The Savage (1952)

The Savage (1952) posterYoung Jimmy Aherne’s family is heading West in a wagon train when the Crow Indians attack. He’s the lone survivor, and he survives only because a Sioux war band happens by and chases off the Crow.

Jimmy is taken in by Chief Yellow Eagle and raised as a Sioux warrior. And while he’s determined to take revenge on the Crow tribe for the death of his white family, many members of his new tribe wonder if he’ll fight should war break out with the whites.

They might have the opportunity to find out. Rumors reach the Sioux village that the whites have discovered gold and broken yet another treaty. Some elders call for war. Calmer voices prevail. First, the Sioux will discover whether there’s truth to the rumor by sending War Bonnet – as Aherne is known among the Sioux – to live with the whites for two months and find out the truth.

He encounters both good and bad while spending time at Fort Duane. There’s the Indian-hating Capt. Vaugant, for instance. But he also finds friends among the cavalrymen, like Cpl. Martin (Milburn Stone) and Lt. Hathersall.

Oh, and Hathersall has a very attractive sister named Tally (Susan Morrow) who will further divide Aherne’s loyalty between the Sioux and the whites. Back in the Sioux village, his “sister” Luta dreams of a future with War Bonnet.
But then she’s kidnapped by whites, kidnapped a second time by Crow Indians who kill the soldiers, then rescued by War Bonnet only to be shot when heading back to the safety of a cavalry troop, setting the stage for more hostilities.

Rating 3 out of 6Review:

Too contrived to be very successful. For all his wisdom and heroics, Aherne seems to change loyalties with the wind.

When Luta is first kidnapped, then shot by soldiers, Aherne vows he never wants to be known as a white man again and agrees to lead a cavalry troop into an ambush.

When he realizes the Sioux intend to kill everyone – including women and children – he has second thoughts and warns of the ambush in the nick of time.

Aherne is consistent in his hatred of the Crow Indians. In one of the film’s best scenes, he guides the cavalry to an attack on an unsuspecting Crow village. The commanding officer is surprised, too. He thought he was attacking a Sioux camp.

Milburn Stone might have the best role as a cavalry officer who befriends Aherne, stands by him through thick and thin, but is nagged by suspicions about how he knew about the aforementioned ambush.

This was the only Western outing for Susan Morrow, though the following year she would star in a serial called “Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders.”

Joan Taylor as Luta and Charlton Heston as War Bonnet in The Savage (1952)Directed by:
George Marshall

Cast:
Charlton Heston … Jim Aherne Jr. /War Bonnet
Susan Morrow … Tally Hathersall
Peter Hansen … Lt. Weston Hathersall
Joan Taylor … Luta
Richard Rober … Capt. Arnold Vaugant
Don Porter … Running Dog
Ted de Corsia … Iron Breast
Ian McDonald … Chief Yellow Eagle
Milburn Stone … Cpl. Martin
Angela Clarke … Pehangi
Orley Lindgren … Jim as a boy
Michael Tolan … Long Mane
Howard Negley … Col. Robert Ellis
Frank Richards … Sgt. Norris

Runtime: 95 min.

Memorable lines:

Indian brave: “If the council says war, will you fight against the white men, War Bonnet?”
War Bonnet: “Only women ask foolish questions. Am I not Yellow Eagle’s son?”

Siioux at war council: “He speaks with the smoothness of the white man.”
War Bonnet: “But I fight with the courage of the Sioux.”

Capt. Arnold Vaugant: “Civilized people don’t listen in on private conversations, Mr. Ahern.”
Jim Ahern: “Savages speak their insults to a man’s face.”

War Bonnet, after Luta’s death: “From this day forward, let no man call me white.”

War Bonnet’s mother: “Oh husband of little faith, if you love him, you must not doubt him.”

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