Mackenna's Gold / YMMV

Adaptation Displacement: The movie is still remembered by Western fans (although not always fondly) due to its All-Star Cast and Scenery Porn, and is better regarded than the now-obscure original novel.
Alternate Character Interpretation: Was Mackenna's past relationship with Apache outcast Hesh-Ke a case of Dating Catwoman^note? Or did Hesh-Ke's tribe only throw her out after she had an affair with the white man who arrested her brother, causing her to join Colorado's gang out of desperation?
Awesome Music: "Old Turkey Buzzard" is a simple yet stirring composition that captures the film's Gold Fever theme.
Best Known for the Fanservice: Hesh-Ke having a prominent cleavage and going Skinny Dipping is one of the few parts of the film to be fondly remembered.
Damsel Scrappy: Given that she has little role or depth beyond being someone for Mackenna to protect, Inga inspires annoyance or indifference among a decent number of fans.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Hachita and Hesh-Ke are surprisingly popular for a pair of villainous elective mutes with Brownface performers. Both manage to be interestingly expressive at pivotal moments and are fairly competent throughout the treasure hunt. Hesh-Ke's status as a Jerkass Woobie Ms. Fanservice and The Reveal that Hachita still cares about his ancestral culture add to their popularity.
- Adams gets a lot of appreciation for his Backstory as the canyon's discoverer and Edward G. Robinson's performance.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The film was quite popular in India.
He's Just Hiding:
- While Hesh-Ke is seen taking a pretty long fall off a cliff, she isn't shown hitting the ground, and once the other characters reach the bottom of the canyon, her body isn't there.
- Of the characters not shown either escaping or dying during the cavalry ambush, most fans hope that Adams and the older Englishman get out alive.
Jerkass Woobie: Hesh-Ke is an outlaw shunned by her people. She abuses the gang's prisoner Inga even before Mackenna shows an interest in her, after which Hesh-Ke makes multiple attempts to kill Inga out of murderous jealousy. And yet, she isn't hard to pity. In the past, she and Mackenna were lovers and only fell out when he had her brother hanged, leaving Hesh-Ke understandably upset and implying that she wasn't always an outlaw. It's implied that her own tribe disfigured Hesh-Ke before exiling her, possibly due to her relationship with Mackenna. Hesh-Ke is treated poorly by Colorado's gang, with Colorado casually offering her to Monkey to stop him from raping Inga, to Hesh-Ke's visible discomfort. She has no visible way of escaping that life, and shows hints of being disturbed at the idea of growing old in it. Then, when Mackenna returns to her life and she shows signs of forgiving him, he displays no interest in her, but in the white woman Inga. Her continued interest in Mackenna (which displaces any Gold Fever she may have) is treated with derisive amusement by everyone. When it looks like Inga has been released and Hesh-Ke will have a chance to win back Mackenna, Inga immediately comes back. Finally, when Hesh-Ke is seemingly killed at the end, no one even seems to notice or care.
Love to Hate: Colorado may be a Faux Affably Evil Big Bad with a Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, but he has more than enough Hidden Depths and Large Ham moments to make him fun to watch.
Narm Charm: The Canyon of Gold's collapse is contrived and drawn-out, but the special effects and the sheer scope make it an exciting scene for many fans.
Padding: The movie drags on a lot longer than it needs to, such as by having Tibbs needlessly bargain his his way into the gang when he barely does anything of note afterward, lots of riding through the desert, and some of the more underwhelming fight scenes dragging on.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
- Ben Baker gets a nice introduction bluffing Colorado into accepting him and his partners, but is gone within twenty minutes of that. A bit of a waste of the charismatic Eli Wallach. The same applies for most of those who came with him (especially the two Englishmen, the preacher and the storekeeper played by Burgess Meredith).
- Like Baker, Sergeant Tibbs hardly does anything of note after forcing his way onto the team, and gets killed in ridiculously anti-climactic fashion.
- Hesh-Ke and Hachita. The former has no dialogue, the latter is only Suddenly Voiced in one scene, and neither of them do anything to seriously affect the plot, instead just hanging around looking menacing. Hesh-Ke's interesting backstory with Mackenna and Hachita's belated Enigmatic Minion reveal are interesting, but lack any real focus or depth, when many fans would have liked seeing Hesh-Ke and Hachita be prominently fleshed out in a way actually important to the plot.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Mackenna's past interracial relationship with Dark Action Girl Hesh-Ke, who has both anger and lingering feelings toward him after he killed her brother, interests a lot of people but is barely touched upon in the story except to influence a few Yandere moments in the present that the movie doesn't really need.

YMMV / Mackenna's Gold

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