A small band is trapped in an adobe fort that serves as a stage station as marauding Apaches look for the man who killed several members of their tribe after they welcomed him to a pow-wow.
The folks inside the fort figure the guilty party is Peso (Gilbert Roland), a charming bandit.
After all, he showed up at the stage station carrying an Apache bracelet he gave to one of the woman there as a gift.
And station manager Tom Herrera (Robert Horton) has already taken away Peso’s six-guns, knowing he has his eye on the Wells Fargo box the stage was carry.
Many of the occupants of the station want Herrera to turn Peso over to the Apaches so they call off the raid.
But Herrera happens to be Peso’s son, and refuses to do so.
Peso, meanwhile, tries to figure out if someone else isn’t to blame for putting the Apache on the warpath.
Robert Horton as Tom Herrera, the man running the Tonto Valley stage station in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Gilbert Roland as Peso, romancing a dark-haired beauty and wondering if her husband is about to show up in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Review:
Entertaining little Western, full of snappy dialogue and featuring a neat ending. But it’s not quite as good as the 1942 version of the same story, “Apache Trail.”
Gilbert Roland turns in a charming performance at the likeable, womanizing bandit. And this marked the first starring role — and only the fourth film — for Robert Horton, who would rise to fame five years later as Flint McMullough on the TV series “Wagon Train.”
And, yes, that’s young Robert Blake, later of “Baretta” fame, in the role of Luis. He was already a child star, having gotten his start in the “Our Gang” films.
Female lead Barbara Ruick spends most of the film trying to get the station manager’s attention. She married Horton the year after this film was released. They divorced in 1956.
Barbara Ruick as Nancy Dekker, the gal who wants to make sure she’s noticed by Tom Herrera in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Glenda Farrell as Fanny Webson, a middle-aged woman less harmless than she seems in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Directed by:
Harold Kress
Cast:
Gilbert Roland … Peso
Robert Horton … Tom Herrera
Barbara Ruick … Nancy Dekker
Glenda Farrell … Fanny Webson
Patricia Tiernan … Lorraine Sayburn
Harry Morgan … Ed Cotton
Robert Blake … Luis
Gene Lockhart .. Cyril Snowden
Runtime: 67 min. B&W
Robert Blake, aka Bobby Blake, as Luis, interested in following in Peso’s footsteps in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Chubby Johnson as Juke and Argentina Brunetti as Madre, watching a stage approach in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Memorable lines:
Peso: “There are two things I hate – a careless man and a careful woman.”
Peso to Tom: “Looks like you’ve got my problem. Two women are fighting over you.”
Tom: “Oh, yeah, which one would you choose?”
Peso: “You know me. I have the character to choose them both.”
Peso to Luis, explaining why it’s better to aim for the stomach than the head: “Now remember what I tell you because the sheriffs in New Mexico have small heads, but big bellies … always aim at the big things in life and you’ll grow up to be a great man, just like Peso.”
Major Dekker to Tom, referring to daughter Nancy: “My daughter usually mows them down like shrapnel, but you don’t seem to have a wound on you.”
Tom: “I know when to duck.”
Tom to Peso: “You’re a hero to every kid in the territory, but I never saw much sense in putting a thief on a pedestal.”
Myron Healy as Pike Curtis, reporting on the Apache uprising in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Harry Morgan as Ed Cotton, one of the men guarding the Wells Fargo box in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Patricia Tiernan as Lorraine Sayburn, trying to rekindle a romance with Tom Herrera in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Gene Lockhart as Cyril Snowden, the stage line big wig who comes to respect Tom Herrera in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Douglas Dumbrille as Maj. Dekker, arriving at the Tonto Valley stage station in Apache War Smoke (1952)
Barbara Ruick as Nancy Dekker, accepting an Apache bracelet from Peso (Gilbert Roland) in Apache War Smoke (1952)
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