Customer Reviews

Hallelujah Trail (Widescreen)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

MGM has made the decision to offer this presentation of Hallelujah Trail on one side (two layers) of a DVD disc, requiring more compression of the video image than we normally see on higher quality DVD's. This has resulted in a DVD that is positively painful to watch due to digital artifacts. MGM should be embarrased about releaseing such an inferior product.

This release of a classic big event comedy/western is ruined by a simply awful transfer to DVD. The picture quality as seen line-doubled on my Pioneer Elite 700 HD set is nearly unwatchable. I hope MGM will try again with a goal of creating a much better transfer. This is one of the worst-looking DVDs I have seen.

Too bad because the movie is enjoyable.

This is one of my favorite comedies and it has the advantage of being a light musical as well. It's not politically correct, so if you consider many contemporary issues 'don't touch' subject matter, this isn't the film for you. However, if you enjoy satire and plain silliness, you'll like this classic. Lancaster puts the "v" in versatility with his comedic performance, and Donald Pleasance's Oracle Jones, isn't far behind (one of those pleasant surprises, like John Lithgow). From Indian rallies and army bands in the brig to white petticoats and red longjohns, the misadventures of Colonel Thaddeous Gerhardt and Cora Templeton Massengale will leave you in stitches!

A true to life movie about the trials and tribulations in transporting necessary supplies through the west to save Denver from a most unthinkable drought.

Two major incidences are chronicled here "The battle of Whisky hills" and "the Battle of Quicksand Bottoms."

Crossroads in a sands storm see many groups passing. There is the vital element being driving by striking Irish teamsters, approaching evil temperance females led by troops desperate to get rid of them, Indians including "Sky Eyes" (blue eyes due to irregularity in his ancestry), and last but not least the Denver militia.

The list of actors alone could carry this movie. Martin Landau needs lose watching.

While you are watching this confrontation, be sure to protect both your rears simultaneously.

What does the oracle see? Many things are bout to go awry. Has Cora a change of heart? Col. Gearhart tells Cora to "Get away from my cords." Will there be some interesting solutions? Stay toned for the fascinating conclusion.

I love this film. The humor is very good, the acting is superb, and it has a very catchy theme.

THE WILDEST ROLLICKING WESTERN OF ALL TIMES! THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL is a gem! Like MCLINTOCK! it's full of surprizes!!!! Everything from THE CALVARY, DRUNKEN INDIANS, TEMPERANCE MARCHERS, THIRSTY CITIZENS, A WAGONTRAIN OF WHISKEY, and a climax of QUICKSAND!!!! This motion picture has evrything!!!!
THE WEST REALLY BECAME FUN!!!! I enjoy the great cast of BURT LANCHASTER, LEE REMICK, BRIAN KEITH, DONALD PLEASANCE, JIM HUTTON, PAMELA TIFFON, ROBERT J. WILKES, MARTIN LANDAU, JOHN ANDERSON, and DUB TAYLOR add their own special humor to this motion picture classic!!!! The funniest scenes are THE BATTLE OF WHISKEY HILLS (the shootout in the sandstorm), THE WILD CHASE LEADING TO QUICKSAND BOTTOMS (the drunken indian pursuit, leading a switch of the western classics, where the calvary attacks the indians), and finally THE DISASTER AT QUICKSAND BOTTOMS (where the wagons sink in the quicksand!) The action is high octane madcap comedy all the way! JOHN DEHNER delivers the delightful narration, even when the winter turns out to be the warmest and driest on record. This is indeed a JOHN STURGES classic! ELMER BERNSTEIN delivers a top notch music score, that include an memorable music piece during the sinking of wagons in the quicksand! The effects of all the wagons going down together in QUICKSAND BOTTOMS is unmistakably eyecatching!THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL will always be a classic to watch again and again!

THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL is a must see western comedy! THIS MOVIE HAS IT ALL!!!! WILD CHASES, SANDSTORM, INDIANS, THE CALVARY, WAGONLOADS OF HIGH OCTANE, TEMPERENCE MARCHERS AND QUICKSAND! (YES YOU HEARD ME RIGHT "QUICKSAND!!!!") I'm probably one critic, who mentioned that! Lead by an all star cast, this western turns a simple adventure into a collision of the wildest, zaniest characters that turn THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL into a FUN ROLLERCOASTER RIDE OF THRILLS AND SIDESPLITTING MADCAP COMEDY!!! The cast is top notch! Burt Lanchaster, Lee Remick, Brian Keith, Donald Pleasance, Jim Hutton, Pamela Tiffon, Robert Wilkes, and Martin Landau add their special humor to this funny parody! You could write a ballad about THE BATTLE OF WHISKY HILLS, or THE DISASTER AT QUICKSAND BOTTOMS, but you got to witness it in the making to really enjoy this movie! ELMER BERNSTEIN does a magnificent job with the music score! One of my favorite parts of THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL is the climax at QUICKSAND BOTTOMS! I repeat this scene over and over again!
The music to depict the wagons sinking in the quicksand, is one of the most facinating pieces of music that Elmer Bernstein uses and the most interesting piece I ever heard in a motion picture! I believe it is properly entitled "DOWN DOWN, DOWN because of the downward trend depicting the quicksand! The wild chase leading up to QUICKSAND BOTTOMS is outrageous!!!! This is indeed the west at it's most HILLARIOUS! It it really is "HOW THE WEST WAS FUN in grand style! The funniest western I ever saw!

John Sturges directed so many of my favorite films, from "The Great Escape" to "The Magnificent Seven", that I have to pay hommage to his great humorous homage to The West. One of the earliest films to lampoon it's leads (but nicely) it stands out as both a tribute to all the great Westerns as well as a campy send-up as well.

And what a cast! Burt Lancaster demonstrated a talent for comedy that I would never have thought at the time. And Jim Hutton, Brian Keith, Lee Remick....

One of Sturges' regular contributers, Elmer Bernstein wrote an emcompassing score that went right to the heart of things.

Very recommended, especially if you loved westerns.

I don't have this DVD, but when I was younger, I used to watch this movie all the time. My brother and I loved rewinding the movie to watch certain scenes over and over again. The only word I can think to describe this movie accurately would have to be quirky. It has whiskey, women protesting the whiskey, men protesting the women, and Indians doing who knows what. It's a great movie to watch.

Although I do not have still this DVD I remember the film perfectly. I saw it a few times in the past. It's a great western comedy well directed by Sturges with a flock of hilarious situations due to the fact that all the "tribes" (not just the indian ones) in the film go after a trail of whiskey: from the gold miners until the cavalry, the women league against the alcohol, the indians and so on. In my country, Spain, this film is generally known as "Whisky Hills Battle". I hope to see it released here soon... it's a kind comedy for all the family. Buy it because you surely will enjoy
and revisit many times