Waterhole #3 (1967)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Entertaining Western/comedy in which follows the misadventures of two soldiers ( Claude Akins , Timothy Carey ) and a cobbler who rob Union Army a fortune in gold and bury it in desert waterhole . An astute thief named Cole (James Coburn) , a roguish gambler just passing through aware about the gold . As Cole attempts to profit from the fortune after a dispute with Doc Quinlan (Roy Jenson) . A beautiful girl ( Margaret Blye ) and rambunctious temperance daughter of the sheriff (Carrol O'Connor ) out to stop Cole en route to thirsting desert.Delightful Western parody in which the grifter Coburn steals the show using his wits , breaking all the rules and kicking virtually every cliché in the pants , as he relentlessly kills, robs and rapes . Amiable but sometimes lumbering Western satire goes on and on about the same premise . Seemingly endless list of character players includes a good support cast as Carroll O'Connor as unlikely sheriff , Bruce Dern as inept deputy and James Withmore as Northern officer . Furthermore adds sparkle other actors as Joan Blondell as a likable Madame and the villainous Claude Akins and Timothy Carey . The film follows in the wake of ¨ Hallelujah trail (65) ¨ by John Sturges ¨ Support your local sheriff ¨ and ¨ Support your local gunfighter ¨ by Burt Kennedy and of course but later ¨ Blazing saddles (74) ¨ by Mel Brooks , all of them are engaging Western satire and pretty bemusing . Colorful cinematography by Robert Burks and atmospheric musical score by Dave Grusin full of ballads sung by Roger Miller . The film is produced by Blake Edwards and well directed by William A. Graham . None of William Graham's later movies have topped this one for sheer belly laughters . He's usually TV director and occasionally for cinema , film-making several Western as Montana (90, Billy the Kid (89) , Last day of Frank and Jesse James (86) and Harry Tracy (86) and several others . Rating : Riatous Western spoof in which there's too much silly comedy and enough excitement.

James Coburn plays a charming, roguish gambler in prolific television director William Graham's comic oater "Waterhole # 3," a lightweight western about a government gold robbery and the people who pursue the gold after the fact. Actually, nothing about this oater seems offensive, but women will probably abhor it primarily for one scene where the amoral Coburn character has his way with the heroine in a barn against her will. Mind you, the filmmakers acknowledge that what Coburn's hero does constitutes rape, but Lewton Cole doesn't share that sentiment. He contends that nothing but the girl's pride was hurt. This illustrates how times have changed in Hollywood specifically and movies in general. When "Waterhole # 3 was made, the Europeans had appropriated the western genre as their own and lensed hundreds of horse operas in Spain and Italy about amoral sidewinders who were always after a fortune in gold."Waterhole # 3" looks like a softened up American version of those Spaghetti westerns. Ironically, Coburn turned down Sergio Leone when Leone asked him to star in "Fistful of Dollars" in 1964. Clint Eastwood rose to fame and fortune in that minor but major European sagebrusher, while Coburn stalled until 1971 when he made "Duck, You Sucker" for Leone. Unfortunately, "Duck, You Sucker" didn't fare well at the American box office. In fact, this western pulled up so lame that United Artists re-released it with the title "Fistful of Dynamite," but not even a title change could alter the lack of fortune for it. Coburn co-stars with rising character actor Carroll O'Connor who had not yet co-starred in the World War II yarn "Kelly's Heroes." Later, O'Connor would star in the controversial but entertaining seminal situation comedy "All in the Family." Alfred Hitchcock's long-time cinematographer Robert Burks, who lensed "North by Northwest" and "To Catch a Thief," presents the rugged west--the Alabama Hills in Lone Pine, California--in all its savage splendor with his widescreen photography that adds a dimension to the antics.The thoroughly conventional screenplay by one-time scribes Joseph T. Steck and Robert R. Young doesn't do anything terribly different from most westerns. Captain Shipley (James Whitmore of "Oklahoma! ") brings in a shipment of gold and entrusts it to care of Master Sergeant Henry J. Foggers (Claude Akins of "Rio Bravo") and promises to guard it with his life. In reality, Foggers is in cahoots with a quick-draw gambler Doc Quinlen (Roy Jenson of "Breakheart Pass") and a trigger-happy idiot Hib (Timothy Carey of "One-Eyed Jacks") and they have dug a tunnel from a shoemaker's shop to where the Army has the gold stashed. Foggers, Quinlen, and Hib force the shoemaker, Ben (Harry Davis) to pull the job with them. Quinlen takes all the gold, hides it, and scribbles a map to the treasure on a twenty dollar bill. Later, carefree gambler Lewton Cole (James Coburn of "The Great Escape") gets himself in deep trouble with Doc Quinlen after he appropriates money from Quinlen's wallet that Quinlen owes him for all his gambling losses. Predictably, Quinlen isn't amused by Cole's larcenous fingers. He roughs up Cole and Cole suggests that this could serve as a prelude to a duel at sundown. Quinlen has witnesses and he compels Cole to meet him in the street. Quinlen decides that he needs to kill Cole because the gambler has seen his twenty dollar bank note with a map on it.When Quinlen summons Cole into the street for their showdown, the barkeeper warns him that Quinlen will drop him sure as shooting. Cole walks onto the saloon gallery and Quinlen yells at him to join him in the street. Cole slides his Winchester repeating rifle out of its saddle scabbard and drops Quinlen with one shot. Quinlen struggles to rise and slumps over dead. Before Cole gets far, his horse pulls up lame and he rides into another town where Sheriff 'Honest' John Copperud (Carroll O'Connor of "Lonely Are The Brave") and his deputy Samuel P. Tippen (Bruce Dern of "Marnie") are sitting outside the jail talking about the upcoming sheriff's election. Cole ambles over and enters their office. Before either John or Samuel realize what he has done, Cole has locked them up in their jail cell, forced them to shed their clothes, and is off to steal John's horse. What John does realize is that he is running for reelection and is standing in one of his own jail cells as naked as a bird. At John's ranch, Cole is rustling John's prize horse when a lovely young thing, John's daughter Billee Copperud (Margaret Blye of "The Italian Job"), wanders into the barn. They tangle briefly and—as Billee tells Captain Shipley—Cole forces his affections on her. Once he has John's horse, Cole follows the crude map from one waterhole to the next.No sooner does Cole have the gold than Sheriff John rides up and gets the drop on him. Cole and Sheriff John become friends after Foggers and company steal the gold from them. Billee rides up and cuts the ropes binding them together. They return to town. Meanwhile, Foggers has plunged into the local bordello and is having himself a wild time. Hib winds up in Fogger's room at the hotel and Cole and John stake out the hotel. Eventually, Foggers tries to shoot his way out of town with the gold, but Cole and John pin him down. Just when they least expect it, Ben steals the gold from them. This nonsense goes back and forth until the Captain Shipley arrests Ben and refuses to believe that Foggers was a deserter and learns that Cole shot down Quinlen in self-defense. Like a Spaghetti western, Cole gets away with the gold. Aside from being politically incorrect, "Waterhole # 3" ranks as an above-average western. "

Haven't seen Waterhole #3. Having just read 'writerasfilmcritic's review, will enjoy so doing. 3 will offend those who believe what we laughingly call civilisation commenced in the late 60's, when stunt-growth subversive whelps of 30's Trotskyite parents began the slow train wreck called Political Correctness. Those offended by 3 wouldn't last two seconds during 3's era. Mindrot 'Victim Hagvocates','Facilitators','Sensitivity Trainers' and other lice, steeped in the delusion that Mammon and lawyers can save them would flee in horror from that tool of the Old West known as the rifle. They'd scream 'Gun! Gun! Call 911!'. Confronted by a hissing rattler - hiss far more dramatic than rattle - they'd recite an insipid roster of environmentalcase memberships and sue for peace. The rattler would do as do rattlers always, bite and slither away. Call it pest control.Refreshing to hear of 3's cultural outlook. In the 50's and 60's schools had gun clubs and rifle ranges yet were islands of tranquil learning. Worst offenses? Gum chewing and note passing. Yes, I said the 60's. Not all of us behaved as dirty hippies only to morph into big fat bloated money grubbing Korpseorate Oligarchs in the 90s and '00s. We were too busy studying and having fun to waste time on communist front groups like feminism, environmentalism, peace rallies, ban-the-gun-ism and other Trotskyite Beasts That Would Not Die.Many of we much maligned Boomers despise vapid PC trappings of litigation, restraining orders, and endless whining on LeftWing LezBag TV carnivals like dOprah. Got a beef? Discern your part in it. That'll stop it. Someone bugging you? Never ever even joke about Restraining Orders. They're Leninist contrivances crafted by devious deviant lawyer-mutants, promoted by psychopaths for the purpose of dividing society the better to destroy it. Walk from trouble if you can. If not, educate those who make it as to its steep costs.Might Waterhole #3 make a good litmus test? You know, those offended by 3 we'd keep at polite distance while those who enjoy 3 we'd put on our A list? Makes sense here. PC shills like lawyers and Victim Hagvocates lie for criminals so as to destroy society. Why do they scorn the Old West? Because in that era they'd be marked as twisted serpetine rejects. They'd be stuffed into the nearest boobie hatch - to resounding applause.See this film. It sounds like a breath of fresh air in a world slowly strangling itself with endless 'reforms', laws, and PC trash.Dr. Paul Vincent ZecchinoManasota Key, Floridawww.etherzone.com26 September, 2006 "Fear is the price of our instrument. But I can help you bear it."H. Lecter, M.D.c. Thomas Harris,"The Red Dragon"

Generally, I don't like it when these comments about movies degenerate to political diatribes, but with the reaction to this movie, I must respond. What the PC crowd doesn't understand about "Waterhole Number 3" is that in it Coburn played an amoral anti-hero who harbored a great degree of cynicism about hypocritical conventions. Therefore, the "horrible rape sequence" that has their panties in such a twist was merely part of his interpretation of how such a man would behave in a lawless environment. It would have been completely out of character for him to suffer an attack of scruples when confronted with a sexy gal alone in a barn. Besides, in the nineteenth century, feminism didn't even exist and women WERE men's playthings, whether Gloria Steinem can handle the concept or not. For them, to be kept barefoot and pregnant was reality, not an archaic state of being ridiculed by glorified lesbians whose primary goal in life is to control their "reproductive rights." Back in them days, folks, pioneer women had up to two dozen kids and lost a good many of the brood to disease, accidents, and murder. The feminine role was well-defined and there was no discussion about it. In point of fact, the "gentle rape" committed by Coburn upon the nubile young woman's tender virginity might not have been considered rape at all simply because he married her afterward. Some other disturbing facts of the era: Gays were not tolerated, let alone allowed to marry, but pistol-whipped merely for thinking their perverted thoughts. Indians, both good and bad, were driven nearly to extinction for daring to believe they had innate rights on the land. Many of the women of today would have been working in whorehouses, not telling the rest of us what constitutes modern standards of morality, either that, or they would have been slapped silly and sent slinking into the corner to mull over the reality of the day. To sit in front of your computer and actually attempt to apply PC hypocrisy to such a wild and lawless era is so absurd that it beyond comprehension. Furthermore,in the sixties (when this movie was made), a woman couldn't go up to a man's room at 2am, have consensual sex, and the next day claim she was raped, like that broad did to Mike Tyson. Such inherently suspicious bs would have been laughed right out of court. There was no such thing as "date rape," "spouse rape," or "sexual harassment." If a man caught his wife in the sack with another man, he could shoot them both and get off with a temporary insanity plea or not even be charged at all. Neurotic Generation X, with their condoms, Ipods, cell phones, piercings, tats, shaved pubic areas, and shallow, money-grubbing ways weren't even born yet, hence interesting flicks like this one could actually be made and distributed. As for the much ballyhooed rape, something very similar happened in "High Plains Drifter" and who complained then? It's a movie, folks. If you can't separate fact from fiction, perhaps you'd better turn off the set and get a life. Not one of you mentioned the gunfight sequence at the beginning of the movie, which set the tone for this film and should have sent you scurrying to turn if off. Challenged by some jerk to a gunfight, Coburn steps out the door of the saloon, casually approaches his mount, pulls out his saddle gun, rests it atop his saddle, and unceremoniously drops the dope who is standing in the middle of the street, stupidly believing that such differences of opinion were supposed to be resolved in a certain way. Coburn thumbs his nose at authority, convention, tradition, and all the rest of the hypocritical nonsense to which our woefully misguided country is devoted to today. Now, it's as if the sixties never even happened. We've got the Bible-thumping, hymn-singing, pew-sitting hypocrites on the one hand, constantly extolling the spectre of their children's tender psyches as an excuse for their own intellectual, spiritual, and moral cowardice, and the man-hating, feminist "global warming" advocates on the other hand. Both groups shouldn't be allowed to watch good movies like this. Their extremely fragile belief systems can't take it.