Apache Rifles (1964)

Audie Murphy is Capt. Jeff Stanton, an Indian-hating cavalry officer who has spent his career trying to even the score for a father who was court-martialed after losing a battle out West.

Nonetheless, he finds himself trying to keep peace between the whites and Victorio’s Apaches, who have tired of miners violating their treaty.

Stanton’s efforts to keep the miners out of the gold-rich reservation ruffles a few feathers and breeds a plot to have him replaced as cavalry commander.

And when an Indian agent named Turner turns up dead with an arrow in his back, it looks like all Stanton’s efforts to keep the peace will be for naught.

A new commander arrives, alright, and he has his own ideas about how to deal with the Apache.

Audie Murphy as Capt. Jeff Stanton, an Indian-hating officer who finds himself falling for a half-breed woman in Apache Rifles (1964)

Michael Dante as Red Hawk, bound and tortured by whites over a gold nugget in Apache Rifles (1964)

Review:

Just average Murphy Western with a silly, silly ending and some other head-shaking moments along the way. Like when Stanton decides to solve the murder of the Indian agent by getting a man he suspects of being involved drunk.

Michael Dante plays Red Hawk, son of Victoria, who Stanton saves from death. Both men fall for a pretty missionary named Dawn Gillis (Linda Lawson), though Red Hawk knows something Stanton doesn’t — she’s a half-breed, which makes her half animal based on Stanton’s feelings toward Indians.

Of course, those feelings soften over the course of the film.

Linda Lawson as Dawn Gillis, a missionary with something of a secret in Apache Rifles (1964)

Joseph Vitale as Victorio, who takes to the warpath when white miners violate the treaty in Apache Rifles (1964)

Directed by:
William Whitney

Cast:
Audie Murphy … Capt. Jeff Stanton
Michael Dante … Red Hawk
Linda Lawson … Dawn Gillis
L.Q. Jones … Mike Greer
Ken Lynch … Hodges
Joseph Vitale … Victorio
Robert Brubaker … Sgt. Cobb
Eugene Iglesias … Cpl. Ramirez
Pat O’Malley … Capt. Thatcher
John Archer… Col. Perry
Charles Watts … Crawford Owens
Howard Wright … Thompson
Peter Hansen … Capt. Green
Robert Karnes … Sheriff

Runtime: 92 min.

John Archer as Colonel Perry, determined to teach the Apache a lesson in Apache Rifles (1964)

Robert Brubaker as Sgt. Cobb, a longtime cavalryman loyal to Stanton in Apache Rifles (1964)

Memorable lines:

Capt. Stanton, to Dawn: “A missionary. So civilization finally comes to the Apaches. That’s a big job for a dirty-faced little girl like you.”

Stanton, to army doctor, as a wounded man is being treated: “Damned Indians.”
Doctor: “You know, captain, I’ve cut into a lot of Indians in my time, and it’s a strange thing, but once you get past their skin their insides are just like ours.”
Stanton: “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Doctor: “You come over here and I’ll give you something to dilute some of that bile inside you.”
He leads Stanton to a liquor cabinet.

Eugene Iglesias as Cpl. Ramirez with Audie Murphy as Capt. Jeff Stanton in Apache Rifles (1964)

Charles Watts as Crawford Owens, a storekeeper behind much of the trouble in Apache Rifles (1964)

L.Q. Jones as Mike Greer, one of the miners stirring up trouble in Apache Rifles (1964)

Ken Lynch as Hodges, being questioned about a murder supposedly committed by an Apache in Apache Rifles (1964)

Linda Lawson as Dawn Gillis, recovering from a wound in Apache Rifles (1964)

Audie Murphy as Capt. Jeff Stanton, determined to get answers about a white man’s death in Apache Rifles (1964)