Chuka (1967)

Rod Taylor is the renown gunfighter Chuka, who rides into Fort Clendennon and finds a cavalry outpost on the verge of disaster.

Outside, the starving Arapaho under Chief Hanu are planning to take the fort; they want the food and munitions stored there.

Inside, Col. Stuart Valois’ command is coming unraveled. And this is an unsavory lot of cavalrymen, apparently sent to the fort because of misdeeds elsewhere.

There’s a major who has Indian squaws smuggled in so he can sleep with them. The colonel is a scared man. He was once found drunk when his command came under attack.

Before that, he was tortured and “made less than a full man” in the Sudan.

The one solid soldier is Sgt. Hansbach (Ernest Borgnine). He was responsible for that incident and is blindly loyal to the colonel as a result.

Chuka warns all of the impending doom, pleads with the colonel to abandon the fort.

But the colonel insists on playing it by the book — to leave would amount to mutiny.

As for Chuka, he hangs around because he’s just been reunited with a long lost lover, Veronica Kleitz (Luciana Paluzzi), whose family decided a gringo wasn’t good enough for a Mexican senorita during their younger days.

Rod Taylor as Chuka, watching an Arapaho warband approach a broken down stagecoach in Chuka (1967)

Luciana Paluzzi as Veronica Kleitz, trapped in a nearly hopeless situation with the man she once loved in Chuka (1967)

Review:

A well-mounted attack on the fort and a unique ending cap a gritty Western that’s different enough to be intriguing.

Okay, there’s a bit too much self-analysis and too many warped characters. And Taylor snarls his way through most of the film.

But he and Borgnine also pull off a brutally believable fistfight. And another memorable scene has the Arapaho practicing an assault on the fort before they pull it off.

Spaghetti fans will likely remember Paluzzi from her role as the conniving mother in “The Forgotten Pistolero” (1969). This marked a rare screen appearance for Victoria Vetri, who did most of her acting on TV and became Playboy’s 1968 Playmate of the Year.

John Mills as Col. Stuart Valois, a commander facing overwhelming odds as the Arapaho gather for an attack in Chuka (1967)

Ernest Borgnine as Sgt. Hansbach, a soldier loyal to his commanding officer in Chuka (1967)

Directed by:
Gordon Douglas

Cast:
Rod Taylor … Chuka
Ernest Borgnine … Sgt. Hansbach
John Mills … Col. Stuart Valois
Luciana Paluzzi … Veronica Kleitz
James Whitmore … Lou Trent
Victoria Vetri … Helena Chavez
as Angelia Dorian
Louis Hayward … Maj. Benson
Michael Cole … Spivey
Hugh Reilly … Capt. Carroll
Barry O’Hara … Slim
Joseph Sirola … Jake Baldwin
Marco Lopez … Chief Hanu
as Marco Antonio
Gerald York … Lt. Daly
Herlina Del Carmen … Indian girl
Lucky Carson … Stage driver

Runtime: 105 min.

James Whitmore as Lou Trent, scout for Col. Valois, about to embark on a dangerous mission in Chuka (1967)

Victoria Vetri (aka Angelia Dorian) as Helena Chavez, wondering why her traveling companion seemed to recognize the mysterious gunman in Chuka (1967)

Memorable lines:

Col. Stuart Valois: “I’ve discovered, Mr. Chuka, that to savage, kindness means weakness. He’ll despise you for it. The moment you turn your back, he’ll put a knife in it. I offer you that piece of intelligence, sir. It might save your life one day.”
Chuka: “Colonel, they’re awful hungry out there, and I think they’re mean. Now, unless you give them food or the rifles to hunt their own, they’re to come in here and take it. Just a little piece of intelligence that might save your life sometime.”

Col. Valois, after inviting the women to dinner: “It will be wonderful to dine instead of to feed, which seems to be the routine when men, in a country like this, are isolated. I miss the conversation, and the elegance of dining in mixed company.”

Marco Lopez as Chief Hanu, the warrior who leads the attack on Fort Clendennon in Chuka (1967)

Joseph Sirola as Jake Baldwin, a stage driver who finds himself trapped in a fort that seems doomed in Chuka (1967)

Veronica Kleitz: “You’ve become quite hard.”
Chuka: “Since I didn’t measure up to your standard in life, madam, I had to find a way to bring people down to mine.”
Veronica: “With your gun, I hear, Chuka.”
Chuka: “With my gun, senora Kleitz.”

Col. Valois: “I am forced to remind you once again, Mr. Chuka, that I am still in command of this fort.”
Chuka: “And I’m forced to remind you, colonel, that you’re not in command of a fort. You’re in command of a bunch of cavalry foul-ups.”

Lou Trent, cavalry scout: “Wake me up when it’s time to die.”

Michael Cole as Spivey, a soldier considering mutiny to escape an Arapaho attack in Chuka (1967)

Louis Hayward as Maj. Benson, an officer with a secret and a man at odds with his commander in Chuka (1967)

Herlina Del Carmen as the Indian girl Maj. Benson smuggled into the fort to be his lover in Chuka (1967)

Rod Taylor as Chuka and James Whitmore as scout Lou Trent try to sneak their way out of an Arapaho camp in Chuka (1967)

Victoria Vetri (Angelia Dorian) as Helena Chavez and Luciana Paluzzi as Veronica Kleitz console one another as the attack begins in Chuka (1967)

Rod Taylor as Chuka in yet another disagreement with Col. Valois (John Mills) in Chuka (1967)