The picture talks about a widow (Anne Margret , though Wayne felt she had stolen too many scenes) who contracts as employer to a motley group of cowboys (Jon Wayne , Rod Taylor , Ben Johnson, Christopher George , Vinton and Jerry Gatlin replacing Jack Elam) to help her retrieve the robbed gold of the Well Fargo in order to delete her late husband's bad name who had previously stolen it . The gold is located on a far desert and they'll have to cross various places until achieve their objective and being pursued by some cutthroats and a detective of Pinkerton agency (Ricardo Montalban) .

The highlights of the film are the imposing attack by the bunch of baddies on the train remains where the protagonists are sheltered and , of course , the final confrontation results to be pretty exciting . In the motion picture there is western action , continuous riding , emotion , tension , adventures , relaxed acting and results to be quite entertaining as well as fun . John Wayne's and Ann-Margret's character names , "Lane" and "Mrs. Lowe," are the same as Wayne's and Geraldine Page's characters' names in ¨Hondo¨ by John Farrow . The storyline is simple and plain but the final plot line has an astounding surprise that turns out to be the best part of the movie . Good support cast , such as : Ricardo Montalban , Ben Johnson , Jerry Gatlin , and Christopher George who played along with Wayne in "El Dorado" (1967) and "Chisum" (1970) . Excellent musical score by Dominic Frontiere , author of various enjoyable western soundtracks , thus : ''Barquero'', ''Chisum'' and ''Hang high'' . Glittering and impressive cinematography by William H. Clothier at his last film , habitual photographer of John Wayne films , it is colourfully shown on the numerous outdoors that are stunning location shots . This low-key pic was produced by John Wayne and his son Michael G. Wayne , proprietaries of the Batjac Productions . The movie was professionally directed by Burt Kennedy , author and screenwriter of a few classic Western mostly performed by Randolph Scott and directed by Budd Boetticher . The flick will appeal to John Wayne fans and western moviegoers . Rating: Nice and good . It's worthwhile seeing.

Ann-Margret has hired John Wayne and company to find some stolen gold that her husband along with other outlaws had robbed. It's in Mexico, a four day ride according to her. So off our intrepid group goes to Mexico.

Of course those other outlaws are after it also so therein lies the tale.

Burt Kennedy did so much better for the Duke in The War Wagon than in this one. Pity because the chemistry between the cast is pretty good. If this were back in the days of B westerns, I can easily see Wayne with Ben Johnson and Rod Taylor in a kind of Three Mesquiteer series with a bigger budget.

There are so few action sequences. The chemistry is good, but that's only part of it. In my review of The Comancheros I mentioned that Wayne and Stuart Whitman's chemistry was excellent and it carried the film. But there was a LOT more action in The Comancheros than in The Train Robbers. It's only 90 minutes and that is short for a feature film by 1973.

There is a real explosive climax with the nameless, faceless, villains that have been pursuing the group at the end. And Ricardo Montalban's Pinkerton man at the end really gives an unexpected twist to the proceedings. That was pure Burt Kennedy.

I think most fans of John Wayne will be disappointed in this one.

THE TRAIN ROBBERS is another solid John Wayne adventure, not one of his best stories but certainly watchable enough. It's a film where you can just sit back and enjoy both the ruggedness of the scenery and the main actor, the performances of the recognisable supporting cast members, and the regular action bits with all of the shoot-outs, horse riding, and fist fights you could want. These films are neither the best nor the worst of the genre; they're merely pretty good, and pass the time ably enough.

Wayne leads a posse of cowboys who are tasked by a beautiful widow to receive a missing gold shipment located on the far side of the desert. The film follows their journey through a hostile terrain as they face pursuit by the dedicated Ricardo Montalban and battles with various murderous bandits. There's a heck of a lot of horse riding here if that's your thing. Wayne is well supported in this one by a fading Rod Taylor (little seen after the 1960s),a hardy Christopher George, and the reliable Ben Johnson. Ann-Margaret does quite well in the rather thankless widow role.