The Bravos (1972)

George Peppard is Maj. John David Harkness, commander of an undermanned fort in the middle of Navajo country.

And he’s baffled because the Navajo seem to have left their villages, so he coerces frontiersman Ben Lawler (L.Q. Jones) into trying to find out what the Indians are planning.

Soon, Harkness has a second problem on his hand. A westbound wagon train under the guidance of Jackson Buckley (Pernell Roberts) has been attacked.

Buckley gets his small band out of the jam when he pretends to want to trade a horse for safe passage, then guns down the young Indian men instead.

But it turns out they weren’t Navajo. They were Kiowa warriors under feared Chief Santana. And with the wagon train taking refuge in the fort, he wants retribution.

While Harkness is trying to figure out how to deal with that threat, the 12-year-old son he hasn’t seen for four years is delivered to the fort, having been kicked out of boarding school for disobediance.

Before long, he’s in the hands of the Kiowa. They threaten to kill him if Maj. Harkness doesn’t agree to a swap: his son for the wagon master named Buckley.

George Peppard as Maj. John David Harkness, in charge of an undermanned fort with Indian trouble brewing in The Bravos (1972)

Pernell Roberts as Jackson Buckley, the guide leading a wagon train west until the Kiowa attack in The Bravos (1972)

Review:

Pretty well done TV Western that was clearly the pilot for a TV series that was never made.

For subplots, we have a wanted man (Bo Svenson) trying to sneak West with the wagon train, a young couple (Barry Brown and Belinda Montgomery) who never thought the trip would be this hard or dangerous and a second-in-command (George Murdock) who questions Harkness’s strategy for dealing with the Indians and defending the fort.

There’s a bit of a credibility issue when Harkness decides to abandon his command and ride off to rescue his son with Lawler and another civilian.

But the film also features fine performances from Roberts as the arrogant wagon master and L.Q. Jones, who isn’t forced to be the villain for a change.

Director Ted Post wasn’t exactly a stranger to the genre, having helmed The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959) and Hang ‘Em High (1968), and with 55 episodes of “Gunsmoke” and 24 episodes of “Rawhide” to his credit.

L.Q. Jones as Ben Lawler, the veteran Indian fight coerced into helping solve the Navajo mystery in The Bravos (1972)

George Murdock as Capt. MacDowell, Harkness’s second in command at the fort in The Bravos (1972)

Directed by:
Ted Post

Cast:
George Peppard … Maj. John David Harkness
Pernell Roberts … Jackson Buckley
Belinda Montgomery … Heller Chase
L.Q. Jones … Ben Lawler
George Murdock … Capt. MacDowell
Barry Brown .. Garratt
Dana Elcar … Capt. Detroville
John Kellogg … Sgt. Major Marcy
Bo Svenson … Raeder
Vicent Van Patten … Peter Harkness
Joaquin Martinez … Santana
Randolph Mantooth … 2nd Lt. Lewis
Clint Ritchie … Cpl. Love
Michael Bow … Sgt. Boyd

Runtime: 100 min.

Bo Svenson as Raeder, a man trying to slip west with a price on his head in The Bravos (1972)

Vincent Van Patten as Peter Harkness, the disobediant 12-year-old who joins his father at the fort in The Bravos (1972)

Memorable lines:

Maj. John David Harkness: “You don’t stop a fire once it’s started out here, McDowell. You keep it from happening.”

Jackson Buckley: “I do not intend to crawl and squirm in corners from savages that don’t know strategy or tactics. I don’t like that picture, major. There are no Kiowa Napoleons.”

Jason Buckley, when learning that Santana wants him in exchange for the major’s son: “You are pledged to fight to the last button on your coat, sir. Not to palaver.”

Belinda Montgomery as Heller Chase, deciding to continue west in spite of hardships in The Bravos (1972)

Barry Brown as Garratt, the young man who dreams of a new home in California with pretty Heller Chase in The Bravos (1972)

Joaquin Martinez as Santana, the feared Kiowa chief in The Bravos (1972)

George Peppard as Maj. John David Harkness, saluting that captain who helps save he and his son in The Bravos (1972)