A Thunder of Drums (1961)

George Hamilton plays Lt. Curtis McQuade, set West to Fort Canby as a 1st lieutenant to serve under the gruff Capt. Stephen Maddocks (Richard Boone). And he arrives at a troublesome time.

Comanche or Apache are on the warpath; no one’s sure which. But they’ve killed four cavalrymen out on patrol, massacred two white families, and Maddocks has to find a way to put an end to the slaughter.

McQuade, who grew up in the area, is eager to take out some troopers and wreak vengeance.

Maddocks constantly reminds him how green he is. And green officers at Fort Canby “command nothing,” he tells McQuade.

McQuade’s also eager to revive his romance with Tracey Hamilton (Luana Patten), a pretty redhead who just happens to be on the post because she’s engaged to one of his fellow officers, Lt. Gresham.

Seems she and McQuade had quite the fling when he was previously stationed in New York.

Tracey’s only partly successful at fending off his advances. And that causes McQuade trouble with Lt. Porter, who catches them kissing; Trooper Hanna, who wants part of McQuade’s wages not to tell; and eventually Gresham, who also interrupts one of their not-so-discreet embraces.

When Gresham’s sent out on patrol and doesn’t return, McQuade finally gets his chance to hit the saddle.

He and Maddocks head out to rescue the patrol — if they’re still alive to be rescued.

Richard Boone as Capt. Maddocks, facing trouble inside and outside Fort Canby in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

George Hamilton as Lt. McQuade, put in his place by a commanding officer in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Review:

Better than average cavalry vs. Indian film, carried by a wonderfully gruff performance from Richard Boone as the commanding officer and featuring some good action sequences, though the post scene are likely to strike viewers as a wee too melodramatic. Luana Patten is particularly underwhelming as Tracey Hamilton.

But this is a cast full of familiar faces, some before they had reached the stardom that awaited them. Richard Chamberlain plays one of the lieutenants in just his second film role; Charles Bronson plays the lecherous Tropper Hanna, who’s thinking about bedding squaws the moment a battle ends.

The cast also features Arthur O’Connell as a reliable sergeant, Slim Pickens as one of the troopers and Duane Eddy as another trooper, one who’s fond of a guitar, of course. Eddy, who scored a string of instrumental hits in the 1960s and landed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, appeared in just a handful of films, but got star billing in the poster for this movie.

Luana Patten as Tracey Hamilton, torn between one officer she’s engaged to and another who’s a former lover in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Charles Bronson as Trooper Hanna, spying on Lt. McQuade and Tracey Hamilton in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Directed by:
Joseph Newman

Cast:
Richard Boone … Capt. Maddocks
George Hamilton … Lt. McQuade
Luana Patten … Tracey Hamilton
Arthur O’Connell … Sgt. Rodermill
Charles Bronson … Trooper Hanna
Richard Chamberlain … Lt. Porter
Slim Pickens … Trooper Erschick
James Douglas … Lt. Thomas Gresham
Tammy Marihugh … Laurie Detweiler
Carole Wells … Camden Yates
Clem Harvey … Trooper Denton
Casey Tibbs … Trooper Baker

Runtime: 97 min.

James Douglas as Lt. Thomas Gresham, the officer who plans to marry Tracey Hamilton in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Richard Chamberlain as Lt. Porter receiving a tongue lashing from his captain as Lt. McQuade (George Hamilton) looks on in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Memorable lines:

Maddocks to McQuade: “Now you get that lovely brothel stench of glory out of your nostrils. On this post, a green officer leads nothing and commands nothing until I have hand-tooled and troop-schooled him myself.”

Maddocks: “Bachelors make the best soldiers. All they have to lose is their loneliness.”

Gresham to McQuade: “A son is a man’s immortality. There can be much of the clucking mother hen in some men’s fathers.”

Maddocks, upon finding a massacred patrol: “This is not a school room, Mr. McQuade. Out here, when you fail in a subject, you do not go to the blackboard and try again. And that, Mr. McQuade, that is what a graduation dance looks like out here.”

Luana Patten as Tracey Hamilton and George Hamilton as Lt. McQuade in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Arthur O’Connell as Sgt. Rodermill, providing his opinion on the marauding Indians to Capt. Maddocks in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Charles Bronson as Trooper Hanna and Slim Pickens as Trooper Erschick in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Tammy Marihugh as Laurie Detweiler, unable to speak following an Indian raid in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Carole Wells as Camden Yates, introducing herself to Lt. McQuade, the new officer on post in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Luana Patten as Tracey Hamilton with George Hamilton as Lt. McQuade in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Richard Boone as Capt. Maddocks, finding his missing troop of cavalry in A Thunder of Drums (1961)

Arthur O’Connell as Sgt. Rodermill and George Hamilton as Lt. McQuade, pinned down in A Thunder of Drums (1961)