Apache Woman (1955) - Once Upon a Time in a Western

The Apaches are murdering whites, rustling cattle and robbing stages, or so the good folks of living near the reservation think.

They ask for help. Instead of a cavalry troop, they get Rex Moffett (Lloyd Bridges), an expert in Indian affairs.

He suspects someone else might be committing the crimes and making it look like the Apaches.

Meanwhile, as hatred toward Indians grows, half-breed Anne LeBeau (Joan Taylor) finds life more uncomfortable in the white world.

She also worries about the impact the growing hostilities will have on her college educated brother Armand (Lance Fuller), who keeps growing more cynical and more distant.

Could he be involved in the wrong-doing that has the whites in town thinking of launching a raid on the Indian reservation?

Joan Taylor as Anne BeBeau, trying desperately to keep her brother Armand out of trouble in Apache Woman (1955)

Joan Taylor as Anne LeBeau, trying desperately to keep her brother Armand out of trouble in Apache Woman (1955)

Lloyd Bridges as Rex Moffett, a government agent trying to prevent a new Indian war in Apache Woman (1955)

Review:

This marked Roger Corman’s second Western and features a spirited opening — our heroine has just been called a dirty squaw and is engaged in a knife fight with a hot-headed young man.

It also benefits from the focus on the relationship between Anne LeBeau and her college-educated brother Armand, who seems to be losing his touch with reality and answers her questions with half-truths and riddles.

But the film winds up playing out as a so-so, who-done-it with a script that sometimes borders on the ridiculous. Corman’s first Western, “Five Guns West,” was released earlier the same year.

Joan Taylor made her film debut in 1949’s “Fighting Man of the Plains” and most of her feature films were Westerns. She would later have a recurring role as Chuck Connor’s romantic interest in the hit TV series “Rifleman.”

Lance Fuller as Armand LeBeau, a college-educated half-breed growing more eccentric and cynical in Apache Woman (1955)

Jonathan Haze as Tom Chandler and Morgan Jones as Macy, pinning the blame for a string of holdups and killings on the Apache in Apache Woman (1955)

Directed by:
Roger Corman

Cast:
Lloyd Bridges … Rex Moffett
Joan Taylor … Anne LeBeau
Lance Fuller … Armand LeBeau
Morgan Jones … Macy
Paul Birch … Sheriff
Lou Place … Carrom
Paul Dubov … Ben Hunter
Jonathan Haze … Tom Chandler
Gene Marlowe … Chief White Star
Dick Miller … Tall Tree
Chester Conklin … Dick Mooney
Jean Howell … Mrs. Chandler

Runtime: 83 min.

Paul Birch as the sheriff, unsure whether to align himself with a government agent or the Indian-hating residents of his town in Apache Woman (1955)

Joan Taylor as Ann LeBeau, pinned down by Rex Moffett after she tried to bash him in the head with a rock in Apache Woman (1955)

Memorable lines:

Armand LeBeau, to his sister, on their status as half-breeds: “To our white brothers, we’re less than the cattle that graze their fields. To our red relatives, we’re outcasts.”

Carrom: “Don’t let that gal’s beauty blind you.”
Rex Moffett: “Yeah, she sure is a pretty one, isn’t she?”
Carrom: “So’s a diamond-backed rattler.”

Moffett to Anne LeBeau: “How can you be so bitter and so pretty at the same time?”

Chester Conklin as Dick Mooney, the town drunk whose robbed of $2,000 by the bandits in Apache Woman (1955)

Gene Marlowe as Apache Chief White Star, meeting with government agents as Anne LeBeau (Joan Taylor) looks on in Apache Woman (1955)

Anne, to her brother, Armand: “What did White Star mean when he said grandfather wants to speak to you?”
Armand: “I really don’t know. I must have a tribal spanking coming to me.”

Macy: “I’ve been thinking, LeBeau, we could be walking into a mess of lead.”
Armand: “Stop thinking, Macy. You haven’t the tools for that kind of work. We’re marked men and you know it. Whether we ride tomorrow or not, we’ve had our day. And it’s rapidly coming to a close.”

Armand to Anne: “You sound so moral. You must like this world of half red, half white. I do not.”