40 Fun Facts About The Sons of Katie Elder

The Sons of Katie Elder was delayed for months after John Wayne was diagnosed with which illness?

Lung cancer cost Wayne his left lung in 1964, yet when the cameras finally rolled in January he insisted on doing some of his own stunts.

Which future Easy Rider director plays Dave Hastings, the villain's son, in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Dennis Hopper said John Wayne hired him as the son-in-law of Wayne's friend Margaret Sullavan, a break that restarted his stalled film career.

Which country star recorded a title song for The Sons of Katie Elder that was never used in the film?

Johnny Cash's single was left out of the picture but placed on the soundtrack LP, and it still climbed into the country top ten in 1965.

Which actor led Four Brothers, the 2005 Detroit-set action film loosely based on The Sons of Katie Elder?

Mark Wahlberg heads a quartet of adopted sons out for revenge, a story director John Singleton moved from the Old West to modern Michigan.

Big Nose Kate, who also went by Kate Elder, was the longtime companion of which Old West figure?

Doc Holliday's partner lived until 1940, far too late to be the Katie Elder of the film, whose story unfolds in 1898.

Before The Sons of Katie Elder, John Wayne and Dean Martin co-starred in which 1959 Howard Hawks western?

Rio Bravo gave Martin one of his first serious parts after his split from comedy partner Jerry Lewis; six years later the pair were cast as siblings.

Which 1969 western reunited John Wayne with the Katie Elder director and won Wayne his only Oscar?

True Grit cast Wayne as Marshal Rooster Cogburn four years later, and three of his Katie Elder castmates turned up in supporting roles.

The son of which Mexican revolutionary worked as a stunt double on The Sons of Katie Elder?

Pancho Villa's son Jose doubled for one of the screen brothers during the shoot in Mexico, where the production hired more than a hundred local workers.

In The Sons of Katie Elder, what occasion brings the four Elder sons back to Clearwater, Texas?

Their mother's funeral reunites the brothers in 1898, each regretting that he never lived up to Katie's high hopes for him.

Which future Oscar winner for Cool Hand Luke plays the hired gun Curley in The Sons of Katie Elder?

George Kennedy also joined John Wayne in the war film In Harm's Way before winning his Academy Award as the chain-gang convict Dragline.

In The Sons of Katie Elder, what trade has made John Wayne's character, John Elder, notorious?

Gunslinger John is so feared that Clearwater's new deputy treats his homecoming as trouble, while youngest brother Bud longs to copy him.

How does Tom Elder, the brother played by Dean Martin in The Sons of Katie Elder, make his living?

As a gambler, Tom supplies the film's lighter moments; Variety noted that Martin played the part with a little more humor than the others.

How does Morgan Hastings claim he came to own the Elder family ranch in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Won it at cards is his story, but Pa Elder was shot in the back that same night by an unknown killer, so the brothers smell a swindle.

What does hired gun Curley plant under a bridge to ambush the Elder brothers in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Dynamite turns the prisoner escort into a death trap: the blast kills one brother with a flying splinter and badly wounds the youngest.

In The Sons of Katie Elder, whose murder does Morgan Hastings pin on the Elder brothers?

The sheriff, kindly Billy Wilson, is shot by Hastings for asking pointed questions and dies before he can name his killer, so a lynch mob gathers.

To which Texas city does the judge order the Elder brothers moved for their safety in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Laredo is never reached: the escort is packed with Hastings men, and the journey ends in an ambush at a bridge.

The Sons of Katie Elder closes on which of Katie's belongings, set moving by a brush from John?

Her rocking chair sways back and forth as the film ends, a quiet sign that her boys finally did some good.

Who shoots Dave Hastings shortly before his dying confession clears the Elders in The Sons of Katie Elder?

His own father fires the shot, but Dave lives long enough to confess Morgan's crimes in front of John and the judge.

An argument over what purchase in Katie's memory ends in a brawl among her sons in The Sons of Katie Elder?

A marble monument sets the brothers swinging at each other, and the New York Times review singled out their tombstone squabble as wonderfully funny.

How does John Elder finally kill Morgan Hastings at the climax of The Sons of Katie Elder?

Blows up his shop: after a gun battle, John fires into a cask of gunpowder and the whole building goes up with Hastings inside.

Which actress, who married producer Hal B. Wallis a year later, plays Mary Gordon in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Martha Hyer, an Oscar nominee for Some Came Running, took the female lead and stayed married to the film's producer until his death in 1986.

Which Police Woman co-star plays Matt, the brother killed in the bridge ambush, in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Earl Holliman had already won a Golden Globe for The Rainmaker, a part he landed ahead of Elvis Presley.

Which Disney star of Old Yeller lost the role of Bud Elder in The Sons of Katie Elder after an arrest?

Tommy Kirk was arrested at a party where marijuana was being used and fired from the production, so the part of the youngest brother was recast.

Which Shane star was set to lead The Sons of Katie Elder in 1955 before buying out his studio contract?

Alan Ladd paid a six-figure sum to walk away, and the project then sat on the shelf for nearly a decade before the cameras rolled.

Which veteran director of Niagara and North to Alaska made The Sons of Katie Elder with John Wayne?

Henry Hathaway bounced back with it: his previous John Wayne picture, Circus World, had been a box-office disappointment.

Which composer of The Magnificent Seven theme wrote the score for The Sons of Katie Elder?

Elmer Bernstein also wrote the music for the title song, with words by Ernie Sheldon, though that number was left off the film itself.

Which Mexican state, a favourite of John Wayne, hosted outdoor filming for The Sons of Katie Elder?

Durango drew Wayne back again and again: between 1965 and 1973 he worked on seven films there.

Which essayist visited the set of The Sons of Katie Elder and wrote the profile John Wayne: A Love Song?

Joan Didion's profile ran in The Saturday Evening Post in 1965 and was later collected in Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

The Sons of Katie Elder was loosely inspired by the 1888 ordeal of which real family of five brothers?

The Marlows fought off an ambush while shackled together as prisoners; two were killed there, a third was poisoned in hiding, and the two survivors were later acquitted.

Which Hollywood studio, where producer Hal B. Wallis had his deal, released The Sons of Katie Elder?

Paramount first bought the story in 1955 and spent ten years on scripts, stars and delays before it finally reached the screen.

Which actor, later Inspector Luger on Barney Miller, plays villain Morgan Hastings in The Sons of Katie Elder?

James Gregory had already played one memorable screen schemer, the McCarthy-like Senator Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate.

The Sons of Katie Elder title song is said to reuse its singer's rejected theme for which Bond film?

Thunderball went to Tom Jones instead, and one account says the singer reused much the same music and arrangement a month later for the western's theme.

Which director of The Great Escape was first attached to The Sons of Katie Elder back in 1955?

John Sturges was named as director within months of the story being bought, a full decade before the film was finally shot under another director.

Which regular from The Rifleman plays the much-loved lawman Billy Wilson in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Paul Fix, television's Marshal Micah Torrance, was John Wayne's friend and one-time acting coach and turned up in many of his films.

What subject is Bud, the youngest brother in The Sons of Katie Elder, studying at college when the story opens?

Mining college is where his brothers vow to send Bud back, though the boy would much rather follow in his eldest brother's footsteps.

Which Winchester '73 star did the trade press tip in 1959 to join Dean Martin in The Sons of Katie Elder?

James Stewart was only ever a rumour: the producer shelved the project in 1960, blaming a glut of westerns, and revived it four years later.

What do the Elder brothers drive from a ranch in Pecos to raise money in The Sons of Katie Elder?

A herd of horses, taken on credit from the rancher Striker, completes a deal that Katie herself had begun before she died.

Which actor from TV's The Aquanauts plays Ben Latta, the hostile but dutiful deputy, in The Sons of Katie Elder?

Jeremy Slate's deputy distrusts the Elders yet dies trying to help them when Hastings springs the bridge ambush.

The opening credits of The Sons of Katie Elder follow a steam train through a canyon in which US state?

Colorado supplied the narrow-gauge Denver and Rio Grande Western line, now a scenic tourist railway, for the title sequence.

Michael Anderson Jr., who plays Bud in The Sons of Katie Elder, is the son of which Best Picture winner's director?

Around the World in 80 Days was directed by Michael Anderson, who later cast his son as Doc in the sci-fi film Logan's Run.