Apache Territory (1958)

Rory Calhoun is Logan Cates, a cowboy trying to make it unharmed through Apache territory.

He comes upon a young girl (Carolyn Craig), whose parents have been killed in an Indian massacre. He helps her to a water hole, where they hope to hide out.

Soon, they’re joined at the water hole refuge by a young cowpoke (Tom Pittman), a rancher (John Dehner) and his fiancée (Barbara Bates), a haggard cavalry patrol, including a malcontent (Leo Gordon), and a Puma Indian (Frank DeCova) with a bag of gold.

The Apaches whittle down the small band, most of whom put their fate in Cates to get them out of the mess they’re in.

Most except the malcontent and the rancher named Grant Kimbrough.

Kimbrough doesn’t trust Cates at all. Nor does he like the fact that Cates and his fiancée have a past.

Seems they were in love at one point. But Cates headed off alone.

Always the loner, he feared she’d be hurt by his reluctance to settle down.

Rory Calhoun as Logan Cates, a man who finds himself helping a small band survive an Indian attack in Apache Territory (1958)

Barbara Bates as Jennifer Fair, spotting a former lover she never expected to see again in Apache Territory (1958)

Review:

The best of the three Calhoun-Nazarro Westerns made in the 1957-58 time frame, though that isn’t saying a whole lot. Calhoun does his best, but there’s very little depth to most of the characters.

As for the climatic showdown … well, it’s a hoot. And not in a good way.

This turned out to be the final film for Barbara Bates, who had landed roles in a couple of important films in the late 1940s and early 1950s before being overcome by depression.

She committed suicide in 1969. Her only other Western was 1952’s “The Outcasts of Poker Flat.”

John Dehner as Grant Kimbrough, the well-off new fiancee of Jennifer Fair in Apache Territory (1958)

Tom Pittman as Lonnie Foreman, a young man sweet on Junie Hatchett, a young woman rescued in Apache Territory (1958)

Directed by:
Ray Nazarro

Cast:
Rory Calhoun … Logan Cates
Barbara Bates … Jennifer Fair
John Dehner … Grant Kimbrough
Tom Pittman … Lonnie Foreman
Carolyn Craig … Junie Hatchett
Leo Gordon … Zimmerman
Frank DeCova … Lugo
Myron Healey … Webb
Francis De Sales … Sgt. Sheehan
Regis Parton … Conley
Bob Woodward … Graves
Fred Krone … Styles

Runtime: 72 min.

Leo Gordon as Zimmerman, a headstrong trooper with little faith in his commanding officer in Apache Territory (1958)

Myron Heeley as Webb, one of the troopers pinned down with Cates and the other whites in Apache Territory (1958)

Memorable lines:

Kimbrough: “”We want to catch the morning stage. There won’t be another one til late in the week.”
Cates: “You can always get another stage. You can’t get another skin.”

Jennifer: “So quiet and peaceful. Yet the desert can be so cruel and unfriendly.”
Cates: “It’s not unfriendly when you know it, Jen.”
Jennifer: “You know, you’re like the desert, Logan. You keep your secrets deep within you. There’s a part of you I never knew existed. I don’t think you knew either.”

Carolyn Craig as Junie Hatchett explaining her plight to Logan Cates (Rory Calhoun) in Apache Territory (1958)

Rory Calhoun as Logan Cates and Francis De Sales as Sgt. Sheehan, trying to figure out how to outlast the Indians in Apache Territory (1958)

Rory Calhoun as Logan Cates and Frank DeCova as Lugo, hoping for a change in the weather that will make an attack less likely in Apache Territory (1958)

Barbara Bates as Jennifer Fair and Rory Calhoun as Logan Cates, discussing their past as lovers in Apache Territory (1958)