On the night of his assassination, President Lincoln gives two former Union officers — James Kingston (Bill Williams) and Sergeant O’Rorke (Ray Teal) a special mission, find a way to get Texas beef to the North, even if it means driving them through Apache territory.
Only the wagon train they head West on includes one wagon loaded with repeating rifles. And those rifles are going to cause more problems than any mission involving a herd of cattle.
Mexican bandits (led by Alex Montoya as Jironza) want those rifles. So do the Apaches.
And so do Confederate sympathizers who haven’t given up the cause, including young Lee Parker (Richard Jaeckel), who lost an arm in the war.
Turns out he’s the brother of the woman James Kingston hopes to marry. And he son of the sheriff in the town Kingston is headed toward.
Bill WIlliamsas James Kingston, assigned the job of getting Texas beef to Northern markets following the Civil War in Apache Ambush (1955)
Richard Jaeckel as Lee Parker (right), an embittered former Confederate soldier in Apache Ambush (1955)
Review:
Anonymous B Western, made all the more so by the extensive use of stock footage.
Over-the-top performances by Montoya as the Mexican bandit and Movita as his conniving and flirtatious lady love don’t help. Movita would later become Mrs. Marlon Brando.
Western singing star Tex Ritter has a small part. The best role falls to Richard Jaeckel as the bitter former Confederate. A
delle August plays Ann Parker, his sister. She finds herself torn between her love for her brother and Kingston. This marked her biggest film role.
Adelle August as Ann Parker, torn between her love for her brother and James Kingston in Apache Ambush (1955)
Forrest Lewis as Sheriff Silas Parker and Victor Millan as Manuel, watching a man being beaten in Apache Ambush (1955)
Directed by:
Fred Sears
Cast:
Bill Williams … James Kingston
Ray Teal … Sergeant O’Rorke
Richard Jaeckel … Lee Parker
Adelle August … Ann Parker
Alex Montoya … Jironza
Movita … Rosita
Tex Ritter … Treager
Ray Corrigan … Mark Calvin
James Griffith … President Lincoln
James Flavin … Col. Marshall
Forrest Lewis … Sheriff Silas Parker
Don C. Harvey … Maj. Donald “Tex” McGuire
Runtime: 68 min.
Alex Montoya as Jironza, the Mexican bandit out to get a wagon full of rifles in Apache Ambush (1955)
Movita as Rosita, spying for the Mexican bandit Jironza in Apache Ambush (1955)
Memorable lines:
President Lincoln: “I believe he can move around Texas with more freedom than either of you.”
Sgt. O’Rorke: “Well, I’m from Texas, sir.”
Lincoln: “You’re from Texas as of four years ago. Your name is only Timothy. But they tell me they call the major’s name is Tex. … That makes a difference.”
Sgt. O’Rorke, referring to the end of the Civil War: “It’s amazing. You’re willing to kill a man in March. In April, you’re ready to play games with him.”
Col. Marshall: “I can’t disobey orders.”
Kingston: “But you already have orders. In Mr. Lincoln’s own handwriting.”
Col. Marshall: “Orders from the Secretary of War, Mr. Kingston. I can’t fight a live Secretary of War with a dead president’s letter.”
James Flavin as Col. Marshall, the man who’d rather take order from a living secretary of war than a dead president in Apache Ambush (1955)
Don C. Harvey as Maj. Donald ‘Tex’ McGuire, the former southern officer who agrees to help with a special cattle drive in Apache Ambush (1955)
James Griffith as Abraham Lincoln, assigning James Kingston a special mission in Apache Ambush (1955)
Ray Teal as Sergeant ‘Rock’ O’Rorke and Bill Williams as James Kingston, requesting help from the cavalry in Apache Ambush (1955)
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