The Sons of Katie Elder is a 1965 American Western film in Panavision, directed by Henry Hathaway[2] and starring John Wayne and Dean Martin.

The four adult sons of Katie Elder – John, who is a famous professional gunman; Tom, a professional gambler; Bud, the youngest brother, in his first year at mining college; and Matt, an unsuccessful hardware dealer – reunite in their hometown of Clearwater, Texas (though the real town is 107 miles (172 km) east of Dallas in northeast Texas, the movie's version is obviously set in southwestern Texas), in 1898 for their mother's funeral, sharing regret that none of them has lived up to her high expectations of them.

The brothers want to do something for Katie's sake, and after an argument about marble monuments ends in a brawl, they decide to send Bud back to college.

The Elders suspect foul play and, anticipating trouble, Hastings has brought in a hired gun, Curley.

A rancher named Striker agrees to let the brothers drive a herd of horses from his ranch in Pecos to sell to the miners in Colorado, on credit, a deal he started with their mother.

During the transport, Hastings arranges an ambush using the deputized townsmen in the escort, except for Deputy Sheriff Ben Latta, who, despite his hostility towards the Elders, remains dedicated to his duty.

John and Tom succeed in beating back the surviving ambushers; they return to town to get medical help for Bud and barricade themselves in the smithy.

[14] Following Wayne's surgery to remove a cancerous lung and two ribs, the star insisted on doing his own stunts, and nearly contracted pneumonia after being dragged into a river.

Outdoor locations were filmed in Durango, in northern Mexico, and the opening credits scene as a locomotive travels a narrow stream canyon valley on the famed Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad (now, a scenic tourist train) Colorado, United States.

Former Disney star Tommy Kirk was signed for the film, presumably in the role of Bud Elder, but his arrest for being at a party where marijuana was used led to his being fired from the production.

Four years later, Henry Hathaway also directed John Wayne in his only Academy Award-winning role of Indian Territory U.S.

In addition to Wayne, actors Strother Martin, Dennis Hopper, and Jeremy Slate were all cast in that film as well.

Johnny Cash sang a song in 1965 also called "The Sons of Katie Elder", written by Elmer Bernstein and Ernie Sheldon but, despite the title and composer, did not feature in this movie.

Howard Thompson reviewed the film in The New York Times on August 26, 1965, calling it "a good, tough, unpretentious and gory little Western with a professional stamp and a laconic bite", helmed by "an ace director... who knows exactly how to spike menace and mayhem with authentic settings and excellent color.

"[17] Variety's review summarized the plot and observed: "Wayne delivers one of his customary rugged portrayals, a little old, perhaps, to have such a young brother as Anderson but not so old that he lacks the attributes of a gunman.

"[18] In the September 15, 1965 edition of Vogue, Joan Didion, who was on-set during part of the shooting, praised the film succinctly: "This is an old-fashioned action Western.

"[19] The previous month, Didion had published a profile of John Wayne in The Saturday Evening Post based on her experience on the set of the film.

[20] The article, titled "John Wayne: A Love Song", was later included in her 1968 essay collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem.

Ten years later, the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad came through and built a station on the location, naming it Marlow.

[23][24][25] Boone had earlier killed James Holstein (or Holdson or Holston) in 1882, a man allegedly hired to "intimidate settlers", after an inebriated Holdson began shooting at him on the Gilmore farm near Vernon, Texas, just across the Red River from the Indian Territory (his sister Elizabeth had married into the Gilmore family and the couple had set up a place there).

[31][32] This killing seemed to be justified in self-defense, but would be brought up later by John and William Murphy, deputy marshal Edward W. "Ed" Johnson, and Sam Criswell, who were having a personal feud with Boone, and would be witnesses against the brothers.

Martha Jane bailed them out and they went to their place in Young County,[23][24][25] a log and clapboard building on the farm of O. G. Denson, fifteen miles southeast of Graham.

[23][24][25] On January 19, 1889 (after dark),[39] the deputy then decided to move the four brothers to Weatherford, Texas, chained together along with two other prisoners (William D. Burkhart and Louis Clift).

[47] The five Marlow brothers had been falsely accused of stealing horses, and after the shootout that left three dead, George and Charles were finally acquitted in a Dallas trial.

As deputy marshal Ed Johnson was lying wounded at his home, he gave a newspaper interview to the Graham Leader.

The insistence that something be done in the edition of January 24 of the Graham Leader, and this slip up by Johnson, started an investigation into the affair by the U.S. marshal for the Northern District of Texas in Dallas, William Lewis Cabell.

[41][48] Collier, deputy Johnson, David "Dink" Allen, attorney Robert "Bob" Holman, Jack Wilkins, W. R. Benedict, county attorney Phlete A. Martin, deputy tax collector John Levell, constable Marion A. Wallace (the dead sheriff's nephew), Wil Hollis, William Bee Williams, Richard "Dick" Cook, deputy sheriff Eugene Logan, constable Sam Waggoner, Clint Rutherford, and Verna Wilkerson were all charged with conspiring to falsify a case against the Marlow brothers, conspiring to kill the Marlow brothers in an ambush, and murdering Alfred and Lewellyn Marlow while they were in the protective custody of a United States Marshal.