The Apache are on the warpath, and Audie Murphy is cavalry officer Capt. Coburn, assigned with rounding up the homesteaders and taking them back to Apache Pass for cavalry protection.
That includes the Malone family, which includes his lady love (Laraine Stephens as Ellen).
When Ellen’s father is killed in the attack that follows, her two brothers — Doug (Michael Burns) and Mike (Michael Blodgett) — decide to enlist.
And they wind up on Coburn’s next mission, picking up a shipment of 40 repeating rifles the cavalry desperately needs to fight off the Indians.
The mission goes badly. Mike is captured while shouting for help from his brother, who is too afraid to rush to his rescue.
Worse, a bad-to-the-bone cavalryman named Bodine with a grudge against Coburn decides mutiny is in order and steals the shipment of rifles, figuring they’ll make him and any other deserters rich.
And so Doug becomes a deserter, too.
Coburn returns to Apache Pass when he’s threatened with court martial and rejected by Ellen for failing to fulfill his promise to watch over her brothers.
Feeling he has no other option, he sets out on his own to recover the rifles.
Audie Murphy as Capt. Coburn, responsible for getting a badly needed supply of rifles to the cavalry outpost in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Michael Blodgett as Mike Malone and Michael Burns as brother Doug, new recruits spotting Indians drawing near in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Review:
A mediocre Western most notable for being Murphy’s last starring role. He would appear in just one more film, “A Time for Dying” before losing his life in a plane crash in 1971 at age 46.
This film is a mix of two common Western themes. It represents a coming of age for Ellen’s brother Doug, who blames himself for his brother’s death, brands himself a coward, then falls in with Bodine’s mutineers.
And it’s the old tale of repeating rifles saving the day, as long as they don’t fall in the wrong hands.
The most spirited performance in the film is delivered by Kenneth Tobey as Bodine, a man so self-centered he’d sell the guns to the Cochise and his Apaches to be used against his former colleagues if it means a life of leisure in Mexico for himself.
Stephens role as Murphy’s girlfriend is relatively small. She appeared in more “Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader” films (2), than Westerns (1).
Kenneth Tobey as Cpl. Bodine, about to steal a shipment of rilfes so he can sell them to the Apache in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Laraine Stephens as Ellen Malone asking Capt. Coburn (Audie Murphy) to watch over her brothers in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Directed by:
William Whitney
Cast:
Audie Murphy … Capt. Coburn
Michael Burns … Doug
Kenneth Tobey … Cpl. Bodine
Laraine Stephens … Ellen
Robert Brubaker … Sgt. Walker
Michael Blodgett … Mike
Michael Keep … Cochise
Byron Morrow … Col. Reed
Kay Stewart … Kate Malone
Kenneth MacDonald … Harry Malone
Willard Willingham … Fuller
Ted Gehring … Barrett
James Beck … Higgins
Runtime: 95 min.
Byron Morrow as Col. Reed, the cavalry commander, getting a report from a scout in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Michael Keep as Cochise, inspecting one of the repeating rifles Cpl. Bodine wants to see the Indians in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Memorable lines:
Col. Reed to Coburn: “Captain, there are two ways to get men through a door. You can kick them through or you can lead them through.”
Coburn: “That’s right, sir, but they wind up the same place anyway.”
Coburn to Sgt. Walker: “Now look dead, will you?”
Walker, badly wounded: “You couldn’t have found a better decoy.”
Capt. Coburn to Col. Reed: “Give me four men. I’ll get those rifles back.
Col. Reed: “You had 11 when you lost them.”
Cochise to Bodine: “Man who turns on his friends, cannot be trusted by his enemies.”
Sgt. Walker: “You got more guts than any man I know. Must have been bred in ya.”
Capt. Coburn: “Not exactly. Actually, I come from a long line of losers, sergeant. Matter of fact, my family motto was: If at first you don’t succeed, give up.”
Sgt. Walker: “You sure switched that around somewhere.”
Robert Brubaker as Sgt. Walker, in a disagreement with Cpl. Bodine in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Kenneth MacDonald as Harry Malone, balking at leaving his home while children Ellen (Laraine Stephens) and Mike (Michael Blodgett) look on in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Loraine Stephens as Ellen Malone, startled by a noise in the night, with Audie Murphy as Capt. Coburn in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Michael Burns as Doug Malone, blaming himself for his brother’s death in 40 Guns at Apache Pass (1967)
Audie Murphy as Capt. Coburn and Robert Brubaker as Sgt. Walker, plotting strategy in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
Audie Murphy as Capt. Coburn, under the gun of one of his own men in 40 Guns to Apache Pass (1967)
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