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Community reviews
From TMDb members · 1 total- Wuchak8/10
Unique train-oriented Western with Rod Taylor and several notables of the era RELEASED IN 1971 and written & directed by Douglas Heyes, "Powderkeg" chronicles events in 1914 when Mexican renegades led by Chucho Morales (Fernando Lamas) hijack a train for leverage to get his br…
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Powderkeg
“Their gun and guts for hire... and a blank check is their price”
85%
Movie
1h 33m
AI Analysis
Powderkeg (1971) — AI movie analysis
WatchMind AI generated this AI analysis of Powderkeg (1971) — a movie tagged as Action, Adventure, and Western with tense moods and fast-paced pacing.
Story & themes: A Mexican bandit is about to be executed in the United States, so his brother takes over a train and holds the passengers as hostages unless his brother is released. Now both the Americans and Mexicans are baffled as to what to do. One of the passengers — who wrote the letter for their captor — has a suggestion: cal… Our models also surface themes such as ai from synopsis and genre signals.
Watch context: Best suited for general audiences. Expect fast-paced storytelling (~93 min).
Community signal: TMDb members rate Powderkeg 85% (2 votes) — strong audience scores for this movie.
AI verdict
Powderkeg is a film worth prioritising when you want something with strong audience scores — our AI analysis flags it as a strong match for its genre and tone profile.
Algorithmic AI analysis from genres, synopsis, pacing heuristics, and TMDb community scores — not a generative chatbot. How WatchMind works.
Insights
Audience & engagement
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TMDb audience score
85%
from 2 TMDb votes
WatchMind sentiment
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Synopsis
A Mexican bandit is about to be executed in the United States, so his brother takes over a train and holds the passengers as hostages unless his brother is released. Now both the Americans and Mexicans are baffled as to what to do. One of the passengers — who wrote the letter for their captor — has a suggestion: call mercenaries Hank Brackett and Johnny Reech. They do, and as expected they do come up with a plan, but the president of the railroad is not sure if it will work.
Quick facts
- Type
- Movie
- Status
- Released
- Release date
- 1971-04-16
- Runtime
- 1h 33m
- TMDB rating
- 8.5
- TMDB ID
- 272238
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Frequently asked questions
Where can I watch Powderkeg (1971)?
Powderkeg is available for discovery on WatchMind. You can find official links to rent, buy, or stream from licensed digital stores like Apple TV and Amazon in our "Where to Watch" section.
Is there an official trailer for Powderkeg?
Yes, you can watch the official trailer for Powderkeg directly on this page. We pull the latest video metadata from TMDb and play it via YouTube integration.
What is Powderkeg about?
A Mexican bandit is about to be executed in the United States, so his brother takes over a train and holds the passengers as hostages unless his brother is released. Now both the Americans and Mexi... This is the official synopsis available via TMDb community metadata.
Is there an AI analysis for Powderkeg?
Yes. WatchMind publishes an AI analysis on this page — tone, pacing, audience fit, and community scores from TMDb metadata and recommendation models (not a chatbot). Scroll to the AI Analysis section or read the meta description summary.
How long is the movie Powderkeg?
The official runtime for Powderkeg is approximately 93 minutes.
Cast & crew
Names and photos from The Movie Database (TMDb). Follow links on themoviedb.org for full filmographies.
Directors & writers
Cast
Rod Taylor
Hank Brackett
Dennis Cole
Johnny Reach
Fernando Lamas
Chucho Morales
John McIntire
Cyrus Davenport
Michael Ansara
Paco Morales
Tisha Sterling
Beth Parkinson
Melodie Johnson
Miss Baker
Reni Santoni
Ricardo Sandoval
Luciana Paluzzi
Juanita Sierra-Perez
Joe De Santis
Col. Delgado
Jay Novello
Pablo Sandoval
James Brown
Sheriff Lynch
Roy Jenson
Briggs
Todd Martin
William Bryant
Major Bill Buckner
Audience notes
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Community reviews
Written by TMDb members — same catalogue as our movie & TV metadata. API terms
Unique train-oriented Western with Rod Taylor and several notables of the era RELEASED IN 1971 and written & directed by Douglas Heyes, "Powderkeg" chronicles events in 1914 when Mexican renegades led by Chucho Morales (Fernando Lamas) hijack a train for leverage to get his brother out of jail in New Mexico (Michael Ansara). Two adventurer-mercenaries (Rod Taylor and Dennis Cole) are enlisted to rescue the 73 passengers and take care of the banditos. While this was a TV movie, it’s pretty much as good as many theatrical Westerns of the late 60s/early 70s. The two stars, Taylor and Cole, have great chemistry and the tone is snappy with a distinctive story and a couple of unexpected twists. Luscious Luciana Paluzzi is on hand (playing a role in one of the surprises) along with Tisha Sterling and Melodie Johnson in the female department. Reviewers have overstated the action/thrills, but no worries because the drama is interesting. “Powderkeg” was the pilot for the short-lived Bearcats TV series in ‘71, which consisted of this film and 13 episodes. THE MOVIE RUNS 1 hour 33 minutes and was shot at Old Tucson, Arizona, and surrounding areas. GRADE: B+/A-
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