Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

John Wayne is U.S. Marshal J.D. Cahill. He returns to the town of Valentine after a manhunt to find a sheriff dead, a bank robbed and his oldest son (Gary Grimes as Danny) in jail.

Danny’s being held on a disorderly conduct charge along with a small group of other men, Abe Fraser (George Kennedy) included. When Danny is freed, Cahill takes him out on the hunt for the bank robbers.

Soon enough, he has five men in custody and he’s taking them back to town to face possible hanging. They were caught with money on them; they claimed to have robbed a Mormon drover in New Mexico.

Between criticizing his dad for being an absentee parent, Danny warns him they might not have been responsible for the bank holdup.

What Cahill doesn’t know is that Danny and younger brother Billy Joe (Clay O’Brien) helped Fraser (George Kennedy) and his gang pull the bank robbery, starting a fire as a diversion.

Now Billy Joe has hidden the money, forgotten precisely where he buried it, and Frazer is threatening to kill both boys if he doesn’t get the loot soon.

John Wayne as J.D. Cahill, trying to find a suitable horse to pursue the outlaws in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

George Kennedy as Fraser, mastermind of a plan to rob the town bank while they’re still behind bars in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Review:

A delight, from catchy theme song to a smart, fresh-sounding script to a well-handled, though-rather brutal finish, likely influenced by the more violent Westerns being made in Europe.

Just try to forget the unlikelihood that an outlaw would take an 11-year-old boy in on a holdup, especially the U.S. Marshal’s son.

Neville Brand, who never seemed very impressive in his numerous 1950s Westerns, is enjoyable here as Cahill’s half-breed tracker friend. And Kennedy turns in one of his better performances as a truly menacing villain.

Both youngsters are believable in their roles, especially Clay O’Brien, who had made his film debut a year earlier in John Wayne’s “The Cowboys.”

As for director McLaglen – he overdoes the humor in many of his films, but displays a more subtle touch here.

Gary Grimes as Danny, upset that J.D. Cahill spends more time chasing outlaws than with his two sons in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Clay O’Brien as Billy Joe, wondering what he and his older brother should do next about the mess they’re in in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Directed by:
Andrew V. McLaglen

Cast:
John Wayne … J.D. Cahill
Gary Grimes … Danny Cahill
Clay O’Brien … Billy Joe Cahill
George Kennedy … Abe Fraser
Neville Brand … Lightfoot
Marie Windosr … Hetty Green
Morgan Paull … Struther
Dan Vadis … Brownie
Royal Dano … MacDonald
Scott Walker … Ben Tildy
Denver Pyle … Denver
Jackie Coogan … Charlie
Rayford Barnes … Pee Wee Simser
Dan Kemp … Joe Meehan
Harry Carey Jr. … Hank

Runtime: 103 min.

Neville Brand as Lightfoot, the half-breed tracking who helps J.D. Cahill in his pursuit of the outlaws in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Marie Windsor as Mrs. Green, the boarding house owner who watches over Danny and Billy Joe when J.D. Cahill is away in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Memorable lines:

Cahill, to outlaw gang at opening of film: “Any of you want to surrender?”
Outlaw: “Now, what did you say?”
Cahill: “I said, ‘Any of you want to surrender?’
Outlaw: “Five of us and one of you. I’ll say one thing for you J.D. — you got style. Yes sir, you got style.”
Shots ring out.

Cahill, to complaining prisoner: “You call the tune and you pay the piper. Meaning — you don’t like that treatment, don’t rob banks.”

Billy Joe Cahill: “You’re bleeding again, Pa.”

Danny Cahill: “One thing I hate more than a Comanche is half of one.”
Cahill: “His name is Lightfoot. And I wouldn’t call him, ‘Breed’ to his face if I was you. Not if you want to reach maturity.”

Cahill, to suspected bank robber: “Mister, I ain’t got a bigoted bone in my body. You don’t drop that axe and I’ll blast you to help as quick as I would a white man.”

Morgan Paull as Struther, one of the outlaws involved in the bank robbery in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Dan Vadis as Brownie, one of the trio of outlaws who rob the bank in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Cahill, to a potential lynch mob: “Well, there’s no use prodding around. I’ll willing to die trying to keep ’em. Question is: Are you willing to die trying to take ’em. Now I’m cold and hungry and wet and tired and short-tempered. So get on with it.”
There’s no response.
Cahill: “Oh, hell, get out of my way.”

Cahill, when told Billy Joe will recover from illness: “You sure, doc?”
Doctor: “I’d bet my brand-new, Chicago-made leg amputator on it.”

Fraser to Billy Joe: “Where’s the money? Now we killed two men to get it. What you need to understand boy is we ain’t gonna hang any longer or be any deader if we kill two more.”

Cahill: “How’s the leg?”
Lightfoot: “If you’re asking me as a war chief of the Comanche nation, I don’t feel a thing. If you’re asking the white part of me, it hurts like hell.”

Denver Pyle as Denver, the man at J.D.’s ranch who helps watch over Danny and Billy Joe in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Harry Carey Jr. as Hank, caretaker at the jail, filling J.D. in on what’s happened in Cahill, U.S. Marshal (1973)

Murray MacLeod as Deputy Sheriff Gordine, sharing news of the sheriff’s death with J.D. Cahill in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Royal Dano as McDonald, the cranky settler who agrees to sell J.D. Cahill a mule to ride in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)

Gary Grimes as Danny and Neville Brand as the half-breed tracker Lightfoot, helping J.D. track down outlaws in Cahill, U.S. Marshal (1973)

John Wayne as J.D. Cahill, learning the bank’s been robbed and the sheriff killed when he was riding around chasing other bandits in Cahill U.S. Marshal (1973)