It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

A wagon train carrying kegs of whiskey and a militant temperance group collide in the Old West. A big-budget western comedy, directed by John Sturges and written by John Gay from a novel by William Gulick, "The Hallelujah Trail" may have had lofty ambitions en route to the big screen, bu the results sank in the film's quicksand. A few A-list stars evidently saw potential in the script or were hard-up for cash, because the seemingly endless saga stars Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton, and Brian Keith. Martin Landau also appears in an embarrassing performance as an Indian called Chief Walks Stooped Over, which indicates the writers' level of humor.Brian Keith leads a train of 40 wagons carrying whiskey to the thirsty patrons of the nearly dry saloons in Denver. Lancaster as Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart is ordered to accompany the wagon train with a cavalry escort, and he sends a squad of troops led by Jim Hutton to ensure that the whiskey arrives safely. Meanwhile, a temperance group, headed by Lee Remick, a widow whose two husbands drank themselves to death, is determined to stop the whiskey train and set out to intercept it. Lancaster and a second cavalry group accompany the all female anti-liquor group to ensure their safety. A nearby tribe of Sioux Indians hear of the whiskey train and are eager to get the fire water for themselves. Of course, the temperance ladies took the family buckboards and left angry husbands behind. Lancaster's daughter, Pamela Tiffin, joins the temperance group and angers Lancaster, while Tiffin's fiancé, Hutton, has angered Tiffin by accompanying the wagon train. Donald Pleasance, a whiskey drinking oracle, tells the men of Denver that he sees that their whiskey is in danger, and thirsty male Denver-ites march out to save the wagons. Got all that? Unfortunately, the writers set up a complex situation, which admittedly has comic possibilities, but they seemed to have gotten lost in the muddle and go nowhere with it. A voice-over narration, accompanied by maps and diagrams, tries to keep the audience straight as the various groups converge."The Hallelujah Trail" is intermittently amusing, but the film is often a long slog through unfunny situations. At times, the movie plays like a musical, but, besides a rousing title tune and a few inspirational temperance marches, there are songs, although Elmer Bernstein's score is among the film's few assets. The movie is way too long and saddled with an intermission to lengthen it further. Shifts from Robert Surtee's scenic panoramas of western grandeur to claustrophobic and obviously fake sound stages are jarring. At times, the humor is labored; drunken Indians have ceased to be funny; and the performances are overly broad; the actors mug shamelessly; and performances are on par with those in a TV situation comedy like "F Troop." Lancaster, Remick, Keith, and Landau have all done far better work and best omit this turkey from their resumes. The film is a waste of talent and a potentially comic situation.

In his well-researched landmark biography of John Sturges, film critic Glenn Lovall points out that the failure of "The Hallelujah Trail" at the box office forced John Sturges back into being a contract director. Unfortunately, this ambitious, $ 7 million dollar, two-hour and forty-five minute western did prove to be Sturges' undoing. Sadly, according to Wikipedia, the film grossed only $4 million during its release. Nevertheless, I've always thought it was an incredibly hilarious and splendidly staged western comedy. The closest that Sturges had come to making a comedy was the Frank Sinatra & Dean Martin western "Sergeants Three," but "The Hallelujah Trail" was far from anything that "The Magnificent Seven" helmer had ever undertaken. Sturges assembled a first-rate cast. Burt Lancaster, who starred in Sturges' first big western "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," took top billing as Colonel Thaddeus Gearhart. Gearhart was a traditional, straight-laced U.S. Calvary commander who is in charge of a frontier fort who has a beautiful daughter, Louise Gearhart (Pamela Tiffin), who is hopelessly in love with an officer, Captain Paul Slater (Jim Hutton of "Major Dundee"), who serves under Gearhart at the fort. At one point, Gearhart finds Slater and his daughter rolling around on his bear skin rug. The hugely funny western takes advantage of the usual elements of most standard-issue oaters. There is the inevitable clash between the U.S. Calvary and the Native Americans. Similarly, the alcoholic frontiersmen clash with the Ladies of the Temperance Movement. This sprawling western brings together all these parties for an incredible finale in a swamp.John Gay's complicated screenplay based on William Gulick's entertaining western novel concerns the efforts of desperate Denver merchants inspired by 'Oracle' Jones (Donald Pleasance of "The Great Escape") to get a wagon train of liquor to them before they exhaust their supplies for the winter. Signs indicate that the winter will be the worst in years and the merchants don't want to run out of suds. Moreover, a citizens' committee shares the merchant's anxiety. Meantime, beer merchant Frank Wallingham (Brian Keith of "The Wind and the Lion") organizes an emergency shipment of booze to Denver, but he must contend with obnoxious Irish teamsters, led by Kevin O'Flaherty (Tom Stern) who feel that he is taking advantage of them. O'Flaherty constantly addresses Wallingham as "your lordship," and Wallingham grumbles about it the entire time. Of course, when the Indians learn about this huge shipment of liquor, they decide to help themselves to it. Walllingham demands that Gearhart provide an escort to safeguard his booze from Chief Walks-Stooped-Over (Martin Landau of "Impossible Impossible") as well as Chief Five Barrels (Robert J. Wilke of "The Magnificent Seven") and they bring along their respective tribes. If contending with Indians armed with Winchester repeating rifles weren't challenging enough, Wallingham faces opposition for a well-known Temperance champion, Cora Templeton Massingale (Lee Remick of "The Omen"), who just happens to be holding meetings at Gearhart's fort. Massingale decides to intercept the shipment of suds and destroy the beer, and Gearhart's daughter joins her. Naturally, an upset Colonel Gearhart decides that he must provide an escort for these dames and Sergeant Buell (John Anderson of "The Satan Bug") to keep them out of harm's way.Lancaster is absolutely brilliant as the Calvary colonel who must supervise everything in this massive sagebrusher. His comic timing is impeccable. Sturges doesn't slight anybody and he gives some rather unusual parts to actors who had never done anything like these roles. Martin Landau is terrifically amusing as Chief Who Walks Stooped Over and British actor Donald Pleasance, who eventually played villain in "Will Penny," is cast as a barfly. Crowning all these wonderful performances are Elmer Bernstein's impressive orchestral score and Robert Surtee's radiant widescreen photography. If you enjoy comedies where the performers behave as if they were is a serious dramatic saga, "The Hallelujah Trail" is ideal entertainment.

When considering how to rate and reflect on some movies, one needs to consider the time at which they were made, styles and mores of that time, and decide if your mental state is ready for a movie of that type.One example would be "Pillow Talk" ... a very funny movie from the early 60s, but one which is extremely tame by the standards of the last 30 years or so.Among westerns, "The Hallelujah Trail" is another such example. The romance is tame, the violence fails to actually ever hurt anyone (a good thing), and the comedy is full of misdirection and bluster. The story and its elements are very tame by recent standards, but I never fail to be entertained when I watch this movie. I've always enjoyed one line in particular from the film, a take-off on a famous Churchhill quote (and I'm sure I paraphrase); "Never have so many bullets been fired at so many targets in such a small area with so few casualties". This after an epic battle scene involving cavalry, miners, a booze "wagon train", an Indian tribe, and a group of lady prohibition crusaders.The narration of the film adds a special touch. Its unusual but also quite funny.There is also a very talented cast in this movie, led by Burt Lancaster, and so for that reason alone it's not surprise that the film is solid and entertaining.Is it a blockbuster caliber film? No. But if you're caught in on a rainy Saturday afternoon and catch it on cable, you won't be disappointed, either.

I love Lancaster, Remick, Keith and Landau et al. but this is a most insipid, boring puerile, and charmless movie. A witless script and hammy acting combine to make this a big mistake for all involved. It's bad but it's long. Silly and juvenile jokes are endlessly repeated throughout the film. How many times can one laugh at "I am a Republican"? Proported to be a spoof on the popular western films of the day it falls flat. No Blazing Saddles it. The scenery is beautiful as is the wonderful and sexy Lee Remick.Her scene in the bathtub is sensuous but cannot redeem this expensive and essentially worthless extravaganza.