Three teenagers — Will (Gary Grimes), Les (Ron Howard) and Tod (Charles Martin Smith) — rescue a wounded outlaw named Harry Spikes (Lee Marvin) after finding him near their homes.
They put him up in a barn, fetch him food and drink and help nurse him back to health.
Meanwhile, he regals them with tales of the good life of a notorious outlaw and bank robber.
Why he has $1,000 in his money belt and pretty senoritas waiting for him south of the border where he wears silk shirts and smokes the finest cigars.
When Will’s father learns he’s given his horse to Spikes so he can make his escape, he beats the boy.
And Will decides it’s the last beating he’ll take, running away from home. Les and Tod soon follow.
Reunited, they rob a bank in desperation, kill a man during the get-away and wind up losing all the money fleeing town.
But they’re headed toward a reunion with Harry Spikes.
And the realization that the outlaw life is nothing like he told them.
Gary Grimes as Will Young, thinking about running away from home in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Lee Marvin as Harry Spikes takes three young men under his wings in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Review:
Take three likeable young actors, add a grizzled Lee Marvin performance and an intelligence script, and this makes for a fine coming of age Western.
Plus there’s an unexpected twist at the end and more violence than you would expect.
Grimes had already appeared in a pair of Westerns — “Cahill, U.S. Marshal” (1973) and “The Culpepper Cattle Co.” (1972). But as of 2021, he had appeared in just two more films, saying he stopped acting because he wasn’t pleased with the roles he was being offered.
Ron Howard, 20 when this film was released, was still six years removed from “Happy Days.” Charles Martin Smith has gone on to enjoy a long acting career, riding West again alongside James Garner in the “Streets of Laredo” mini-series (1985).
Ron Howard, watching a bank robbery go horribly wrong in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Charles Martin Smith as Tod, soaking up another of Harry Spikes’ lessons in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Directed by:
Richard Fleischer
Cast:
Lee Marvin … Harry Spikes
Gary Grimes … Will Young
Ron Howard … Les Richter
Charles Martin Smith … Tod
Arthur Hunnicutt … Kid White
Noah Beery Jr. … Jack Basset
Marc Smith … Abel Young
Don Fellows … Cowboy
Elliott Sullivan … Billy
Robert Beatty … Sheriff
Runtime: 96 min.
Arthur Hunnicutt as Kid White, the old-timer looking to join the gang in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Noah Beery Jr. as Jack Basset, telling Will where to find Les in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Memorable lines:
Tod: “If they caught you, would they hang you?”
Spikes: “No. They’d cut off my head and stick it on a telegraph pole as a warning. Like they done to a couple of friends of mine.”
Les: “Well, then how come you stick with it?”
Spikes: “Well, I got five Mexican ladies waiting for me in five different towns. I’ve got a dozen shirts, all handmade out of pure silk, every color of the rainbow. And the leather in my boots is as soft as butter. That’s cause Indian ladies chew ’em before they sew ’em. And I’ve got bonded bourbon and a box of Havana cigars by my bed every time I lay my head down. And that’s only when things are slack.”
Wes: “But you’re sleeping on a hay bale now.”
Spikes: “Nothing’s perfect.”
Todd, after the hungry young trio break into a church: “What you’re doing is a terrible sin. You’re eating the blood and the body of Christ.”
Les: “Todd, tonight this ain’t nothing but crackers and elderberry wine.”
Tod: “Haven’t we got a dime between us.”
Will: “Not a one.”
Les: “Money don’t even know we’re alive.”
Will: “What would you do if you was us, Mr. Spikes?”
Spikes: “Keep your boots by your bed. Sit up quick when a dog barks. Go out but little. Make no acqaintances. Have nothing peculiar about your manner or dress. And, above all, never talk. It’s the talkin’ man gets caught.”
Will Young: “Do you think that bank’s gonna be hot work?”
Les: “I guess we’re puttin’ our heads in the lion’s mouth alright. I just hope we can take it out again.”
Spikes: “I’ve left men dead behind me. I’ve left men dying behind me. I’ve left them calling my name. What you do is shut your ears, close your eyes and run like hell.”
Gary Grimes as Will, Charles Martin Smith as Tod and Ron Howard as Les in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Lee Marvin as Harry Spikes, explaining his change in fortune to Will in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Gary Grimes as Will Young, learning he has a new score to settle in The Spikes Gang (1974)
Gary Grimes as Will Young and Ron Howard as Les Richter watch Spikes ride off, leaving a wounded Tod behind in The Spikes Gang (1974)
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