilson (Paul Fix) and his grim young deputy, Ben Latta (Jeremy Slate) who's real conscientious about his job... Also at the burial, in addition to many townspeople, is the young Mary Gordon (Martha Hyer), the woman who tries the impossible...

Mary visits the four brothers, brings them food, and is sardonic about their desertion of their mother... Only Bud, who has been going to college, shows a possibility of becoming a fine, respecting young man...

As the brothers investigate into the past and present circumstances of their mother's life, they find the old place is no longer hers and that she was penniless...

John discovers that his father supposedly gambled away the ranch when he was pretty drunk and that on the same night he was shot in the back...The only witnesses are Morgan Hastings (James Gregory) and his son Dave (Dennis Hopper)... The sheriff warns the Elders to stop digging around and to stay out of trouble...

Realizing that the only tribute to Ma Elder would be for Bud to finish college, the brothers pledge themselves to that cause... Yet they feel the loss of the ranch was under peculiar circumstances, they decide to find out the truth...

Henry Hathaway was one of the great versatile directors whose Westerns have been as variable in quality as his other films...

Hathaway's strong points were atmosphere, character and authentic locations... In "The Sons of Katie Elder" he took particular care with locations, proud of the fact that he is one of the few directors who handle their own second-unit work, and when this element combines successfully with the other two the result can be impressive indeed...

THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER have returned to Clearwater, Texas to pay last respects to their sainted mother at her funeral. The four estranged brothers are devastated to learn that, in their years of absence, their alcoholic father died under mysterious circumstances, their mother rendered destitute, and the family ranch ceded over to a heartless aspiring land baron. Katie's boys, sniffing something rotten, decide to tarry in Clearwater and ask certain uncomfortable questions.

The late Katie Elder was beloved by everyone and her presence lingers palpably throughout the picture, and so John, Tom, Matt, and Bud come to face the rancor and scorn of the townspeople. Everyone condemns them for having abandoned their mother in her direst time of need. It's a poor homecoming. Further obstacles surface in the shape of the menacing gunslinger (George Kennedy) privately contracted by the Elder ranch's concerned new owner, and there's also the ongoing harassment by the very pushy sheriff's deputy. When things go sideways, the blame readily shifts to the Elder brothers. And, wait, is that a lynch mob over there?

Seasoned director Henry Hathaway helms an old school western that has its share of rousing moments but also dabbles in introspection. This is the second time John Wayne and Dean Martin would work together (after their glorious RIO BRAVO), and they're still sympatico, Deano roguishly taking on his trademark gambler/hustler character and the Duke playing the surly eldest brother and infamous gunfighter. Wayne, then 58-years-old, returned to the silver screen after his cancer operation, not that you'd know it. John Wayne looms tall and rugged and resolute as ever. Earl Holliman and Michael Anderson, Jr. round out the remaining Elder brothers, and it ain't their fault their light don't glow near as bright as Wayne and Deano's.

The key performers get a lot of elbow room to play in, what with the Elder brothers being such a boisterous, bickering, brawling bunch, and much of the brawny humor comes from their interactions amongst each other. It's almost like SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS, except that people pump lead into each other and there's no barn-raising dance-off. A young Dennis Hopper chews up the scenery some. Martha Hyer serves as the chaste eye candy. And main villain James Gregory does well with his three-dimensional role. His larcenous land grabber starts out even-keeled but progressively takes more and more of a heel turn as the story progresses.

There's a contemplative, bittersweet tone in this film. You can sense the Elder boys' regret in their neglect of their mother. And how damning to learn that during their absent years, Katie Elder had lied for them, had told the world how regularly her sons sent her money, even though the two eldest sons (Wayne and Martin's characters) were roaming the West wanted by the law. The pace could have picked up some. There could have been more action, instead of most of it being relegated to the final act. But John Wayne is still John Wayne, indomitable. Dean Martin demonstrates skills that went beyond his singing and drunken act. THE SONS OF KATIE ELDER, no classic, nevertheless falls in that category of reliable westerns that endure the test of time. I like this movie.