Four men are released after serving a five-year term in the Yuma prison. Three — Kid (John Derek), Egan (David Brian) and Doc (Ray Teal) — were there because they helped steal a government payroll.
The fourth, McCord (John Hodiak) was an innocent bystander they implicated so the real fourth gang member, Egan’s brother, could slip away with the loot.
Now they’ve served their time, and it’s time to split up the money. At least that’s the intent of the three who were in on the holdup.
McCord wants to bring back Frank Egan and so clear his name.
Quickly, two problems surface. One, Egan’s brother died in Tomahawk Gap, shortly after they were imprisoned.
Two, Tomahawk Gap is now a ghost town, the residents chased away by marauding Indians.
And hostiles are on the warpath all along the trail they’ll have to take to get there.
Meanwhile, learning of Frank Egan’s death leaves McCord with a change of heart.
He now wants a portion of the buried loot, too, to make up for the wages lost during five years in prison.
Even if they reach the ghost town, they’ll find they aren’t the only ones after that money.
John Derek as The Kid, ignoring Doc’s advice to go straight and determined to find the stolen loot in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
John Hodiak as McCord, finding himself in a ghost town with his former enemies, trying to find $10,000 in stolen money in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Review:
Very mediocre. The best thing about the film might be the final scene, which doesn’t include a single character.
John Derek turns in an intense performance as a young man who seems hellbent to live a life of crime, though one of his partners (Ray Teal as Doc) is equally determined to steer the Kid toward a lawful life.
But some characters are a wee bit too intense, like the old man named Travers they find in Tomahawk Gap. He’s made it his personal mission to keep the town cemetery in tip-top shape so it will be named after him when the town springs to life again. And he don’t want no one messin’ with his graves.
Miara Elena Marques is the film’s lone female. She plays a Navaho girl who escapes the Apache only to be taken in by the four Tomahawk Gap bound bandits.
She develops a love hate relationship with Derek’s character. She shoots him, helps heal him, gets blame for giving away the location of the bandits to attacking Apache warriors, then gets forgiven again.
David Brian as Egan, fresh out of prison and hoping for a reunion with his brother Frank and $10,000 in stolen loot in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Ray Teal as Doc, watching over his wounded friend (John Derek) as the Navajo girl (Maria Elena Marques) looks on in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Directed by:
Fred F. Sears
Cast:
John Derek … Kid
John Hodiak … McCord
David Brian … Egan
Ray Teal … Doc
Maria Elena Marques … Navaho girl
John Qualen … Jonas P. Travis
Otto Hulett … Stranton
Percy Helton … Marlowe
Trevor Bardette … Twin Forks Sheriff
Runtime: 73 min.
John Qualen as Jonas P. Travis, the old-timer who watches over the graveyard in the ghost town in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Percy Helton as Marlowe and Otto Hulett as Stranton, plotting to have the gang lead them to the stolen loot in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Memorable lines:
Twin Forks saloon patron, on the saddle McCord wants to swap: “I never had a saddle like this. A man deserves a saddle like this once before he dies.”
Egan: “It’s our money. You got no call on it.”
McCord: “Why don’t you tell that to the posse when they close in on you? Why don’t you tell them I was just a stranger you met … that you never met me before?”
Kid: “Figured having you, they wouldn’t look no more for Frank.”
McCord: “Sure, and I spent all them years in prison paying for it. I was making $30 a month riding fence. That’s $360 a year. Five years makes $1,800. That’s what Frank Egan owes me for serving his time. Now he’s dead and I’m getting my $1,800.”
Prospector Travis as Egan and his men search graves for missing payroll money: “Stop that. I gotta keep this place neat. Some day folks is gonna come back to stay and make this a big cemetery. And they’re going to call this the Travis cemetery, because I was the only one who stayed here to take care of it. Leave my graves alone.”
Travis to a newcomer to Tomahawk Gap: “I don’t know who you are, mister, but you can’t be no crazier than these rascals, coming into my town and diggin’ up my graves.”
Maria Elena Marques as the Navajo girl, wondering if Doc (Ray Teal) is going to tie her up again in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
John Hodiak as McCord, determined to make Egan and his gang pay for the five years he spent in prison in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Maria Elena Marques as the Navajo girl, trying to stay alive and help the man she shot in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
Maria Elena Marques as the Navajo girl, being threatened at gunpoint by The Kid (John Derek) in Ambush at Tomahawk Gap (1953)
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