Powderkeg

Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole attempt to save a train full of passengers held hostage. This is a very intense action film, full of action and even some comedy. This film acted as the pilot for the short lived 1970 series The Bearcats. This film seems to be a kind of 2 man A- Team. Great performances by Taylor, and Fernando Lamas is excellent as the bandit.

Watching Lamas tiptoe up to, but never crossing, the line between acting and overacting is great fun to watch. Taylor, as usual is great as a rough soldier of fortune. This film should be shown to today's network execs to show them how good a TV movie can be...great acting, direction, story, and authentic locations. Too bad "Bearcats!" didn't last longer as a series. A good outdoor based action show with a good cast (and great weekly guest stars) might be a hit today instead of the usual doctor and cop shows. And I love the car...a beautiful 1914 Stutz Bearcat. You car & film buffs out there might be interested in knowing it's the same car John Wayne drove in "Wings of Eagles" and I believe it to be the same one used in the Disney film "Summer Magic" with Haliey Mills and an episode of "Green Acres". It was later owned by a friend of mine and is in a California collection.

I just saw this movie again, 28 years after I first saw it on television in 1972. I remembered it as being a good movie, but I thought it might be "old" by today's standards. Not so. It has a good script, excellent direction, and fine acting all around. The "good guys" go after a Mexican bandit who has taken a passenger train hostage to insure that his brother isn't hanged in the United States. Good action fare.

In the beginning of the Twentieth Century, the Mexican outlaw Chucho Morales (Fernando Lamas) hijacks a train with seventy-three passengers that become his hostages and asks the law student Ricardo Sandoval (Reni Santoni) to write a ransom note. He demands that his brother Paco Morales (Michael Ansara), who will be hanged in a couple of days, be released. He kills one passenger that was trying to protect his daughter Beth Parkinson (Tisha Sterling) and drops his body off the train on a station with the note. Ricardo, who is the son of the military Pablo Sandoval (Jay Novello), asks in the note to call Hank Brackett (Rod Taylor) and his partner Johnny Reach (Dennis Cole) to rescue them. Pablo meets the owner of the railroad Cyrus Davenport (John McIntire) and brings Hank and Johnny. Hank presents a daring plan, and Davenport asks the governor to switch Paco per the hostages. The problem is when Juanita Sierra-Perez (Luciana Paluzzi) poses as Paco's wife to visit him in jail and kills him to revenge her family. Now Hank's bold plan is the only possibility to rescue the hostages alive.

"Powderkeg" (1971) is a great pilot of the unknown series "Bearcats!". The plot is an entertaining western, with funny and violent scenes. Chucho Morales spending the night with Beth Parkinson is probably the worst, but subtle, scene without the need of any graphic scene. Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole are very funny in their roles and the gorgeous Luciana Paluzzi is in her heydays. The bandit Chucho Morales, performed by Fernando Lamas, is scary. This film was released in Brazil by an obscure distributor and terrible image but is worthwhile watching. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Barril de Pólvora" ("Powderkeg")

Whacked-out bandito Fernando Llamas holds a train load of passengers hostage and moving in circles, while he ransoms them for the release of his brother, who's in jail awaiting hanging. The railroad calls on smooth soldiers-of-fortune Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole to rescue the hostages and neutralize their captors.

This exciting made-for-television movie/series pilot is way ahead of it's time, anticipating shows and movies like "The A Team", The Delta Force, and even Speed. Why the resulting series "The Bearcats" failed and was forgotten, remains a mystery.

Here, Llamas appears to be having a hell of a time, playing his role with relish. His amusing, over-the-top performance is probably the best thing about this this, although Taylor seems to be enjoying himself greatly as well.

Things seem a little stretched out, but the climax is definitely worth sticking around for.