When I happened to hear the BGM of "mackennas gold'' movie it just brought me back to the drawing room and TV which was broadcastingGregory peck and Omarshariff starrer. From an important job of making my first coffee of that day.
It took me back to those years of 70s in which this movie made to the theaters of Coimbatore.
though I was afflicted with the movie bug,
I could not leave the very young babies of 4,2,and 11 months old and go gallivanting anywhere, let alone movies..
So when my little brother came to CBE for his christmas
holidays, I just grabbed the opportunityand we decided to go to a latenightshow in a theater ,(I think it was Central).
It was a western blockbuster, with a name that will attract anyone.
I can still feel the first thrill we felt
when we saw the buzzard sitting on a high rock waiting for someone to die in the desert below.
And the MUSIC!
It was spellbinding. The opening shot shows a Native American old and tired riding an equally old horse.
as book lovers and western novels' fans will know,
the rules of ambushing somebody to protect oneself is accepted.
THe scene shows the old man trudging along,and the instant he feels someone following him he becomes alert.
he slides into the rocks and aims to shoot the intruder.
Mackenna, the hero of this movie is searching and patrolling the trails for a gunman and his gang.
He hears a shot and ducks and take cover on the same second.
This scene and the following magical moments have stayed with me
from that day.
the Haunting and booming voice of Jose Feliciano singing the theme song,
Ol' Turkey Buzzard'
rings out and grips the viewers.
what follows is a saga of Hollywood Complete original mindcapturing narration of americans hunting for the lost Spanish
gold.
An Elected Marshal of law and an outlaw trying to outbeat each other.
Omar Shariff fitted the character of a complete killer ,with a little sense of humour and sarcasm.
Of Gregory Peck I cannot elaborate. Because what I write about him will be prejudiced and most of us women were crazy about him.
enough to say he portrayed the tough gentleman who has " this
map inside his head".
each and every dialogue was etched in our memory.
we went to see the movie again after sometime.
and after some years.
and after some years.
years later we bought the DVD .
THe magic still remains.
The romance, the fights between apaches and the gold group.
the river ride,
the Golden Valley,
the dialogue delivery, the beautiful scenes,
the earth quake there and finally the ride into the sunset.
Everything is the same.
Anyone willing to see MACKENNA AGAIN?
20 கருத்துகள்:
test
mackenna's gold was a hit in southern india. not sure about it in the north. in the west it was considered a so-so0 movie.
having said that, i am a great mckenna fan. i saw it 6 times at devi theatre in madras. years later i was able to download jose feliciano's 'old turkey buzzard' number.
my children cannot relate to my fancy for this movie. i should get the dvd.
one interesting point i still remember: in one of my devi visits, a city guy was translating the movie to a visitor from the village. they were seated in front of me, and none too quiet. i found the narration almost as good as the movie :)
That's fascinating phantom!
our youngest is very fond of the movie.
maybe he sympathises with his parents.!
where did you download the song// cld you please give the address.?
I have the intrumental.
But it is not the same.
and thank you for visiting this post and commenting on it.
Thank you.
the jose feliciano version is still tops after 35 years. i have it as an mp3. forget where i downloaded it from. i think it was the old napster a couple of years ago. i can email it to you if we can figure out how to do this through blogs or otherwise. pls let me know.
hi valli, after i posted a reply to your note, i did a google on the song/singer. here is a website that you can download for free
http://www.bitenova.nl/tt/fdhv4
and this russian website has it too
http://webfile.ru/1033870
if these does not work, we will figure something out. :)
my earlier comment did not appear to come through. please see if you can download the song from this website (search for old turkey buzzar)
http://www.bitenova.nl/s/30d9714aa89af5b4c9895a068054da70
or this website
http://webfile.ru/1033870
if you cannot, we will figure out how to get a mp3 file to you. :)
ps..i have enjoyed all your reminiscences of growing up in the 50s & 60s..good stuff :)
Valli,
It was my dearest friend's fav. movie.
That also seeing in 70mm screen in those days vow............
Thanks for bringing back all the good memories.
thanks thulasi.
yes it was an unique experience.
good to know like minded
people.
may be we shd start a Mackenna club.!!
thanks thulasi.
yes it was an unique experience.
good to know like minded
people.
may be we shd start a Mackenna club.!!
thanks thulasi.
yes it was an unique experience.
good to know like minded
people.
may be we shd start a Mackenna club.!!
Valli,
Your enthusiasm is contageous. ;)
I am a big Gregory Peck fan. But, Mackenna's gold didnt attract me like it did my father. It is he who introduced Gregory Peck to me. Here's some of the posts on Gregory Peck's movies.
To Kill a Mocking Bird
The Guns of Navarone
Gentleman's agreement
Something more recent -
Cape Fear. Gregory Peck produced this movie.
Thanks for the post Valli.
-Mathy
Thank you Phantom, for taking so much interest.
have noted down all the urls
will get Jose and the Buzzard somehow:-))
Napster does not work well with my CPU.
thank YOU Mathy.
welcome to my bLog.
people of 1940s and 50s have affinity towards all the good actors and actresses.
Gregory has a longstanding fans.
we loved him Roman Holiday
will try to locate and read all the movies mentioned by you.
again thank you for visiting and commenting.
wow!Valli, Great memeories. Yes I too saw the movie at Devi theatre with my husband. we were married just then. Wonderful Memories.
for all you greg peck fans, here is another one. spellbound, where he starts with ingrid bergman. add to the mix, this is directed by alfred hitchcock. grrreat movie. :)
Hi Valli,
My dad is also a great fan of him and he loves that movie. He took me to that movie when it was re-shown in coimbatore somewhere around year 95-96. That was the first time for me, but I don't know before that how many times' he had seen it.
dear delphine,
thank you for visiting. how are you keeping. yes those were good days.(marriage and following)
and it was a movie worth seeing.
Hi fairy,
thank you for putting in words about a fellow fan of mackenna.
greetings to your father from us.
you have not written any post in English..
vandumama said...
Someone said Mackenna's Gold was not a hit in western India. Total hogwash. It ran for more than 25 weeks at the 70mm Strand theatre in Colaba where I saw it in the early 1970s in its first run and in every re-run it attracted big crowds. No wonder Hindi filmdonm's mega hit Sholay borrowed heavily from this movie! Another great yesteryear Western is "The Magnificent Seven" based on Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai". Don't miss it and watch out for Yul Brynner's performance in it. Also not to be missed are the Clint Eastwood starring Spaghatti Westerns -- Fistful of Dollars, For A Few Dollars More and The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and their background scores.
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