Film

The Spikes Gang

Name: The Spikes Gang
Genre: Western, Action
Released: 1974
Cast: Lee Marvin, Gary Grimes, Ron Howard, Charles Martin Smith, Arthur Hunnicutt

Crime
Western
Action
Light-hearted

A 1974 Western about three farm boys who idolize a wounded bandit and beg him to teach them crime. It's a coming-of-age story with an odd moral compass, watching teenagers romanticize outlawry while an old crook reluctantly becomes their mentor. Funny and surprisingly tender, full of period charm and the specific sting of youthful stupidity.

TMDb rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love coming-of-age Westerns where the outlaw life looks more like a bad apprenticeship than glory, and where a warm, wry friendship between a grizzled criminal and green kids carries the story.

Skip it if you want a fast, bullet-heavy shootout picture; the gunplay is sporadic and the middle stretches are loose, ambling and talky rather than tightly plotted.

What it asks of you: It runs about ninety-six minutes at an easygoing pace, lingering on campfire talk and small-town scrapes, so it wants patience more than close attention.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Wild Bunch1969

Peckinpah's violent elegy for the Old West, following aging outlaws on their final job. If you want the serious, bloody predecessor to *The Spikes Gang*'s lighter take on criminal mentorship and obsolescence.

But Brutally violent and deliberately paced. Some find it dated; others find it perfect. Either way, it demands patience.

Paper Moon1973

Ryan O'Neal and Tatum teach each other con artistry across Depression-era America. Shares the same DNA of adults corrupting kids (or kids corrupting themselves) with charm, humour, and real affection underneath.

But Deliberately slight and mannered. The con artist life is treated as seductive mischief rather than tragedy, which some find morally queasy.

Johnny Guitar1954

An eccentric Western where a tough woman runs a saloon and a gunslinger drifts in. Not about plot—it's pure mood and character, with that same lived-in quality of people with histories nobody asked about.

But Deeply weird in ways that don't always make sense. The gender dynamics are progressive but strange. It rewards patience with atmosphere over action.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Spikes Gang

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Days of Heaven1978

Both follow adolescents seduced by a false promise of escape, watching them realize too late what they've become complicit in.

Terrence Malick's film about migrant workers and hidden violence on a wheat farm in 1916. It looks like nothing else—painterly and whispered—but it shares *Spikes Gang*'s interest in how young people stumble into moral compromise.

But Almost no plot in the conventional sense. The dialogue is sparse and sometimes inaudible. It moves at a rhythm that feels more like poetry than narrative.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

A woman disguises herself as a man in the frontier West and builds a life outside society's rules. Genuinely eccentric revisionist Western with real historical weight and dry humour about survival and reinvention.

But Very slow. The politics are straightforward in a way that can feel didactic. It's a small, quiet film pretending to be a bigger one.

Ride the High Country1962

Two aging lawmen on a final job together, navigating a world that's left them behind. Elegiac and funny, full of masculine tenderness and the specific melancholy of men watching their era die.

But A Peckinpah, so slower and more philosophical than you might expect. The final act doesn't explode the way genre convention suggests it will.

The Missouri Breaks1976

Marlon Brando as an eccentric hired gun versus Jack Nicholson's horse thief, with dark comedy threading through the violence. Anarchic and genuinely strange in ways that match *Spikes Gang*'s willingness to be offbeat.

But Wildly uneven and self-indulgent. Brando's performance is either brilliant or ridiculous depending on your tolerance for theatrical oddness.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid1969

Two charismatic outlaws on the run, trading banter and gradually realizing there's nowhere left to go. It's fun, smart, and deeply sad underneath—exactly the tone *Spikes Gang* reaches for.

But Easier and more likeable than it deserves to be. Some find it too slick, more movie-star vehicle than genuine Western.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid poster

Lonely are the Brave1962

Kirk Douglas as an old cowboy who can't fit in the modern world, fighting it with dignity and humour. A meditation on obsolescence and stubborn independence, with real tenderness toward its aging protagonist.

But The modern world wins. It's fundamentally melancholic. The happy ending you might want doesn't come.

Johnny Tremain1957

A teenage silversmith gets caught up in Revolutionary War intrigue. Old-fashioned adventure about youth caught between principle and survival, with that same earnest coming-of-age energy.

But A Disney picture, so sanitized and brightly lit. The stakes feel mannered. It's wholesome in ways that can feel claustrophobic.

The King and Four Queens1956

Both are fundamentally about con artistry and seduction—how a charismatic person talks others into trouble, and how easily that trouble becomes romance.

Clark Gable cons his way into a remote ranch full of widows and their secrets. A clever, funny Western about deception and desire, shot in CinemaScope and full of genuine charm—a lighter film but with real craft.

But A studio Western from the '50s: slick, a bit broad, and not interested in moral ambiguity. The tone is breezy in ways that might feel dated.

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia1974

Made the same year as *Spikes Gang*, this is what happens when you strip away all the charm and warmth—the same outlaw mythology viewed as a descent into hell rather than romance.

Warren Oates as a piano player in Mexico dragged into a brutal treasure hunt. Peckinpah at his most unhinged—violent, drunk, gorgeous, and genuinely shocking. A masterpiece of directorial rage.

But Ugly and misanthropic. Graphic violence and sexual coercion. It's about degradation and has the tone to match. Not entertainment in any comfortable sense.