Stupefyin' Dross

Gregory Peck in an underwater love scene? The notion is only improbable; the picture is impossible.

Conceived as a classic western about the pursuit of one of those bitch goddesses, Mackenna's Gold is manned by an honor roll of movie stars of the '40s: Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massev, Eduardo Ciannelli, Burgess Meredith, Edward G. Robinson, Keenan Wynn. Together they pick the hambone clean in a search for the usual lost gold cache --before they get wiped out in the customary massacre. Left over are a Mexican villain (Omar Sharif), leathery Marshal Mackenna (Gregory Peck), one surly, burly Apache and two obligatory ladies. The blonde (Camilla Sparv), supposedly Arizona-born and bred, speaks with a heavy Swedish accent. The Indian maiden (Julie Newmar) is a red-skinned Stupefyin' Jones, left over from the musical Li'I Abner. In the movie's sole sex scene, she is submerged in a tarn, seemingly nudish but actually prudish in a body stocking.

Peck, all dignity, stalks senselessly through the film like a man in someone else's nightmare. The dreamer is Film Maker Carl Foreman, whose shoddy special effects and flaccid production soon turn Mackennas Gold into solid dross. To fill up the film, he has Jose Feliciano twanging a narrative ballad and Quincy Jones's thunderously atmospheric music throughout. The result sounds like pebbles clattering down the Grand Canyon.

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