The title could well refer to the two stars, both, alas, well past their sell-by dates, in this undistinguished but nevertheless beautifully photographed (by veteran cameraman William Clothier) western. Toupeed, paunchy John Wayne plays a Union colonel on his way to Mexico who confronts mustachioed Rock Hudson - shades of McMillan and Wife - as a Confederate colonel, but the theme of post-Civil War reconciliation ensures that no sparks fly between the two leads. There's no real chemistry either, deepening the suspicion that Wayne and Hudson had little in common, either on or off screen. Director Andrew V McLaglen seems to have had problems locating the right tone for this tale, but US football fans might relish the casting of gridiron stars Roman Gabriel and Merlin Olsen, while lovers of the genre might recall the glory days of those members of John Ford's repertory company present here: Ben Johnson, Harry Carey Jr and John Agar.

After the Civil War, ex-Union Colonel John Henry Thomas and ex-Confederate Colonel James Langdon are leading two disparate groups of people through strife-torn Mexico. John Henry and company are bringing horses to the unpopular Mexican government for $35 a head while Langdon is leading a contingent of displaced southerners, who are looking for a new life in Mexico after losing their property to carpetbaggers. The two men are eventually forced to mend their differences in order to fight off both bandits and revolutionaries, as they try to lead their friends and kin to safety.