The Sons of Katie Elder
Encyclopedia
The Sons of Katie Elder is a 1965
Technicolor
western
film directed by Henry Hathaway
and starring John Wayne
and Dean Martin
. The movie was filmed principally in Mexico
.
The film Four Brothers
(2005) is loosely based on this story's depiction of brothers trying to atone for their sins to a saintly mother who has recently died.
), who is a famous (or infamous) professional gunman, Tom (Dean Martin
), a professional gambler who is also handy with a gun, Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.
), the youngest brother who is a college student, and Matt (Earl Holliman
), who is a rancher — reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas
, in 1898 for their mother's funeral
. They share regret that none of them has lived up to her high expectations of them.
The townspeople are unfriendly with John, the gunfighter, and Tom the gambler. Katie Elder was extremely well liked by everyone in the community, who were all aware of her honesty, her poverty and her undying love for the sons who neglected her. The brothers want to do something for Katie's sake, and their plan is to send youngest son Bud to college
, raising money through a sale of another man's herd of horses, even though Bud wants to emulate his eldest brother.
Morgan Hastings (James Gregory
) a gunsmith
, claims ownership of the Elders' ranch after their father Bass Elder's death, claiming to have won it from him in a game of cards; Bass was afterwards shot in the back, and the killer is still unknown. Hastings hides a hostile attitude towards the brothers and brings in a hired gun, Curley (George Kennedy
), just in case. Gradually, the Elders suspect foul play. Hastings claimed Bass lost the ranch in a game of Blackjack, while John, in a ruse, states their father wouldn't have been caught dead playing Blackjack, as he decried it as a 'woman's game' and claimed he would have shot any of his sons that he caught playing it. John's brother privately questioned John's story since they were weaned on Blackjack, and John states that Curley wouldn't know that, foreshadowing the holes in Curley's story. As it turns out, Hastings had indeed claimed the Elder ranch by murdering Bass Elder. When Hastings learns about the brothers' investigations, Hastings frames them for murder of the sheriff (Paul Fix
) and, not content with seeing them going to prison, arranges an ambush in which Matt is killed and Bud seriously injured. John and Tom take it upon themselves to avenge
the family by going after Hastings. Johnny gets him in the end by blowing him up in his own store.
, bookstore in around 1953. Thinking that it would make the basis of a good Western, he paid members of the Marlow family $1,000 each for the rights to make it into a screenplay. But when the movie was made 12 years later, the film's plot had been drastically changed.
Talbot Jennings was credited for the script.
lung
and two ribs, the star insisted on doing his own stunts, and nearly contracted pneumonia
after being dragged into a river.
Outdoor locations were filmed in Durango
, Mexico
, and on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
, Colorado
, USA.
The name "Kate Elder", was one of several names used by Mary Katherine Horony Cummings, better known as "Big Nose Kate", a western icon and sometime companion of Doc Holliday
.
John Wayne
and Dean Martin
had also starred in Howard Hawks
's Rio Bravo six years earlier, one of Martin's earliest dramatic roles after splitting up with his partner
Jerry Lewis
.
At 1:21:32, 1:21:39, 1:22:04 into the film and at the far left side of the screen, a swastika is clearly visible, scratched into the wall of the jail cell and at 1:22:05, John Wayne [John Elder] places his right hand over it.
Four years later, Henry Hathaway also directed John Wayne in his Academy Award-winning role of Rooster Cogburn
in the original screen version of True Grit.
was loosely based on The Sons of Katie Elder.
The Malayalam film Big B
(2007) is a remake of Four Brothers
.
, in Young County
, and Marlow, Oklahoma
.
The city of Marlow, Oklahoma, is named after the Marlow family, including their parents, Dr. Wilburn Williamson Marlow, Sr., and Martha Jane (née Keaton) Marlow. Dr. Marlow was the town's first physician and a very prominent citizen of Marlow. Marlow had previously been a Chisholm Trail rest spot near Wild Horse Creek. There the Marlows built a dugout home that was called "Marlow Camp" in 1880. Ten years later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
would come through and build a station on the location, naming it Marlow.
In addition to the five brothers, Dr. Wilburn and Martha Marlow had four additional children, Wilburn Williamson "Willie" Marlow, Jr. (died in Leadville, Colorado
, in 1879, where he had been taken to convalesce
after contracting malaria
in Mexico
), Charlotte Murphy, Elizabeth "Eliza" Gilmore, and Nancy Jane "Nannie" Murphy. Dr. Marlow died April 12, 1885.
Three of the brothers (Boone, Alfred, and Lewellyn) would end up being killed, although in the film, the brother that had done the real killings (basis for the Dean Martin role) was not with the other four when they were first arrested.
Boone had earlier killed James Holstein (or Holdson or Holston) in 1882, a man allegedly hired to "intimidate settlers", after an inebriated
Holdson began shooting at him on the Gilmore farm near Vernon, Texas
, just across the Red River
in Indian Territory (his sister Elizabeth had married into the Gilmore family and the couple had set up a place there). This killing seemed to be justified in self-defense, but would be brought up later by John and William Murphy, deputy marshal Edward W. "Ed" Johnson and Sam Criswell who were having a personal feud with Boone, and would be a witness against the brothers.
Boone, Alfred (aka Alf), Lewellyn (aka Epp, Ep, Ellie) and Charles were arrested near the Anadarko Agency headquarters (what would become Anadarko, Oklahoma
), for stealing 19 horses in the area around Fort Sill
. George went to the homestead in Marlow and took the women by wagon to Graham where he was then also arrested. Martha Jane bailed out all them and they went to their place in Young County. A log and clapboard building on the farm of O. G. Denson, fifteen miles southeast of Graham.
The popular sheriff, Marion DeKalb Wallace, and his deputy, Thomas B. "Tom" Collier, went out to the Denson farm, December 17, 1888. Before they left Graham they had been drinking and were intoxicated. The Marlows (Charles and his wife, Alfred's wife, Martha, Lewellyn, and Boone Marlow) were sitting down to noon dinner. Boone saw Collier through the window and invited him in for dinner, to which Collier replied, "I'm not hungry." An altercation broke out between Collier and Boone, and without showing their warrant, Collier fired at Boone. As Wallace heard the commotion he came around from the other side of the house and came up behind Collier. Boone, aiming at Collier, shot sheriff Wallace by mistake. As Collier and Charles attended to Wallace, Boone left the area. The other four brothers went into town and turned themselves in.
A mob then tried to avenge the sheriff and attacked the jail, January 17, 1889, but the brothers were able to fight off the mob.
On January 19, 1889 (after dark), the deputy then decided to move the four brothers, along with two other prisoners (William D. Burkhart and Louis Clift), chained together, to Weatherford, Texas
. But the two wagons and one buggy were ambushed along the way at Dry Creek (about two miles from Graham). The deputies guarding the brothers ran away, in league with the ambush party.
The brothers managed to get some weapons, get to cover, and hold off the attack. But, Alfred and Lewellyn were killed. Also killed were three of the mob that attacked the Marlows: Frank Harmison, Sam Criswell, and Bruce Wheeler. George and Charles were both wounded (Charles severely so) but escaped, using Burkhart as a hostage and being aided by Clift, and went to their mother's house on the Denson farm (about halfway there they stopped in Finis at a farm house, they asked to stay the night, but were refused. George spotted an ax and borrowed it to separate the remaining men. As soon Burkhart was free he ran off). Also wounded were Johnson, Logan and Clinton "Clint" Rutherford. The Marlows stayed there until lawmen from outside Young County came and then gave themselves up. Deputy U.S. Marshal W. F. Morton of Dallas finally arrive, took them into custody, and transported them to first toward Weatherford, and then fearing another ambush to Dallas.
Boone had gone to stay with his girlfriend and her family, the Harbolts in the vicinity of Marlow, but the brother of Boone's sweetheart, William "G.E." Harbolt, put some poison in the food that his sister would take to Boone. William Harbolt had obtained the poison from a Dr. Carter. Harbolt, along with bounty hunters Jim "Martin" Beavers and John E. Derrickson (aka Direkson), shot his dead body for the $1,700 in total ($200 by the State of Texas and $1,500 by Young County) reward offered for his capture, dead or alive. An autopsy, by Doctor R. N. Price, determined that he was already dead when he had been shot, and that he had died of arsenic poisoning
. The three men were arrested but released on bail. Harbolt was later shot in the Chickasaw Nation
and Beavers and Derrickson each received 15-year sentences.
The five Marlow brothers had been falsely accused of stealing horses, and after the shootout that left three dead, George and Charles were finally acquitted in a Dallas trial. George and Charles then moved to Colorado and became deputies.
As deputy marshal Ed Johnson was lying wounded at his home he gave a newspaper interview to the Graham Leader. In the interview he said that deputy sheriff Eugene Logan had been one of the guards taking the prisoners to Weatherford, and had been wounded in doing so. In fact Logan had not been one of the guards but one of the men in the ambush party. The insistence of the Graham Leader in its January 24 edition that something be done and this slip up by Johnson would start an investigation into the affair by the U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, William Lewis Cabell. In addition the U.S. attorney sent an investigator to Young County.
Collier, deputy Johnson, David "Dink" Allen, attorney Robert "Bob" Holman, Jack Wilkins, W. R. Benedict, county attorney Phlete A. Martin, deputy tax collector John Levell, constable Marion A. Wallace (the dead sheriff's nephew), Wil Hollis, William Bee Williams, Richard "Dick" Cook, deputy sheriff Eugene Logan, constable Sam Waggoner, Clint Rutherford, and Verna Wilkerson would all be charged with conspiring to falsify a case against the Marlow brothers, conspiring to kill the Marlow brothers in an ambush, and murdering Alfred and Lewellyn Marlow while they were in the protective custody of a United States Marshal. Although only Cook, Hollis, Levell, Logan, Rutherford, Waggoner, Wallace, Wilkerson, and Williams, would go forward to trial.
John William "Bee" Williams and Thomas B Collier (typhoid fever
) died while in jail in mid-January 1891.
George and Charles where summoned to testify and asked for and received protective custody from U.S. Marshal George A. Knight of Dallas. Additionally Knight made George a "Special Deputy", while Charles was made an "attached witness". P. A. Martin and John Frank Spears (Spears was in jail with the Marlows at the time of the mob attack) both turned states evidence and testified against the conspirators.
Clinton Rutherford was found not guilty on November 22, 1890, and the court removed Rutherford from the indictment, but bound over Eugene Logan and Verna Wilkerson. Logan, Waggoner, and Wallace were found guilty of conspiracy and not guilty of murder on April 17, 1891, and each sentenced to pay a $5,000 fine and ten years imprisonment, the other defendants (Cook, Levell, Hollis, and Wilkerson) were found not guilty.
The case involving Eugene Logan, William Williams, Verna Wilkerson, and Clinton Rutherford (United States v. Eugene Logan et al.), would be separated from the other defendants, and would go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, see Logan v. United States, , filed March 16, 1891.
The city of Graham had wanted to keep a federal court in their town, but after this incident the federal government denied that request.
1965 in film
The year 1965 in film involved some significant events, with The Sound of Music topping the U.S. box office.-Top grossing films : After theatrical re-issue- Awards :Academy Awards:...
Technicolor
Technicolor
Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...
western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
film directed by Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.-Background:...
and starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
. The movie was filmed principally in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
.
The film Four Brothers
Four Brothers (film)
Four Brothers is a 2005 action crime film directed by John Singleton. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund. The film was shot in Detroit, Michigan and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada...
(2005) is loosely based on this story's depiction of brothers trying to atone for their sins to a saintly mother who has recently died.
Plot
The four adult sons of Katie Elder — John (John WayneJohn Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
), who is a famous (or infamous) professional gunman, Tom (Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
), a professional gambler who is also handy with a gun, Bud (Michael Anderson, Jr.
Michael Anderson, Jr.
Michael Joseph Anderson, Jr. is an English actor.He was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, into a theatrical family. His grandparents and great-great-aunt were acclaimed actors. His father is the film director Michael Anderson, Sr. He is the stepson of actress Adrienne Ellis, and stepbrother of...
), the youngest brother who is a college student, and Matt (Earl Holliman
Earl Holliman
-Early life:Earl Holliman was born at Delhi in Richland Parish of northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father died before he was born, and his biological mother, living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth...
), who is a rancher — reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas
Clearwater, Texas
-School:Clearwater is served by the Bastrop Independent School District....
, in 1898 for their mother's funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
. They share regret that none of them has lived up to her high expectations of them.
The townspeople are unfriendly with John, the gunfighter, and Tom the gambler. Katie Elder was extremely well liked by everyone in the community, who were all aware of her honesty, her poverty and her undying love for the sons who neglected her. The brothers want to do something for Katie's sake, and their plan is to send youngest son Bud to college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
, raising money through a sale of another man's herd of horses, even though Bud wants to emulate his eldest brother.
Morgan Hastings (James Gregory
James Gregory (actor)
James Gregory was an American character actor noted for his deep, gravelly voice and playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate , the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller...
) a gunsmith
Gunsmith
A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds firearms. This occupation is different from an armorer. The armorer primarily maintains weapons and limited repairs involving parts replacement and possibly work involving accurization...
, claims ownership of the Elders' ranch after their father Bass Elder's death, claiming to have won it from him in a game of cards; Bass was afterwards shot in the back, and the killer is still unknown. Hastings hides a hostile attitude towards the brothers and brings in a hired gun, Curley (George Kennedy
George Kennedy
George Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and...
), just in case. Gradually, the Elders suspect foul play. Hastings claimed Bass lost the ranch in a game of Blackjack, while John, in a ruse, states their father wouldn't have been caught dead playing Blackjack, as he decried it as a 'woman's game' and claimed he would have shot any of his sons that he caught playing it. John's brother privately questioned John's story since they were weaned on Blackjack, and John states that Curley wouldn't know that, foreshadowing the holes in Curley's story. As it turns out, Hastings had indeed claimed the Elder ranch by murdering Bass Elder. When Hastings learns about the brothers' investigations, Hastings frames them for murder of the sheriff (Paul Fix
Paul Fix
Paul Fix was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981...
) and, not content with seeing them going to prison, arranges an ambush in which Matt is killed and Bud seriously injured. John and Tom take it upon themselves to avenge
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
the family by going after Hastings. Johnny gets him in the end by blowing him up in his own store.
Screenplay
William H. Wright picked up a copy of Life of the Marlows in a Los Angeles, CaliforniaLos Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, bookstore in around 1953. Thinking that it would make the basis of a good Western, he paid members of the Marlow family $1,000 each for the rights to make it into a screenplay. But when the movie was made 12 years later, the film's plot had been drastically changed.
Talbot Jennings was credited for the script.
Cast
- John WayneJohn WayneMarion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
as John Elder - Dean MartinDean MartinDean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
as Tom Elder - Martha HyerMartha HyerMartha Hyer is an American actress.She attended Northwestern University and was a member of Pi Beta Phi fraternity. After completing her education, she next appeared in The Locket in 1946...
as Mary Gordon - Michael Anderson, Jr.Michael Anderson, Jr.Michael Joseph Anderson, Jr. is an English actor.He was born in Hillingdon, Middlesex, into a theatrical family. His grandparents and great-great-aunt were acclaimed actors. His father is the film director Michael Anderson, Sr. He is the stepson of actress Adrienne Ellis, and stepbrother of...
as Bud Elder - Earl HollimanEarl Holliman-Early life:Earl Holliman was born at Delhi in Richland Parish of northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father died before he was born, and his biological mother, living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth...
as Matt Elder - Jeremy SlateJeremy SlateJeremy Slate was an American film and television actor.-Early life:He attended a military academy and joined the navy when he was 16. He was barely 18 when his destroyer assisted in the Normandy Invasion on D-Day . After the war he attended St. Lawrence University where he graduated with honors in...
as Ben Latta - James GregoryJames Gregory (actor)James Gregory was an American character actor noted for his deep, gravelly voice and playing brash roles such as McCarthy-like Senator John Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate , the audacious General Ursus in Beneath the Planet of the Apes, and loudmouthed Inspector Luger in Barney Miller...
as Morgan Hastings - Paul FixPaul FixPaul Fix was an American film and television character actor, best known for his work in westerns. Fix appeared in more than a hundred movies and dozens of television shows over a 56-year career spanning from 1925 to 1981...
as SheriffSheriffs in the United StatesIn the United States, a sheriff is a county official and is typically the top law enforcement officer of a county. Historically, the sheriff was also commander of the militia in that county. Distinctive to law enforcement in the United States, sheriffs are usually elected. The political election of...
Billy Watson - George KennedyGeorge KennedyGeorge Harris Kennedy, Jr. is an American actor who has appeared in over 200 film and television productions. He is perhaps most familiar as the convict Dragline in Cool Hand Luke , airline troubleshooter Joe Patroni in the Airport series of disaster movies from the 1970s and...
as Curley - Dennis HopperDennis HopperDennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...
as Dave Hastings - Sheldon AllmanSheldon AllmanSheldon Allman was a Jewish American-born Canadian raised actor, singer, and songwriter.He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the RCAF...
as Harry Evers - John LitelJohn LitelJohn Litel was an American film actor. During World War I, Litel enlisted in the French Army and was twice decorated for bravery....
as Minister - John DoucetteJohn DoucetteJohn Doucette was a film character actor. He was a balding, husky man remembered for playing mob muscle and western bad guys in movies...
as Hyselman - James WesterfieldJames WesterfieldJames A. Westerfield was an American actor.Born in Nashville, Tennessee, he starred in more than 50 films during his lifetime...
as Mr. Vennar - Rhys WilliamsRhys Williams (actor)Rhys Williams was a Welsh character actor in movies and television, whose career spanned several decades.He made his film debut in How Green Was My Valley . This movie takes place in rural Wales with a large cast of Welsh characters, but was actually filmed in Hollywood with Canadian, American,...
as Charlie Striker - John QualenJohn QualenJohn Qualen was a Canadian-American character actor of Norwegian heritage who specialized in Scandinavian roles....
as Charlie Biller - Rodolfo AcostaRodolfo AcostaRodolfo Acosta was a Mexican character actor, typically playing heavies in Hollywood westerns. Acosta was also a regular as Vaquero on The High Chaparral from 1967-69...
as Bondie Adams - Strother MartinStrother MartinStrother Martin was an American actor in numerous films and television programs. Martin is perhaps best known as the prison "captain" in the 1967 film Cool Hand Luke, where he uttered the line, "What we've got here is...failure to communicate."-Early life:Strother Martin Jr. was born in Kokomo,...
as Jeb Ross - Percy HeltonPercy HeltonPercy Helton was an American film and television actor.One of his most memorable supporting roles was playing a drunken Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street. He also appeared in small but memorable roles in Criss Cross , The Set-Up , Kiss Me Deadly and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid...
as Mr. Peevey - Karl SwensonKarl SwensonKarl Swenson was an American theatre, radio, film, and television actor.-Biography:Born in Brooklyn, New York of Swedish parentage, Swenson made several appearances with Pierre-Luc Michaud on Broadway in the 1930s and 40s, including the title role in Arthur Miller's first production, The Man Who...
as Doc Isdell
Production notes
Filming was due to begin in September 1964, but had to be delayed until January 1965 after Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer. After Wayne's surgery to remove a cancerousLung cancer
Lung cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. If left untreated, this growth can spread beyond the lung in a process called metastasis into nearby tissue and, eventually, into other parts of the body. Most cancers that start in lung, known as primary...
lung
Lung
The lung is the essential respiration organ in many air-breathing animals, including most tetrapods, a few fish and a few snails. In mammals and the more complex life forms, the two lungs are located near the backbone on either side of the heart...
and two ribs, the star insisted on doing his own stunts, and nearly contracted pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
after being dragged into a river.
Outdoor locations were filmed in Durango
Durango
Durango officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Durango is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is located in Northwest Mexico. With a population of 1,632,934, it has Mexico's second-lowest population density, after Baja...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad
The Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad , often shortened to Rio Grande or D&RGW, formerly the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, is a defunct U.S. railroad company. The railroad started as a narrow gauge line running south from Denver, Colorado in 1870; however, served mainly as a transcontinental...
, Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
, USA.
The name "Kate Elder", was one of several names used by Mary Katherine Horony Cummings, better known as "Big Nose Kate", a western icon and sometime companion of Doc Holliday
Doc Holliday
John Henry "Doc" Holliday was an American gambler, gunfighter and dentist of the American Old West, who is usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral...
.
John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and Dean Martin
Dean Martin
Dean Martin was an American singer, film actor, television star and comedian. Martin's hit singles included "Memories Are Made of This", "That's Amore", "Everybody Loves Somebody", "You're Nobody till Somebody Loves You", "Sway", "Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head?"...
had also starred in Howard Hawks
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era...
's Rio Bravo six years earlier, one of Martin's earliest dramatic roles after splitting up with his partner
Martin and Lewis
Martin and Lewis were an American comedy team, comprising singer Dean Martin and comedian Jerry Lewis as the comedic "foil". The pair first met in 1945; their debut as a duo occurred at Atlantic City's 500 Club on July 24/25, 1946....
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
.
At 1:21:32, 1:21:39, 1:22:04 into the film and at the far left side of the screen, a swastika is clearly visible, scratched into the wall of the jail cell and at 1:22:05, John Wayne [John Elder] places his right hand over it.
Four years later, Henry Hathaway also directed John Wayne in his Academy Award-winning role of Rooster Cogburn
Rooster Cogburn (character)
Reuben J. "Rooster" Cogburn is a fictional character who first appeared in the 1968 Charles Portis novel, True Grit.The novel was adapted into a 1969 film, True Grit, and from that a 1975 sequel entitled Rooster Cogburn was also produced...
in the original screen version of True Grit.
Influences
The 2005 film Four BrothersFour Brothers (film)
Four Brothers is a 2005 action crime film directed by John Singleton. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund. The film was shot in Detroit, Michigan and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada...
was loosely based on The Sons of Katie Elder.
The Malayalam film Big B
Big B (film)
Big B is a 2007 Malayalam action-thriller film co-written and directed by Amal Neerad, starring Mammootty in the title role. The cinematography was done by Samir Thahir, and the original score was composed by Gopi Sundar, with Alphons Joseph doing the songs....
(2007) is a remake of Four Brothers
Four Brothers (film)
Four Brothers is a 2005 action crime film directed by John Singleton. The movie stars Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin and Garrett Hedlund. The film was shot in Detroit, Michigan and Hamilton, Ontario, Canada...
.
Historical basis
The film was roughly based on the 1888 true story of the five Marlow Brothers (George H., Boone, Alfred, Lewellyn and Charles) of Graham, TexasGraham, Texas
Graham is a city in north central Texas. It is the county seat of Young County, and as of the 2010 Census had a population of 8,903.-History:...
, in Young County
Young County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 17,943 people, 7,167 households, and 5,081 families residing in the county. The population density was 20 people per square mile . There were 8,504 housing units at an average density of 9 per square mile...
, and Marlow, Oklahoma
Marlow, Oklahoma
Marlow is a city in Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 4,592 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Marlow is located at ....
.
The city of Marlow, Oklahoma, is named after the Marlow family, including their parents, Dr. Wilburn Williamson Marlow, Sr., and Martha Jane (née Keaton) Marlow. Dr. Marlow was the town's first physician and a very prominent citizen of Marlow. Marlow had previously been a Chisholm Trail rest spot near Wild Horse Creek. There the Marlows built a dugout home that was called "Marlow Camp" in 1880. Ten years later the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad
The Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad was a Class I railroad in the United States. It was also known as the Rock Island Line, or, in its final years, The Rock.-Incorporation:...
would come through and build a station on the location, naming it Marlow.
In addition to the five brothers, Dr. Wilburn and Martha Marlow had four additional children, Wilburn Williamson "Willie" Marlow, Jr. (died in Leadville, Colorado
Leadville, Colorado
Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...
, in 1879, where he had been taken to convalesce
Convalescence
Convalescence is the gradual recovery and of health and strength after illness. It refers to the later stage of an infectious disease or illness when the patient recovers and returns to normal, but may continue to be a source of infection even if feeling better...
after contracting malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
), Charlotte Murphy, Elizabeth "Eliza" Gilmore, and Nancy Jane "Nannie" Murphy. Dr. Marlow died April 12, 1885.
Three of the brothers (Boone, Alfred, and Lewellyn) would end up being killed, although in the film, the brother that had done the real killings (basis for the Dean Martin role) was not with the other four when they were first arrested.
Boone had earlier killed James Holstein (or Holdson or Holston) in 1882, a man allegedly hired to "intimidate settlers", after an inebriated
Drunkenness
Alcohol intoxication is a physiological state that occurs when a person has a high level of ethanol in his or her blood....
Holdson began shooting at him on the Gilmore farm near Vernon, Texas
Vernon, Texas
Vernon is a city in Wilbarger County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 11,660; it was 11,077 in the 2005 census estimate. Vernon is the county seat of Wilbarger County....
, just across the Red River
Red River (Mississippi watershed)
The Red River, or sometimes the Red River of the South, is a major tributary of the Mississippi and Atchafalaya Rivers in the southern United States of America. The river gains its name from the red-bed country of its watershed. It is one of several rivers with that name...
in Indian Territory (his sister Elizabeth had married into the Gilmore family and the couple had set up a place there). This killing seemed to be justified in self-defense, but would be brought up later by John and William Murphy, deputy marshal Edward W. "Ed" Johnson and Sam Criswell who were having a personal feud with Boone, and would be a witness against the brothers.
Boone, Alfred (aka Alf), Lewellyn (aka Epp, Ep, Ellie) and Charles were arrested near the Anadarko Agency headquarters (what would become Anadarko, Oklahoma
Anadarko, Oklahoma
Anadarko is a city in Caddo County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 6,645 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Caddo County.-Early History:Anadarko got its name when its post office was established in 1873...
), for stealing 19 horses in the area around Fort Sill
Fort Sill
Fort Sill is a United States Army post near Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.Today, Fort Sill remains the only active Army installation of all the forts on the South Plains built during the Indian Wars...
. George went to the homestead in Marlow and took the women by wagon to Graham where he was then also arrested. Martha Jane bailed out all them and they went to their place in Young County. A log and clapboard building on the farm of O. G. Denson, fifteen miles southeast of Graham.
The popular sheriff, Marion DeKalb Wallace, and his deputy, Thomas B. "Tom" Collier, went out to the Denson farm, December 17, 1888. Before they left Graham they had been drinking and were intoxicated. The Marlows (Charles and his wife, Alfred's wife, Martha, Lewellyn, and Boone Marlow) were sitting down to noon dinner. Boone saw Collier through the window and invited him in for dinner, to which Collier replied, "I'm not hungry." An altercation broke out between Collier and Boone, and without showing their warrant, Collier fired at Boone. As Wallace heard the commotion he came around from the other side of the house and came up behind Collier. Boone, aiming at Collier, shot sheriff Wallace by mistake. As Collier and Charles attended to Wallace, Boone left the area. The other four brothers went into town and turned themselves in.
A mob then tried to avenge the sheriff and attacked the jail, January 17, 1889, but the brothers were able to fight off the mob.
On January 19, 1889 (after dark), the deputy then decided to move the four brothers, along with two other prisoners (William D. Burkhart and Louis Clift), chained together, to Weatherford, Texas
Weatherford, Texas
Weatherford is a city in Parker County, Texas, United States, and a western suburb of Fort Worth. The population was 19,000 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Parker County and is part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex.-Geography:...
. But the two wagons and one buggy were ambushed along the way at Dry Creek (about two miles from Graham). The deputies guarding the brothers ran away, in league with the ambush party.
The brothers managed to get some weapons, get to cover, and hold off the attack. But, Alfred and Lewellyn were killed. Also killed were three of the mob that attacked the Marlows: Frank Harmison, Sam Criswell, and Bruce Wheeler. George and Charles were both wounded (Charles severely so) but escaped, using Burkhart as a hostage and being aided by Clift, and went to their mother's house on the Denson farm (about halfway there they stopped in Finis at a farm house, they asked to stay the night, but were refused. George spotted an ax and borrowed it to separate the remaining men. As soon Burkhart was free he ran off). Also wounded were Johnson, Logan and Clinton "Clint" Rutherford. The Marlows stayed there until lawmen from outside Young County came and then gave themselves up. Deputy U.S. Marshal W. F. Morton of Dallas finally arrive, took them into custody, and transported them to first toward Weatherford, and then fearing another ambush to Dallas.
- "This is the first time in the annals of history where unarmed prisoners, shackled together, ever repelled a mob. Such cool courage that preferred to fight against such great odds and die in glorious battle." Judge Andrew Phelps McCormick, 1891.
Boone had gone to stay with his girlfriend and her family, the Harbolts in the vicinity of Marlow, but the brother of Boone's sweetheart, William "G.E." Harbolt, put some poison in the food that his sister would take to Boone. William Harbolt had obtained the poison from a Dr. Carter. Harbolt, along with bounty hunters Jim "Martin" Beavers and John E. Derrickson (aka Direkson), shot his dead body for the $1,700 in total ($200 by the State of Texas and $1,500 by Young County) reward offered for his capture, dead or alive. An autopsy, by Doctor R. N. Price, determined that he was already dead when he had been shot, and that he had died of arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning
Arsenic poisoning is a medical condition caused by increased levels of the element arsenic in the body. Arsenic interferes with cellular longevity by allosteric inhibition of an essential metabolic enzyme...
. The three men were arrested but released on bail. Harbolt was later shot in the Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaw Nation
The Chickasaw Nation is a federally recognized Native American nation, located in Oklahoma. They are one of the members of the Five Civilized Tribes. The Five Civilized Tribes were differentiated from other Indian reservations in that they had semi-autonomous constitutional governments and...
and Beavers and Derrickson each received 15-year sentences.
The five Marlow brothers had been falsely accused of stealing horses, and after the shootout that left three dead, George and Charles were finally acquitted in a Dallas trial. George and Charles then moved to Colorado and became deputies.
As deputy marshal Ed Johnson was lying wounded at his home he gave a newspaper interview to the Graham Leader. In the interview he said that deputy sheriff Eugene Logan had been one of the guards taking the prisoners to Weatherford, and had been wounded in doing so. In fact Logan had not been one of the guards but one of the men in the ambush party. The insistence of the Graham Leader in its January 24 edition that something be done and this slip up by Johnson would start an investigation into the affair by the U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, William Lewis Cabell. In addition the U.S. attorney sent an investigator to Young County.
Collier, deputy Johnson, David "Dink" Allen, attorney Robert "Bob" Holman, Jack Wilkins, W. R. Benedict, county attorney Phlete A. Martin, deputy tax collector John Levell, constable Marion A. Wallace (the dead sheriff's nephew), Wil Hollis, William Bee Williams, Richard "Dick" Cook, deputy sheriff Eugene Logan, constable Sam Waggoner, Clint Rutherford, and Verna Wilkerson would all be charged with conspiring to falsify a case against the Marlow brothers, conspiring to kill the Marlow brothers in an ambush, and murdering Alfred and Lewellyn Marlow while they were in the protective custody of a United States Marshal. Although only Cook, Hollis, Levell, Logan, Rutherford, Waggoner, Wallace, Wilkerson, and Williams, would go forward to trial.
John William "Bee" Williams and Thomas B Collier (typhoid fever
Typhoid fever
Typhoid fever, also known as Typhoid, is a common worldwide bacterial disease, transmitted by the ingestion of food or water contaminated with the feces of an infected person, which contain the bacterium Salmonella enterica, serovar Typhi...
) died while in jail in mid-January 1891.
George and Charles where summoned to testify and asked for and received protective custody from U.S. Marshal George A. Knight of Dallas. Additionally Knight made George a "Special Deputy", while Charles was made an "attached witness". P. A. Martin and John Frank Spears (Spears was in jail with the Marlows at the time of the mob attack) both turned states evidence and testified against the conspirators.
Clinton Rutherford was found not guilty on November 22, 1890, and the court removed Rutherford from the indictment, but bound over Eugene Logan and Verna Wilkerson. Logan, Waggoner, and Wallace were found guilty of conspiracy and not guilty of murder on April 17, 1891, and each sentenced to pay a $5,000 fine and ten years imprisonment, the other defendants (Cook, Levell, Hollis, and Wilkerson) were found not guilty.
The case involving Eugene Logan, William Williams, Verna Wilkerson, and Clinton Rutherford (United States v. Eugene Logan et al.), would be separated from the other defendants, and would go all the way to the United States Supreme Court, see Logan v. United States, , filed March 16, 1891.
- "A citizen of the United States, in the custody of a United States Marshall under a lawful commitment to answer for an offense against the United States, has the right to be protected by the United States against lawless violence; this right is a right secured to him by the Constitution and laws of the United States, and a conspiracy to injure or oppress him in its free exercise or enjoyment is punishable under section 5508 of the Revised Statutes."
The city of Graham had wanted to keep a federal court in their town, but after this incident the federal government denied that request.