A chaotic romp through the old west near the end of the 19th Century. The mining town of Denver faces the potentially worst winter on record without whiskey! So they pool their finances into one gigantic order of 40 wagons of whiskey from grouchy old "good republican" Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith). Wallingham worries about Indian attacks, so he insists on a US Cavalry escort from Fort Russell, commanded by Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster). Fort Russell has just been invaded by a temperance movement led by Cora Tempelton Massingale (Lee Remick), who is determined to prevent the whiskey from reaching the poor misguided fools in Denver. Meanwhile, the reservation Indians headed by Chief Five Barrels (Robert Wilke) and Chief Walks-stooped-over (Martin Landau) intend to attack the wagon train and appropriate 20 wagons of whiskey for their own refreshment either by force or, failing that, by presenting their newly-awarded US citizenship papers and claiming that they will return to the reservation if they are given a gift of 20 wagons of whiskey. To complicate matters further, the Denver miners, warned in a vision by their whiskey- inspired prophet, Oracle Jones (Donald Pleasence) that their whiskey shipment is in grave peril, form a militia and march forth to meet the wagons and escort them back to Denver. Lee Remick is a vision of womanly beauty as always. Lancaster is his turbulent comical best. Pleasance as you've never seen him before as the thin, wiry, coon-skin mountaineer Oracle Jones. With an awesome musical score by Elmer Bernstein, this film is a real nostalgic treat!

The Hallelujah Trail came out in 1965, just as the traditional era of "Hollywood" movie-making was giving way to the modern era of the auteur and the independent filmmaker. In a classic big-time Hollywood production of that distant age, what wanted and got was (hopefully!) a funny story, a clever script, some big personalities for the leads and familiar character actors to support them. While Hallelujah Trail is a little long, it works if you enjoy spending a couple of hours with Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, and Donald Pleasance dressing up in their Western outfits modes and having a good old time with some eye-popping stunts, hilariously pompous speeches, and cutting one-liners. .Amazingly, though Hallelujah Trail came out only a decade before Blazing Saddles, they represent comedy traditions so different that comparing them is like comparing As You Like It with The Three Stooges with The Importance of Being Earnest with Hot Shots! All different comedy animals with their own conventions and audiences. HT isn't as funny as Support Your Local Sheriff, a small scale, sharply done spoof on the same genre, but much funnier than John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in McClintock or any the dubious comedy westerns Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra put out at the same time.The Indians in this film, unfortunately, are the drunken, amoral layabouts, played by white actors, similar to the Indians in F-Troop. This is just something you run into in old movies, and in Hallelujah Trail it is easier to overlook, as the "white" characters are made to look no less foolish.A historic note might be in order, here. Racial stereotyping wasn't a frivolous issue back in 1965. Back then a sizable chunk of the population then more or less believed in the stereotypes of Indians as either noble savages, faceless, brutal savages, or drunken, violent losers. Conventiontial portraits of Indians in film reinforced those stereotypes, adding to the burden of impoverished Amerindians trying to make a living and a life in the real world. It was also quite true that real Amerindians found it next to impossible to get work in Hollywood as anything but extras and "Indian" roles in Westerns routinely went to white actors with an "ethnic" look to them. Consequently, it wasn't "brave" to show negative stereotypes of Indians in 1965, it was what everyone else was doing and it did cause actual harm. It still does, actually, but the issue is obscured by modern jargon—scolding about "insensitivity" and scoffing about "political correctness." Back in the fifties and sixties, when moral issues could be discussed without deferring to the self-indulgence of the individual, you could make a point about racism in blunter terms.

Don't get me wrong. I grew up watching westerns and comedies, and having seen my healthy share of both, and having grown up with this film shown on various UHF channels, as well as seeing it on Sunday afternoon movie programs by network affiliates, I appreciate the film for what it is. I understand the humor, but I just don't find it all that funny.The positives; there's a lot of good stunt work, and some breathtaking cinematography of the nation's southwest. There's the signature shot of a covered wagon being pulled at full gallop over a Mitchell camera, as well as highly disciplined horses who don't bolt at the sound of gunfire.But is it really funny? The politically incorrect Indian/Firewater-humor is dated, but I don't find it particularly offensive. I just am not sure what it is that's all that funny. Donald Pleasance helps add real comic value with his inebriated clairvoyance, and some of the drunken sequences bring a smile to the viewer (the triple and quadruple exposure effect being effective), but it's not guffaw-funny.The comedic plot, especially for a western, teeters beyond being ridiculous. There's no real incentive for the characters to go and do what they're doing. It's a film about some amusing happenstance.But, the film was given enough of a budget to give it a kind of style and put enough familiar faces, locations and overall production values to make it likable by the then movie-going public.Despite its shortcomings, lack of genuine humor and high-budget gloss, I have to admit to having a fondness for it, even though I don't think it's all that good a comedy (if a comedy it all). But it's an old friend, and thus I added the DVD to my collection.If you really must see a comedic western, then do yourself a favor and buy or rent one of James Garner's excellent "Support your local Gunfighter" or "Support your local Sheriff" films.The "Hallelujah Trail" will probably leave you a little wanting in the end, but, strangely enough, satisfied in an uneven way.Watch at your own risk.

In the year 1867, signs that the approaching winter will be a hard one produce agitation in the burgeoning mining town of Denver, Colorado, as the hard-drinking citizenry fear a shortage of whiskey. Taking advice from Oracle Jones (Donald Pleasance), a local guide and seer (but only when under the influence of alcohol), the populace arrange for a mass shipment, twenty wagons full of whiskey, from the Wallingham Freighting Company. The wagon train heads out, under the direction of company owner Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith), regarded as a "a taxpayer and a good Republican." This cargo then becomes the target for several diverse groups, each with their own leaders and plans. Young Capt. Paul Slater (Jim Hutton) of the United States Cavalry is assigned by Fort Russell commander Col. Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster) to escort the Wallingham Wagon Train, and merely wishes to carry out his orders. A group of Irish teamsters, hired as wagon drivers, wishes to strike unless whiskey rations are distributed. Crusading temperance leader Cora Templeton Massingale (Lee Remick) and her followers, informed of the alcoholic cargo, wish to intercept the train and destroy its contents; the group is escorted by a second cavalry division under the command of a reluctant Col. Gearhart. Gearhart's daughter (Pamela Tiffin) is engaged to Slater and entranced by Mrs. Massingale's message. Despite the fact that she's the most frustrating woman he's ever met, Col. Gearhart ultimately falls in love with Cora, and is aghast to see her drinking when frustrated. Other interested parties include Sioux Indians, led by "real boozer" Chief Five Barrels (Robert J. Wilke) and Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau), and a Denver citizens militia, led by Clayton Howell (Dub Taylor) and guided by Oracle, concerned about obtaining their precious supply of drinkables. Inevitably, the various groups converge, and the ensuing property struggle is played out through a series of comic set pieces and several diplomatic overtures by an increasingly weary Gearhart.Overlong but very funny at times, with Lancaster as the frustrated straight man who just wants to get on with the proceedings and the lovely Lee Remick as the liberated woman who wins his heart.