Line #13 Film/TheHallelujahTrail


1	[[quoteright:302:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/img_0976.JPG]]
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3	->''"Buffalo were feeding ravenously. Beaver were damming and storing with strange vigor. Horses and dogs were becoming shaggy-haired as never before. And it could be sensed in the booming, bustling mining town of Denver. Most historians agree that the events leading to the Battle of Whiskey Hills and the subsequent ''disaster'' at Quicksand Bottoms began here in Denver at a miners' meeting..."''
4
5	Before ''Film/AMillionWaysToDieInTheWest''... before ''Film/BlazingSaddles''... even before ''Film/SupportYourLocalSheriff''... there was ''The Hallelujah Trail''.
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7	The year is 1867, and the mining town of Denver is facing a crisis: All the signs are pointing to the coming winter being long, and hard, and they are '''running out of whiskey!''' Hoping to resupply before the winter snows make it impossible, the town saloon owners pool their resources to bring in one last wagon train loaded with booze.
8
9	The wagon train immediately draws the attention of every Indian within hundreds of miles, as well as the Women's Temperance League. A cavalry troop is dispatched to protect the wagon train. Temperance leader Mrs. Cora Massingale inspires a band of women to set out to intercept the wagon train and destroy its cargo. A second troop of cavalry is dispatched to protect the women. The Denver Miners' Militia is formed to go out and meet up with the wagon train, and protect it from the Indians, and the women. A group of wagons, driven by members of the [[WeirdTradeUnion Irish Teamsters' Union]], breaks away from the main train, until their labor demands can be met.
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11	All these groups come together in the middle a blinding sandstorm, and HilarityEnsues.
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13	Interestingly enough, this 1965 laugh riot was directed by Creator/JohnSturges, the man who gave us ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'' and ''Film/TheGreatEscape''. And, like those films, it features a music score by Music/ElmerBernstein. The cast includes Creator/BurtLancaster, Creator/LeeRemick, Creator/JimHutton, Pamela Tiffin, Creator/DonaldPleasence, Creator/BrianKeith, and Creator/MartinLandau.
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15	----
16	!!This film provides examples of:
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18	* ATeamFiring: LampShaded by Col. Gearhart, after the Battle of Whiskey Hills, in which there were no fatalites, nor was anyone badly wounded:
19	--> '''Col. Gearhart''': It's a miracle -- A miracle of the highest order that so many bullets could miss so many people in so small an area in such a short space of time.
20	* BathtubScene: For both Col. Gearheart and Cora Massingale.
21	* BelligerentSexualTension: Between Col. Gearhart (Creator/BurtLancaster) and Cora Massingale (Lee Remick).
22	* BlatantLies: Col. Gearhart when defining what he means by "detached contact," which he claims was well known throughout the Civil War.
23	* CatchPhrase: Wagon train owner Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith) is quick to point out to everyone he meets that he's "a taxpayer and a good Republican." (to the point of Col. Gearhart threatening to [[FisticuffProvokingComment punch him in the face]] if he says it just once more)
24	** PhraseCatcher: so does everyone else.
25	* CigarChomper: Col. Gearhart.
26	* ColonelBadass: Col. Thaddeus Gearhart (Burt Lancaster)
27	* TheDeterminator: ''Nothing'' is going to stop Cora Massingale (Lee Remick) from destroying that whiskey - or bagging Col. Gearhart.
28	* DryCrusader: Cora Massingale and her Women's Temperance League.
29	* EatingTheEyeCandy: During poor Col. Gearheart's BathtubScene, Cora mostly keeps professional, but even she can't seem to resist glancing a bit while fighting a smirk. The colonel's resigned to it.
30	* EitherWorldDominationOrSomethingAboutBananas: The cavalry's sign language interpreter usually gets the gist of what's being said, but he makes a few ''critical'' errors.
31	* EpicMovie: 2 hours and 40 minutes long, with an overture and intermission. Filmed in Ultra Panavision and presented in Cinerama.
32	* ExpositionDiagram: The {{Narrator}} would use animated maps showing the movements of the various groups involved, until the situation got so confused that even the maps didn't help.
33	* TheFettered: The army regiment under Col. Gearheart. {{Exploited}} by the Women's Temperance League, which makes plans to march to Denver; a portion of the regiment is dispatched to go with them because [[HonorBeforeReason otherwise the women would march alone through hostile Indian territory]].
34	* HeroicSeductress / FemmeFatale: Depending on whether you're on her side or not. Cora seems to love using her sexuality to get Col. Gearheart to agree to her requests. At one point, she massages a hangover out of him, in a very...suggestive manner. While leaning over him in ''bed''.
35	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Col. Gearhart's reaction to Cora Massengale in general. At one point, she actually joins him.
36	* JunkieProphet: Oracle Jones (Creator/DonaldPleasence) gets visions of the future, but only after having a few drinks of whiskey.
37	--> ''There, now I see it!''
38	* TheLancer: Capt. Paul Slater (Jim Hutton), Col. Gearhart's second in command.
39	* {{Leitmotif}}: Nearly every movement in the film's famous "overture" besides the main theme turns out to be this. In order, there's a flute-and-drums theme for the Denver Free Militia, a brass-laden theme for Col. Gearheart's cavalry, a sweeping "big sky" theme for wide shots of traveling the land, a playful piccolo-and-guitar theme for Oracle Jones, and "Stand Up, We'll March To Denver" for Cora and the Temperance League.
40	* MeaningfulName: Col. ''Gear''heart, whose dry but orderly life is thrown into chaos by Cora Massengale, who also throws his system entirely out of whack. A gear is also metallic, and so his name could be also interpreted as Metal-heart, not unfitting for a man who usually tries to keep his emotions in check like the Colonel.
41	* MrFanservice: Col. Gearheart in the bathtub, for Cora. Bit of a {{Reluctant Fanservice G\|irl}}uy, but he tiredly resigns himself to it.
42	* MsFanservice: Cora in the bathtub. [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl And she's not above smirkingly rubbing it in]] for [[PleasePutSomeClothesOn the poor colonel....]]
43	* MusicForCourage: Cora and the women singing during the sandstorm.
44	* {{Narrator}}: Veteran western character actor John Dehner provides an ongoing commentary on the supposed historical context surrounding events, sometimes including maps and arrows to help the viewer keep track of just where everyone is.
45	* NotSoAboveItAll: The fashionable, proper, and civilized Cora Massengale still can't resist [[EatingTheEyeCandy checking out Col. Gearheart]] in the latter's Bathtub scene...and later, ah-hem, [[ShamelessFanserviceGirl returning the favor....]]
46	* ObfuscatingStupidity: Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau) sub-chief of the Sioux Indians, and their main negotiator. [[spoiler: After spending the whole movie communicating in badly translated sign language, and listening in as the cavalry officers discuss their plans in English, believing that he doesn't understand them, it is revealed that he speaks English perfectly well.]]
47	* OutdoorBathPeeping: Done deliberately by the soldiers and accidentally by Col. Gearhart, who just wasn't paying attention where he was walking.
48	** PleasePutSomeClothesOn: In response to the above, Col. Gearhart sheepishly makes this request to Cora, as the men are being...distracted. Cora essentially shrugs it off and goes on to tease him a bit for his troubles....
49	* QuicksandSucks: Leads to the ''disaster'' at Quicksand Bottoms.
50	* TechnicallyASmile: Col. Gearhart.
51	* TrailOfBreadcrumbs: Oracle Jones stakes out a safe path through Quicksand Bottoms with torn up strips of his red long-johns. [[spoiler: Then Cora Massingale and the ladies of Group C move his stakes.]]
52	* WeddingsForEveryone: [[spoiler: The final scene is a double wedding, between Capt. Slater and Louise Gearhart, and Col. Gearhart and Cora Massingale.]]
53	* WeirdTradeUnion: The Irish Teamsters', with their long list of labor demands.
54	* TheWildWest

Context Film / TheHallelujahTrail