By the mid-1960's Burt Lancaster was without a doubt one of the best and most talented actors in Hollywood. His Best Actor win for Elmer Gantry in 1960 and his presence made him one of the most recognisable. So it came natural for him to star in a Western as he teamed with director John Struges for the western comedy The Hallelujah Trail. Set in Colorado in the late-1870's the film begins with Col. Thadeus Gearhart (Lancaster)
a calvery officer who is given the duty of bringing whiskey to the villegers because they are running low. At the same time, Cora Massengale (Lee Remick)
and her daughter (Pamela Tiffin)
wants to ban alcohol and stop the calvery from doing their job. The best thing about this movie is the supporting cast that includes Jim Hutton,
Brian Keith as Frank Wallingham; who gets the approval for Gearhat to ship the whiskey,
Martin Landau as the Indian chief Walks-who really needs the alcohol
and least we forget, Donald Pleasance as Oracle Jones
-a old man whose way of making predictions are fueled by drinking alcohol.
As you know the movie was released in 1965 (in the same year of the other western-comedy Cat Ballou).
It came at a time when movie studios were beginning to make westerns with comedy in an effort to put new life in what was turning into the cinema's most boring genre.
