ages of the sons?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Film and Television Discussion
celticknotz — 21 years ago(May 02, 2004 03:56 PM)
I watched this movie for the first time today and I have a question about the ages of the sons.
According to IMDB JOhn Wayne was 58, Dean Martin was 48, Michael Anderson Jr. was 22 and Earl Holliman was 37 (or there abouts) when the movie was made.
There is about a 30+ year age differance between the oldest & the youngest, I understand there was a large age gap but isn't this pushing it a bit?
Is there a book this was based on I can read that may give a better age spread?
I mean just doing the rough math and making the older brothers say 10 years younger you have to remember that Katie was born in 1850 and lets make her a very young mother, I'll say 18, that would make the movie take place in 1916. Some how that just dosn't seem right.
Just my thoughts -
ecarle — 21 years ago(April 05, 2005 11:15 PM)
In the "old movie days" male characters who were supposed to be in their 30's or 40's were often played by men in their fifties sometimes, with Cary Grant and the like, even men in their sixties. It was just a fantasy. What was weird was that movie heroes were never supposed to be older than 50, no matter what age the actor playing them.
The problem with this one is John Wayne. Dean Martin looks younger than his real age here, he could pass for his 30's, so Martin, Holliman, and Anderson make some sense as brothers Katie could have had. It's John Wayne who looks way too old.
But no John Wayne, no movie. So there ya go -
tomcat69w — 20 years ago(August 31, 2005 10:24 PM)
I thought you were gonna say In the old movie days,All Six-Shooters shot twenty bullets! HA! (Alot of em' did) Love the Duke but this was stretching it a bit,seemed like the Duke shoulda' been their Pa! Ha! It wasn't until The Cowboys in 1972 when the Duke had a role fitting his age and his wife was a believeable 'handsome-frontier-woman' so many Duke movies have his love interest 25 years younger than him (or more) Is this movie on dvd?
Love & Peace T' -
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leadpoisonaod — 20 years ago(June 13, 2005 03:38 PM)
You fellers are hopeless! I Have The Answers To All Your Questions!
The answer to all the questions is on the tombstones at the beginning of the film during the funeral. Bass Elder was born in 1834 and died in 1898, if you read his tombstone which is a litte blury. So, he was approx. 64 years old when he died. Katie must have been close to the same age, although probably younger, so she probably died in her late 50's or early 60's. Now, she probably had John Elder when she was in her late teens or early twenties. That means Joh Elder was born c.1855. Tom was probably next, then Matt, then Budd.
Also, if you pay attention, you hear it mentioned that Bass Elder died some six months prior to the time of the movie. The tombstone says he died in 1898, so that means the movie takes place in either late in 1898 or early in 1899. From this, we know that Budd must have been born in either 1871 or 1872. So Katie couldn't have gone through menopause prior to the 1870's. If she was indeed born in the 1830's, like Bass, then she would have been in her early 40's or late 30's at this time. Hey, thats when most women have their last children.
After doing some logical reasoning, you can infer the following ages.
John: late 30's,
Tom: mid-late 30's
Matt: early-mid 30's
Budd: 17
Year of Movie: 1899
Bass Elder:(1834-1898)
Katie Elder:(late 1830's-1899)
Yeah, I'm a little extreme, but I got all the answers. lol -
Spearlet — 19 years ago(November 11, 2006 11:04 AM)
If you read any history books (hey, it's still true today), women married and had their first kids when they were still kids themselves. Some as young as twelve! My mother had eight. She was 17 when she had my oldest brother and 47 when she had my youngest sibling.
Doesn't matter though. I would probably make any excuse for this movie because I think it's a great flick. -
tightspotkilo — 20 years ago(December 24, 2005 04:42 PM)
A little problem here is that there was in fact a somewhat famous real life "Katie Elder" in the old west, born in 1850 and died at the ripe old age of 90 in the relatively modern year of 1940. She was a prostitute who hung out with Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday in Texas, Wichita, Dodge City, and elsewhere. Her real name was Mary Katharine Haroney, but she was known by the alias Katie Elder and "Big Nosed Kate." Google it, you'll find out all you ever wanted to know. And surely the writers here, Talbot Jennings et. al., must've known this little bit of Katie Elder history and that'd have to be where they came up with the name. It'd be to big of a coincidence otherwise.
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Captain_Augustus_McCrae — 14 years ago(November 25, 2011 09:19 AM)
Actually, Katharina Harony was most commonly known as Kate Fisher- only rarely was the name Elder used by her. She had a son by her first marriage, but the boy died before he was a year old, and Kate had no other children. Her husband died soon after, and she went West, where she met Doc. Absolutely no connection to the Katie Elder of the film. Ms. Harony never went by "Katie", only Kate.
"It ain't dying I'm talking about, it's LIVING!"
Captain Augustus McCrae -
tightspotkilo — 20 years ago(December 25, 2005 08:20 AM)
The mere attempt to masquerade John Wayne and Dean Martin as "brothers" at all, regardless of the age spread, is what strains credulity.
As for Grease, Olivia and John aside, the one I loved was their schoolgirl chum, Stockyard Channing, a full 10 years older than Travolta at the ripe old age of 34, and she looked every hour of it too. -
misschicken — 20 years ago(February 11, 2006 10:08 PM)
Also, if you pay attention, you hear it mentioned that Bass Elder died some six months prior to the time of the movie. The tombstone says he died in 1898, so that means the movie takes place in either late in 1898 or early in 1899. From this, we know that Budd must have been born in either 1871 or 1872. So Katie couldn't have gone through menopause prior to the 1870's. If she was indeed born in the 1830's, like Bass, then she would have been in her early 40's or late 30's at this time. Hey, thats when most women have their last children
If Bud was 17 in 1898 than he was born in about 1881 not 1872.
If Katie was married in 1850 than John could have been born about 1851. That would make John about 47 in 1898 - therefore there could have been a 30 year difference between oldest and younger brother. This could mean that Katie had her first baby at 16 and her last at about 46 which is not unheard of. -
Bambifan — 19 years ago(July 22, 2006 10:04 PM)
Hey, my mom had my oldest brother when she was 17 (almost 18) and me when she was 42, so there is 24 years between her oldest and youngest child. I never have seen the age gap of the brothers as a problem. I LOVE this movie!!!
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Lisiboo22 — 18 years ago(August 07, 2007 02:43 AM)
You know, I could be mixed up here, but in an earlier post, Spearlet posted "If you read any history books (hey, it's still true today), women married and had their first kids when they were still kids themselves. Some as young as twelve! My mother had eight. She was 17 when she had my oldest brother and 47 when she had my youngest sibling."
So, if thats you, then that doesn't make sense, because you just wrote "my mom had my oldest brother when she was 17 (almost 18) and me when she was 42, so there is 24 years between her oldest and youngest child. I never have seen the age gap of the brothers as a problem. I LOVE this movie!!!"
It just seems too much of a coincidence. So either you're lying about something, or I'm wrong, in which case I'm sorry
@_@ LUFFLEBUNNY!!!!!! (Mine!) @_@