Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Slow
- Intensity
- Moderate
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- Mild
- broad
- irreverent
- boisterous
- classic movie night
- western marathon
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film visually ambitious and amiable, with appealing lead performances and energetic music, but judged its thin story, excessive length, and uneven execution disappointing.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Gold-country landscapes, large mining-camp set pieces, and songs such as the boomtown numbers define the film's presentation.
Ben Rumson and Pardner share a wife, Elizabeth, within the improvised society of the mining camp.
The prospectors turn their mining camp into No Name City, creating new customs, businesses, and social rules.
The film portrays gold prospectors, gamblers, hijackers, and camp entrepreneurs in a deliberately irreverent version of California frontier life.
Films like Paint Your Wagon, and why
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
shared western musical setting, broad comedy, ensemble spectacle, and songs integrated into frontier adventure
Cat Ballou
shared revisionist western humor, musical storytelling, and romantic entanglements in a stylized frontier world
The Apple Dumpling Gang
shared large-scale western musical format, comic tone, and contrasting outsider characters building a community
Mackenna's Gold
shared frontier romance, heightened comedy, and unconventional relationship dynamics in a western setting
Movie Details
- Director
- Joshua Logan
- Release Date
- 1969-10-15
- Runtime
- 164 min
- Rating
- 6.3 / 10 (289)
Cast
- Lee Marvin
- Clint Eastwood
- Jean Seberg
- Ray Walston
- Harve Presnell
- Tom Ligon
- Alan Dexter
- Terry Jenkins
- Paula Trueman
- H.B. Haggerty
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Paint Your Wagon about?
- An extravagant California gold-rush musical western where two prospectors improvise a boomtown, a partnership, and an unconventional household.
- What is Paint Your Wagon like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Paint Your Wagon as slow, its intensity as moderate and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is Paint Your Wagon violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Paint Your Wagon as mild.
- What did critics think of Paint Your Wagon?
- Critics broadly found the film visually ambitious and amiable, with appealing lead performances and energetic music, but judged its thin story, excessive length, and uneven execution disappointing.
- Which films are like Paint Your Wagon?
- Films with a similar feel include Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Cat Ballou, The Apple Dumpling Gang, and Mackenna's Gold.
- How long is Paint Your Wagon?
- Paint Your Wagon runs 164 minutes.
- Where can I watch Paint Your Wagon?
- In United States, Paint Your Wagon is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home.
