Judge Driscoll (Jesus Puente), his new fiancee Ruth (Nuria Torray) and her late husband’s brother, Jimmy, are riding the stage to a new life when Apaches under Geronimo attack, forcing them to take refuge at a way station.
The manager of the station happens to be former Maj. Steve Loman (Frank Latimore), a man Driscoll sent to prison years earlier on a trumped up charge.
Loman’s bitter toward Driscoll, but any notion of vengeance will have to wait. The Apaches are almost sure to attack the fort-like way station.
And if they don’t, the Pumas most certainly will after a nervous young Jimmy plugs and kills a chief of that tribe, thinking he’s just another Apaches.
Complicating matters: The men inside the fort also include Burt Capstan and his buddy Fuller, who have their eyes on a bag of money in Driscoll’s possession.
And Loman is sewing seeds of doubt in Ruth’s mind, suggesting Driscoll might have had her husband killed so he could get her and the money in that bag, raised through the sale of her land.
After all, it wouldn’t be the first time the judge resorted to crooked means to get rid of a man standing in his way.
Review:
The film opens with a ridiculously melodramatic monologue that immediately lowers your expections. What follows is more of a Hollywood Western made overseas than a Spaghetti Western.
Unfortunately, it’s also a quite tiresome film thanks to the endless bickering among the occupants of the way station, most of whom at one point want to sacrifice Jimmy to save their collective hides.
And the love lines Frank Latimore and Nuria Torray are asked to pull off are more likely to provoke a roll of the eyes than a growing concern over their eventual fate.
The occupants of the way station also include Juan Diego, Loman’s young Mexican helper; Roscoe, who’s been hired to protect Driscoll; Silas, the wounded stage driver; and gambler known as Poker Dick.
If you want to see the same basic plot done much better, check out 1942’s “Apache Trail” featuring William Lundigan and a very young Donna Reed.
Frank Latimore as Steve Loman in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Nuria Torray (Liza Moreno) as Ruth in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Directed by:
José María Elorrieta
as Joe De Lacy
Cast:
Frank Latimore … Steve Loman
Nuria Torray … Ruth
as Liza Moreno
Jesus Puente … Judge Toby Driscoll
as George Gordon
Julio Perez Tabernero … Jimmy
as Lucius Taft
Mariano Vidal Molina … Burt Capstan
as Louis Moran
Frank Brana … Fuller, Capstan’s man
as Frankie Bradford
Pastor Serrador … Richard Logan (Poker Dick)
as Gerald Spencer
George Martin … Roscoe
as John Martin
Angel Ortiz … Silas, stage driver
as Sam O’Kelly
Guillermo Vera … Juan Diego
as William West
Runtime: 90 min.
aka:
El Hombre de la Diligencia
Doomed Fort
Apache Fury
Ranch of the Doomed
Furia degli Apache
Score: Fernando Garcia Morcillo
Jesus Puente (George Gordon) as Judge Driscoll and Frank Latimore as Steve Loman in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Mariano Vidal Molina (Louis Moran) as Burt Capstan in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Memorable lines:
Loman: “Throw down your guns.”
Capstan: “Are you that afraid of me?”
Loman: “Just afraid I’d have to go to the trouble of killing you.”
Ruth: “How long have you been living all alone here in this desert?”
Loman: “Long enough to trust nobody and to hope for nothing.”
Loman to Ruth, as the Apaches attack: “When you arrived here on that coach, I knew you were what I’d been waiting for. That’s why I think I must be mad, because I’m so happy now. Just being with you, even though we’re to die.”
Ruth: “In that case, I must be mad, too.”
Julio Perez Tabernero (Lucius Taft) as Jimmy in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
George Martin (John Martin) as Roscoe and Guillermo Vera (William West) as Juan Diego in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Trivia:
Frank Latimore was born Frank Latimore Kline and had an acting career that stretched back to the mid-1940s, when he was under contract to 20th Century Fox. He appeared in about a half dozen Spaghetti Westerns, including two Zorro films. One of his last film roles was a supporting part in 1970’s Patton. He died of cancer at age 73 in 1998.
This was the first of five Spaghetti Westerns for Nuria Torray, who did most of her acting on TV. She was married to Spanish TV director Juan Guerrero Zamora.They were working together on a series called “Primera fila” (translation, First Row) when this film was made.
Frank Brana (Frankie Bradford) as Fuller in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Pastor Serrador (Gerald Spencer) as Richard (Poker Dick) Logan in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Nuria Torray (Liza Moreno) as Ruth and Jesus Puente (George Gordon) as Judge Driscoll in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
Frank Latimore as Steve Loman and Nuria Torry (Liz Moreno) as Ruth in Fury of the Apaches (1964)
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