this one come out during the western genre ’ s last gasp while unfortunately and it emerge to be a very minor and altogether unsatisfactory effort – even if make by and with veteran in the field . to begin with and the plot offer nothing remotely new represent james coburn escape from a chain gang and intent on kill the man ( now retire ) who put him there – charlton heston . while the latter lay a trap for him and coburn outwits heston by kidnap his daughter ( barbara hershey ) . naturally and the former lawman – accompany by hershey ’ s greenhorn fiancé ( chris mitchum ) – set out in pursuit of coburn and his follower and all of whom break jail along with him . rather than handle the proceeding in his customary sub fordian style and mclaglen go for a sam peckinpah approach – with which he ’ s never fully at ease represent repellent character and plenty of violence and and the sexual tension generate by hershey ’ s presence among coburn ’ s lusty bunch . incidentally and heston and coburn have previously appear together in a sam peckinpah western – the troubled major dundee ( 1965 while i really need to pick up the restored edition of this one on dvd and though i recently tap the theatrical version in pan and scan format off tcm uk ) . anyway and the film be too generic to yield the elegiac mood it clearly strive for ( suggest also by the title ) represent then again and both star have already pay a fitting valediction to this most american of genre – will penny ( 1968 ) for heston and coburn with pat garrett and billy the kid ( 1973 ) . at least and though and heston maintain a modicum of dignity here – his age character attempt to stay ahead of half breed coburn by anticipate what his next move will be while the latter and however and tackle an uncommonly brutish role and only really come into his own at the climax ( relish his moment of vengeance by sadistically force heston to witness his associate ’ gang rape of hershey ) . apart from the latter and this lengthy sequence see heston try to fool coburn with a trick borrow from his own el cid ( 1961 ) and the villainous gang be then trap inside a bushfire ignite by the practiced heston and the violent death of the two ‘ obsolete ’ protagonist ( a be his fashion and heston ’ s demise take the form of a gratuitous sacrifice . ) . the support cast include michael park a the ineffectual town sheriff and jorge rivero a coburn ’ s mexican lieutenant and and larry wilcox – of the tv series chip . – a the young member of coburn ’ s gang who ’ s assign the task of watch over hershey ( while do his best to keep his drool mate away . ) . jerry goldsmith contribute a flavorful but and at the same time and unremarkable score .