Mackenna's Gold

Mackenna's Gold is a 1969 American Western film directed by J. Lee Thompson, starring an ensemble cast featuring Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Telly Savalas, Ted Cassidy, Camilla Sparv and Julie Newmar in lead roles. It was photographed in Super Panavision 70 and Technicolor by Joseph MacDonald, with original music by Quincy Jones. Mackenna's Gold is based on the novel of the same name by Heck Allen using the pen name Will Henry, telling the story of how the lure of gold corrupts a diverse group of people. The novel was loosely based on the legend of the Lost Adams Diggings, crediting the Frank Dobie account of the legend (Apache Gold and Yaqui Silver) in the author's note. The film was a box-office failure in North America, but went on to become a major success in the Soviet Union and the Indian subcontinent. Plot An old legend tells of a fortune in gold hidden in the "Cañon del Oro" ("Canyon of Gold"), later called the "Lost Adams", guarded by Apache spirits. A man named Adams is said to have found it when he was young, only to have the Native Americans capture and blind him. Years later, Marshal MacKenna is ambushed by an old Native American shaman named Prairie Dog, and is forced to kill him. MacKenna thereby comes into possession of a map to the treasure. He examines it before burning it. Mexican outlaw John Colorado and his gang have been tracking Prairie Dog to get the map; they are themselves being tracked by the US Cavalry. They take shelter in the house of an old judge in Hadleyburg, kill the judge, and kidnap his daughter, Inga. Colorado captures MacKenna, intending to force him to lead them to the gold. The gang includes Colorado's right-hand man Sanchez and several Native Americans, among them an Apache warrior named Hachita and a fiery Apache woman, Hesh-ke. Hesh-ke and MacKenna were once lovers, but she rejected him after he arrested her brother, who was tried and hanged.