FILM · 1965 · USA
The Sons of Katie Elder
60 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (60)
- #001
Dean Martin later said of John Wayne: "Anyone else would have spent a year walking around feeling sorry for himself. But Duke doesn't know how to be sick. He's healing the hard way. He's two loud-talking men rolled into one. When people see me, sometimes they say, 'Oh, there goes Perry Como.' But there's only one John Wayne, and nobody makes a mistake about that."
- #002
Filming was to begin in October 1964, but it had to be postponed until January 1965 after John Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer.
- #003
George Kennedy recalled being surprised to learn that John Wayne, despite having undergone major surgery and quit smoking, still smoked cigars during filming.
- #004
John Wayne's own stuntman, Chuck Roberson, doubled for George Kennedy in the scene where Wayne's character John Elder strikes Kennedy's character Curley with an axe handle.
- #005
The film marked John Wayne's return to work only four months after having a cancerous lung and two ribs removed. To show the public that the illness had not slowed him down, he insisted on performing some of his own stunts.
- #006
The gunfight was broadly based on the true story of five Marlow brothers, whose parents had established a farm in the Oklahoma territory. Their father was a doctor, and the sons raised horses they sold to the army. Four of the brothers were wrongly accused of horse theft, arrested and brought to Graham, Texas. The remaining brother came hoping to prove their innocence but was arrested as well. After several attempts by a mob to lynch them, they were chained together and transferred to Weatherford, Texas, for trial. At Dry Creek on the edge of Graham, the crowd attacked them. The brothers took the deputies' guns and a fight broke out, just as depicted in this film. Two of the brothers were killed. The others escaped. One was later poisoned and shot so that his death would look like he had been shot while evading capture. The killer himself was charged with murder. In 1891, during the trial of the mob members, the judge praised the Marlows greatly for their courage and bravery and said they would be remembered in story and song. The two remaining brothers moved to Colorado and became respected lawmen.
- #007
Beginning with this film, Chuck Roberson would double for John Wayne in long shots on horseback.
- #008
Tommy Kirk, who took the role of the youngest son, Bud Elder, was fired from the film after his arrest for possession of marijuana at a party on Christmas Eve 1964. Photos of him in police handcuffs appeared on the front pages of newspapers, and as a result he had increasing difficulty working in the film. Bud's role was recast with Michael Anderson Jr.
- #009
The hearse displayed at Katie Elder's funeral is now located in front of the Haunted Mansion at Walt Disney World.
- #010
When the film rights were acquired in 1959 by producer Hal B. Wallis, who had a deal with Paramount, Dean Martin was announced to play the role of John Elder. In the end, Martin played Tom Elder.
- #011
Earl Holliman later said: "When you look at him and think of John Wayne, who was about 65 at the time [Wayne was nearly 58 during filming], and Dean Martin, me and Michael Anderson Jr. looked about 16 [Anderson was 21 during filming], when you're all playing brothers, you said to yourself, 'What kind of woman was this Katie Elder?'".
- #012
Before John Wayne signed on to the film in June 1964, Charlton Heston was being sought for the role of John Elder.
- #013
After John Wayne was diagnosed with lung cancer on September 13, 1964, he suggested Kirk Douglas take a role in the film. Henry Hathaway was determined not to recast, insisting that only Wayne could play John Elder. Producers suggested Robert Mitchum or William Holden in case Wayne did not survive the surgery or did not recover in time.
- #014
The film was first planned to be made in 1955 with Burt Lancaster and directed by John Sturges. Lancaster, however, thought the story was routine.
- #015
Because his lung had been removed, John Wayne relied on an oxygen tank on location for the film. He genuinely needed the tank, as the film was shot primarily in Durango, Mexico, at an altitude of six thousand feet above sea level.
- #016
The name "Kate Elder" was one of several used by Mary Katherine Horony Cummings, better known as "Big Nose Kate," a Western icon and sometimes the companion of Doc Holliday.
- #017
In a December 1994 interview with Charlie Rose, Dennis Hopper said John Wayne saved his career, while acknowledging that he could not find work in Hollywood because of his insolent behavior. Hopper stated that Wayne hired him for a role in the film because he was Margaret Sullavan's son-in-law, but noted that Wayne was not the film's producer and the production company was not involved.
- #018
The wanted poster of a man in a top hat smoking a cigar had been used in El Dorado (1966), also starring John Wayne, a thinly veiled remake of Rio Bravo (1959), which also starred Wayne and Dean Martin.
- #019
When Bud (played by Michael Anderson Jr.) tells John (played by John Wayne) that they could become as famous as the Dalton gang, John reminds him that the Daltons "were hung." In fact, three members of the Dalton gang were shot to pieces by angry citizens in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 1892 when the gang tried to rob both of the town's banks at the same time. The surviving Emmett Dalton was shot twenty-three times and served fourteen years in prison.
- #020
In addition to Karl Swenson, who played two roles (the doctor and the bartender), two other uncredited actors also played dual roles. The actor who initially plays the train guard later appears (this time with a mustache) as one of Hastings' gang. The same actor is also seen as another character whom Dean Martin passes near the corral on his way to the ridge. Boyd 'Red' Morgan was the uncredited actor playing the blacksmith and also appears (again with a mustache) as a member of the gang.
- #021
Although this was a big-budget film with a large cast, Karl Swenson was used to play two roles. He played "Doc Isdell" in the scene where Tom Elder (Dean Martin) puts his eye up for auction, and he also played the bartender. The bartender part had more dialogue.
- #022
After being dragged into the river for the water fight/ambush scene, John Wayne caught a severe cold toward the end of shooting.
- #023
Curley estimates that John Elder weighs around 200 lbs. In fact, John Wayne's weight had exceeded 260 lbs in the summer of 1964, but he lost weight after undergoing lung cancer surgery in September.
- #024
John Wayne's salary was six hundred thousand dollars, plus ten percent of the profits, which was more than all the other actors in the film combined.
- #025
Dean Martin was using bigger elevators than he had in Rio Bravo (1959).
- #026
At fifty-seven, John Wayne was thirty-six years older than Michael Anderson Jr., who played his youngest brother Bud. John Elder (Wayne) was supposed to be in his late thirties or early forties.
- #027
The youngest brother, Bud, says he is almost eighteen and is played by 21-year-old Michael Anderson Jr., yet his older brother John was supposed to be in his late thirties or early forties and was played by John Wayne, who was nearly 58 when shooting ended.
- #028
John Wayne's belt buckle bears the brand from another Wayne film, Red River (1948).
- #029
When John Wayne "punches" Dean Martin and hits his hand on the open door in the breakfast rush, he lets out an authentic "ouch" and holds his hand. They evidently chose to leave it in the film.
- #030
Although John Wayne and Michael Anderson Jr. played brothers in this film, in real life Anderson Jr.'s father, film director Michael Anderson, is 13 years younger than Wayne, and Wayne's four real-life children (including actor Patrick Wayne) are older than Anderson Jr.
- #031
According to his gravestone, Bass Elder was born in 1834 and died in 1898, making him sixty-three or sixty-four when he died. The film is set in 1898 or early 1899, and his eldest son is played by fifty-seven-year-old John Wayne, an actor far older than the character.
- #032
Although Ben Latta is repeatedly described as a young deputy, Jeremy Slate was 38-39 during shooting.
- #033
Henry Hathaway had previously directed Dennis Hopper on From Hell to Texas (1958), where there had been personality clashes. Here there was no such conflict. Hathaway even told Hopper that he had become a better, smarter actor since then.
- #034
Despite undergoing major surgery to remove his left lung, John Wayne managed to film a television program on behalf of Barry Goldwater in the 1964 Presidential election.
- #035
John Wayne (born 1907) was about ten years older than Dean Martin (born 1917), who was about eleven years older than Earl Holliman, who was about fifteen years older than Michael Anderson Jr. The age spread of the actors playing the brothers was said to be about thirty-six years. All four actors were playing characters significantly younger than themselves.
- #036
Henry Hathaway also directed John Wayne in True Grit (1969). Along with Wayne, John Doucette, Strother Martin, Dennis Hopper, James Westerfield and Jeremy Slate also appeared in this film.
- #037
Paramount Pictures bought William H. Wright and Talbot Jennings' story in 1955. The story was about five brothers and revolved around a cattle drive from Texas to Colorado. Samuel J. Briskin was assigned as producer. Frank Burt was to write the screenplay, John Sturges was to direct, and Alan Ladd was to star, returning to Paramount after several years away. He still owed Paramount a film. Noel Langley signed on to write a version of the screenplay, and shooting was to begin in April 1956. However, in July 1956 it was announced that Ladd had bought out his Paramount commitment for one hundred thirty-five thousand dollars and would no longer make the film (Henry Hathaway put the figure at two hundred fifty thousand dollars). In the end Paramount was involved in the production and distribution of the film, but the listed production company was Wallis-Hazen (as Hal Wallis' Production).
- #038
Earl Holliman enjoyed working with John Wayne, though he disliked some of the reactionary things Wayne said. Holliman was gay and later married a man.
- #039
The film was remade in a modern setting as Four Brothers (2005), but that film has a higher IMDb rating of 7.1 compared to The Sons of Katie Elder's 6.8.
- #040
Robert Mitchum was considered for the role of John Elder, while the part of Tom Elder was offered to Stephen Boyd.
- #041
When the film was released, there were complaints that its plot was not much different from 1930s B-westerns, some of which had starred Wayne himself.
- #042
Martha Hyer married producer Hal Wallis the following year. Although Wallis was Jewish, he attended church services with her.
- #043
John Elder (John Wayne) is the only one of the brothers who is neither shot nor killed.
- #044
When Bud says he is almost 18, audiences laughed, because that meant he was 40 years younger than his on-screen brother John.
- #045
This is one of four films in which Paul Fix and John Qualen appeared together. It is also one of three films in which both appeared alongside John Wayne. They would also appear together in the Winterkill (1973) episode of The Streets of San Francisco (1972).
- #046
Earl Holliman (who plays Matt Elder) and Dennis Hopper (who plays Dave Hastings) also appeared together in Giant (1956). In that film they were brothers-in-law; in this film they are enemies.
- #047
Although much has been written over the years about John Wayne being too old to play John Elder, it is worth noting that Dean Martin was in his late forties in this film yet played a character in his early thirties.
- #048
There is a total of 36 years between the four actors in the lead roles, all brothers by the same mother, and Michael Anderson Jr.'s character is assumed to be three years younger than the actor.
- #049
John Elder (John Wayne) fires a lever-action rifle at his leg chain to loosen it. Each time the lever is worked, he should eject the spent cartridge so a new round can be loaded into the chamber. John fires several times and works the lever, but the spent cartridges do not come out.
- #050
The film holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 15 critic reviews.
- #051
Variety's review stated that John Wayne was too old to be convincing as a character with a brother as young as Bud.
- #052
As the older brothers are chained and driven out of town, an American flag flies atop a building, with a Texas flag flying directly below it on the same building.
- #053
Early in the story, John Elder (John Wayne) sharply criticizes his younger brother Bud (Michael Anderson Jr.) for using "clumb" instead of "climbed." Later, however, when Bud expresses his admiration for the Dalton brothers, John says, "They were hung!" — though the correct past tense of execution by hanging is "hanged."
- #054
It is generally considered the slowest film John Wayne appeared in more than a minor role, slower than Rio Bravo (1959). The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) was slower, but Wayne only had a small cameo in that film.
- #055
When you return to the blacksmith's shop, the characters "DA43" can be seen burned into a post. There is no apparent reason for this or connection to this film, but since Durango was a popular location for shooting westerns in the 1950s and 1960s, it may represent the initials and birth date of someone from another film shot in Durango.
- #056
John Wayne often played characters of Irish origin even though he was actually of Scottish descent rather than Irish. In this film he plays a character of Scottish descent.
- #057
In her review, Joan Didion stated that the film was very old-fashioned for a 1965 western and would likely appeal only to fans of John Wayne and Dean Martin.
- #058
There was speculation that John Wayne's support for Barry Goldwater boosted the box-office success of this film and El Dorado (1966), because middle-aged and older white Americans were increasingly looking back with nostalgia during the civil rights movement, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, rising urban violence, the counterculture movement and anti-war protests.
- #059
At the end, John Elder sees boxes of gunpowder and blasting powder. Gunpowder and blasting powder are both explosives, but they differ significantly in composition and use. Gunpowder, also known as black powder, is a mixture of potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal used primarily as a propellant in firearms. Blasting powder, by contrast, is typically made from sodium nitrate instead of potassium nitrate and is designed to blast rock and other materials.
- #060
After Earl Holliman's death in November 2024, Michael Anderson Jr. is the last surviving star as of May 10, 2026.
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