Ed Bannon (Charlton Heston) and partner Sandy MacKinnon (Milburn Stone) stumble upon a couple of Apache warriors preparing to spring an ambush for a cavalry patrol and spring their own ambush first. When the patrol is attacked, Bannon winds up being blamed for the hostilities and is dismissed from his role as a scout.
He hangs around just the same. The cavalry is still trying to negotiate a peace with the Apache so they can send them to a reservation in Florida. An Apache leader named Toriano (Jack Palance) is presumably returning from schooling in the East to lead the way.
But Bannon was raised by the Apache, fled after trying to prevent Toriano from bashing in the head of his sickly brother and he trusts no Apache. He suspects Toriano has no interest in boarding a train and being shipped to Florida.
And he winds up being right. Instead, Toriano wants to teach the Apache a ghost dance as part of an uprising to remove whites from their land. And soon after, the blood-letting begins.
Following orders, Capt. Bill North (Brian Keith) continues to fight for peace. But even he ultimately decides Bannon’s way of dealing with the Apache might be the best method after all.
Review:
Heston blusters his way through another Western in almost unbearable fashion, the scout who always thinks he’s right and usually winds up being correct. Fortunately, the script keeps the action coming fast and furious so the focus isn’t always on him.
There’s some silliness along the way. According to Bannon, the Apache always plan their attacks in a shape, perhaps a circle, perhaps a giant X. But if Toriano finds out he’s with the cavalry patrol that’s on his trail, he might change to a pattern he can’t figure out. Huh?
And somehow, he slips through an entire Apache war party to find Toriano and challenge him to the way too over-used climatic hand-to-hand combat that’s going to settle everything.
For subplots, we have Katy Jurado as Nita, Bannon’s half-Mexican, half-Apache laundress, the one Indian he apparently trusts, at least when the film opens. Mary Sinclair, who did the bulk of her acting on TV, is Lela Wilson. She loves Bannon and would marry him, if only he had any interest in settling down. She might settle for the life of an Army officer’s wife with Capt. North instead.
The film is supposedly based in part on the real-life exploits of Al Sieber, a scout during the Apache wars who was in the field with Gen. Crook when Geronimo surrendered.
Directed by:
Charles Marquis Warren
Cast:
Charlton Heston … Ed Bannon
Jack Palance … Toriano
Katy Jurado … Nita
Brian Keith … Capt. Bill North
Mary Sinclair … Lela Wilson
Milburn Stone … Sandy MacKinnon
Richard Shannon … Lt. Kirk
Lewis Martin … Col. Weybright
Frank DeKova … Chief Chattez
Robert J. Wilke … Sgt. Stone
Peter Coe … Spanish
James Anderson … Jerry August
John Pickard … John Gunther
Pat Hogan … Jim Eagle
Runtime: 105 min.
Memorable lines:
Ed Bannon to Toriano: “I will go, but first listen to these words. I do not stand among men. Around me are the animals I ran from. Whenever I am called an Apache, I grow sick with shame because I lived with you and I know you. Because I know you, I don’t believe you’ve come to this place in peace as the soldiers believe. But I tell you this: I know the beat of your drums and the words of your thoughts, and I’ll learn the meaning of what you’ve started tonight. Whatever it is, I’ll fight against you until those Apache still alive will look back on this night as the worst in their memory.”
Capt. Bill North: “Bannon, this time you’re going to the guardhouse for as long as I can make it stick.”
Ed Bannon: “This time, if any of your blue bellies lays a hand on me, I’ll cut it off.”
Ed Bannon, holding his hand high enough to indicate a young boy: “You were that high, learning arithmetic. I was that high learning how to cut a man’s throat so it takes him a day to die. That’s Toriano.”
Ed Bannon, after his sometimes laundress, sometimes lover commits suicide: “There’s a dead Apache in here. Get it out.”
Sandy MacKinnon, as he and Bannon ride up on an Indian attack: “Sounds like we got here lastest with the leastest.”
Ed Bannon, dropping a dead Apache in front of other warriors: “There’s your invincible one. Where’s his magic now?”
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