The Train Robbers (1973)

Five years earlier, 10 men robbed a train and made off with $500,000. The leader of the gang, a Mr. Lowe, and two others robe into Mexico and buried the loot. Only Mr. Lowe returned, and now he has died, too.

Mrs. Lowe (Ann-Margret) wants to track down the money to clear her husband’s name so her boy doesn’t have to live the rest of his life known as the son of thief. A man named Lane (John Wayne) offers to help out. After all, there’s a $50,000 reward for recovering the missing loot.

So Lane summons some old buddies (Ben Johnson as Jesse and Rob Taylor as Grady) and some new ones (Bobby Vinton, Christopher George and Jerry Gatlin), and off to Mexico they go.

Oh, Mrs. Lowe is along for the ride. She doesn’t trust Lane enough to tell him the location of the gold, but she’ll lead him there.

Of course, the small band is ready for trouble.

There are still seven members of that original gang still living, and they’d like to get their hands on the $500,000 as well – for more selfish reasons.

John Wayne as Lane, on the search for $500.000 in stolen money in The Train Robbers (1973)

Ann-Margret as Mrs. Lane, looking to clear a late husband’s name in The Train Robbers (1973)

Review:

The opening of this film – Ben Johnson waiting at a train station while the wind howls, signs flap in the breeze and a windmill creaks – is likely to remind you of the opening of Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.”

Comparisons should end there. Other than a very neat twist at the end, this is an average John Wayne outing, complete with him spouting tough lines and his buddies sitting around reminiscing about how often they’ve saved one another’s lives.

In between, our main characters spend lots and lots of time riding to and fro and battling the 20 riders on their trail who also want the loot.

Of course, Ann-Margret is lovely, but John Wayne is showing his age. In one scene, he gets her drunk so she’ll reveal the location of the gold. In another, she offers him an opportunity to ride off with her. Rather silly. He was 66 when the film was released; she was 33.

Most of the rest of the cast will be familiar to Wayne fans. An exception would be singer Bobby Vinton. He plays a young man Lane caught robbing a bank. He’s since convinced the lad to lead a lawful life.

Ben Johnson as Jesse, bracing for an attack that’s sure to come in The Train Robbers (1973)

Rod Taylor as Grady, fretting about getting old and slowing down in The Train Robbers (1973)

Directed by:
Burt Kennedy

Cast:
John Wayne … Lane
Ann-Margret … Mrs. Lowe
Rod Taylor … Grady
Ben Johnson … Jesse
Christopher George … Calhoun
Bobby Vinton … Ben Young
Jerry Gatlin … Sam Turner
Ricardo Montalban … Pinkerton Man

Runtime: 92 min.

Christopher George as Calhoun, slowing earning Lane’s respect in The Train Robbers (1973)

Jedrry Gatlin as Sam Turner and Rod Taylor as Grady as Lane explains the reason they’ve been called together in The Train Robbers (1973)

Memorable lines:

Lane, checking out Mrs. Lowe’s riding outfit: “That shirt ought to be tighter. Take it off and I’ll boil it.”
Mrs. Lowe: “Boil it?”
Lane: “Shrink it up. I want you to kinda stick out in the right places so anybody a long way off sees you, there’ll be no doubt you’re a woman.”
Mrs. Lowe: “Mr. Lane, if you’re trying to shock me …”
Lane: “I’m trying to keep you alive, Mrs. Lowe. If they see you along, they’ll know you haven’t told us where the gold is hidden. And they’ll be over careful to keep you alive.”

Lane: “Gold has a way of bringing out the larceny in all of us, Mrs. Lowe.”

Jesse: “Hell, a man can’t live forever.”
Grady: “Not around Lane, he can’t.”

Mrs. Lowe: “If you should change your mind about coming back with me …
Lane: “I won’t.”
Mrs. Lowe: “If you should …
Lane: “I’ve got a saddle that’s older than you are, Mrs. Lowe.”

Jesse: “Lilly.”
Grady: “With two ‘l’s’.”
Jesse: “One of ‘em must stand for liar.”

Ann-Margret as Mrs. Lowe, listening to Lane’s warning about the dangers of the trip ahead in The Train Robbers (1973)

Bobby Vinton as Ben Young, rescued from a life of crime by Lane in The Train Robbers (1973)

Ricardo Montalban as the pinkerton man, on the trail of stolen money in The Train Robbers (1973)

Ann-Margret as Mrs. Lowe with Lane (John Wayne) as he spots potential trouble on the horizon in The Train Robbers (1973)