Anthony Dexter plays Capt. John Smith, who’s trying desperately to hold the colony of Jamestown together in 1607 Virginia while fighting off Indians and dealing with the treachery of a gold-hungry fellow Englishman named Wingfield.
With supplies and morale running low, Smith sets out to make peace with Indian chief Powhatan. He and two buddies — John Rolfe and Fleming — are tied to posts and ordered killed. Until Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas (Jody Lawrence), intervenes.
She asks him to give her Smith’s life. He grudgingly agrees. Because Indian custom dictates that once he does so, they must marry.
But the new peace between the colonists and the people of the woods is tenuous at best. An Indian named Opechanco would still like to see the whites driven from the land. And Wingfield thinks he’s found gold, and is trying to find some way to bring about the downfall of Smith and Jamestown so he can claim the fortune as his own.
Review:
Ugh. You know you’re in trouble from the first action scene. Facing desperate odds, Smith and his men dig a trench and hide in it. That way the ships off shore can blast the Indians to bits. It works, of course.
Then there’s the scene in which an Indian waiting in ambush fires two arrows at John Smith as he heads off to meet with Powhatan. The arrows bounce right off his chest. Not knowing Smith is wearing armor under his clothes, the Indian assumes he’s a god and bows at his feet.
Dexter spends a good deal of the film bare chested; the script has his uttering some absolutely ridiculous lines. Alan Hale Jr., later of Gilligan’s Island fame, has a small role as one of his friends. Jody Lawrence, a blue-eyed blonde, somehow found herself in the role of Pocahontas.
By the way, the real Pocahontas was 11 when she presumably saved John Smith’s life. Lawrence was 23 when the movie was filmed.
Directed by:
Lew Landers
Cast:
Anthony Dexter … Capt. John Smith
Jody Lawrence … Pocahontas
Alan Hale Jr. … Fleming
Robert Clarke … Rolfe
Stuart Randall… Opechanco
James Seay … Wingfield
Philip Van Zandt … Davis
Shepard Menken … Nantaquas
Douglas Dumbrille … Powhatan
Anthony Eustrel … King James
Henry Rowland … Turnbull
Eric Colmar … Kemp
Runtime: 75 min.
Memorable lines:
Wingfield: “By whose orders do you assume this authority?”
John Smith: “By whose orders do you question it.”
Wingfield: “I am a gentleman, born to higher rank than any here.”
John Smith: “That is of concern only to you and your mother, not me.”
Fleming: “My father said I’d live to be hung, so why should I fear an Indian arrow?”
Powhaten, revealing John Smith’s armor under his clothing: “Now I have stripped you of your magic. It will make a good cooking pot for our women.”
Rolfe: “It’s sacrilege for John Smith to do this thing (marry Pocahontas).”
Fleming: “But it will be most pleasant on a cold night.”
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