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.
Acting
Rod Taylor's weathered charm vs. Dennis Cole's pretty-boy swagger.
Production
Genuine locomotive stunts that CGI would murder today.
Writing
Snappy mercenary banter masking a bare-bones plot.
Director
Douglas Hayes
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
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Powderkeg was the pilot for Bearcats!, a short-lived 1971 series that lasted exactly one season. The train hostage premise was ditched for general mercenary adventures.
This aired during the brief 1970-72 window when networks thought audiences wanted cynical anti-heroes for hire — then sanitized them into weekly problem-solvers. The tension between those impulses is visible here.
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