Waterhole #3

Waterhole #3 is a unique western, one made truly without any cowboy heroes. It is a film full of scoundrels.

Sergeant Claude Akins has decided to quit the army in style when he and two others decide to rob an army gold shipment. One who buries it has a map drawn to find it. But he loses it and his life to gambler James Coburn who is one unique kind of rogue.

So is sheriff Carroll O'Connor who led a life of crime himself before taking the badge. In fact as sheriff upholding law and order he's brought a Tammany Hall/Chicago machine style to the job. He's also got an interesting set of morals after Coburn fleeing from him takes advantage of his daughter Margaret Blye.

I won't even go into the plot and definitely won't go into who wound up with the gold. It has to be seen to be believed.

Scoundrels abound in Waterhole #3 along with many laughs.

I have to laugh at the girlie "men" so indignantly panning a movie from 50 years ago. Grow up, you wimps, and take notes. This is what men were like 150 years ago, and even 50 years ago. Frankly, I found this quite entertaining for what it was intended to be! - after all, Blake Edwards produced it, not Elizabeth Warren.

I kept seeing parallels to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World!" from five years previous, wherein many disparate parties all catch wind of a hidden treasure, and friendships/alliances/allegiances constantly shift until all parties converge upon the treasure...at which point the party watching all the silliness absconds with the loot. This flick just adds an extra twist after THAT point.

Nice way to kill two hours!

"Waterhole #3" always hits the spot. It's fast moving and has a lot of laughs. It is well acted by a very good cast. James Coburn is good (as always). Carroll O'Connor is very good (as he often is) but the stand-out is Claude Akins. Akins gives a terrific performance. It's probably his best work. Another plus is Tim Carey. It's always great when he shows up in a movie.. It's also a beautiful looking movie and it has a great musical narration. "Waterhole #3" is a good, light-hearted western.

Produced by Blake Edwards' company, Geoffrey Productions, "Waterhole #3" shows the hand of Edwards in its nod-and-a-wink approach to sex. Although it could never be made today, because of our PC environment and the film's loose treatment of (maybe) rape and casual sex, this film nevertheless stands the test of time because of a fine cast, a good soundtrack and a witty script. The only negative comment I can make concerns the atrocious continuity and editing mistakes. They really hurt an otherwise funny film. One of James Coburn's best.

WATERHOLE #3 (4 outta 5 stars) I've always loved this movie... mostly for the a great song by Roger Miller ("The Code of the West") that plays throughout. James Coburn is a con man and grifter who comes across a map that leads to a fortune in stolen US Army gold. Carroll O'Connor is the crooked sheriff who stays on Coburn's tail. The movie kind of meanders along in a lazy way... with amusing comedy bits and some violent gunplay along the way. As I said, the Roger Miller soundtrack is what really propels this movie along... without it I think the movie would be barely mentionable. The only flaw in this movie... the reason I can't give it 5 stars is for the awful subplot about James Coburn raping the sheriff's daughter and having her fall in love with him for the rest of the movie. I guess a case could be made that the movie is supposed to be "satirizing" the casual treatment of rape by its characters but such "playful" moments as describing rape as "assault with a friendly weapon" seem calculated as laughs AT women rather than AGAINST the menfolk. This probably didn't bother people a bit in 1967 but nowadays... well, you can see why this doesn't play much on TV anymore.