In the aftermath of a Cheyenne attack on a small party of westbound settlers, two people are left alive.
One is a Cheyenne warrior (Ned Romero) who was pinned under his pony and fell unconscious during the fighting.
The other is a pretty blonde (Linda Hawkins) who was headed West to meet a fiancé named Jeffrey.
A sign from above prevents the warrior from killing the woman, and they form an uneasy alliance in their attempt to survive.
When cornered by members of an enemy tribe, the Cheyenne saves the woman’s life.
When the Cheyenne is mauled by a bear, the woman nurses him back to health.
And as time passes. that uneasy alliance transforms into trust and fondness.
The infatuated warrior winds up stealing the half of the woman’s locket that includes her photograph.
The warrior gives the woman the talisman that he wears around his neck — a talisman she has admired.
Trouble comes when the warrior and the woman encounter a party of American and French trappers.
They promise to help the woman to safety. She bids farewell to her Indian friend.
Turns out her new companions are far more savage than the warrior with whom she’s been traveling.
The Cheyenne sets out to make they pay for that.
Ned Romero as the Cheyenne warrior, getting the sign that prompts him to spare the white woman’s life in The Talisman (1966)
Linda Hawkins as the woman, fearful of the Cheyenne warrior’s intent toward her in The Talisman (1966)
Review:
A well-done and long-lost low-budget indie film that makers of low-budget independent Westerns in the 21st Century would do well to emulate.
With no conversation between them, Romero and Hawkins manage to make us care about what happens to them.
And beware of a shortened 87-minute version that includes a very different ending.
The film loses a star for the implausible final showdown, a brutal fight in the middle of a Western town.
Onlookers, including a sheriff, watch and do nothing to prevent the violence, despite the fact that one of the participants is a Cheyenne.
Ned Romero had previously appeared in a couple of TV shows, but this marked his film debut. Western films likely remember him best as Chief Joseph in the 1975 TV film “I Will Fight No More Forever.”
IMDb tells us little about female star Linda Hawkins. This is listed as her only screen credit. Does anyone out there know anything about her?
Richard Thies as Buford, leader of the fur trappers who ‘rescue’ the woman from the ‘savage’ with whom she’s been traveling in The Talisman (1966)
Jerald Cormier as Jubilo, happy with his card when the fur trappers draw to see who kills the woman in The Talisman (1966)
Directed by:
John Carr
Cast
Ned Romero … The Indian
Linda Hawkins … The Woman
Richard Thies … Buford
Jerald Cormier … Jubilo
Ray Browne … Martineau
Raymond DeAnda .. Leveque
Louis Bacigalupi … Isaac
Runtime: 93 min.
aka:
The Savage American
Raymond de Anda as Le Veque, one of the fur trappers in The Talisman (1966)
Robert Brown as Martineau, about to experience the bite of a snake and a Cheyenne warrior’s vengeance in The Talisman (1966)
Memorable lines:
The Woman, to her smiling Cheyenne companion: “There’s nothing funny about this situation that I can see. We don’t have any food or water. How can I make you understand?”
The Woman, when “rescued” by Buford and his companions: “I want you to do something for my sake. See that the Indian is given his horse, his rifle, everything that belongs to him.”
Leveque, at the thought of leaving the woman behind to die: “I do much bad things, Monsieur Buford. But no let her alone here to starve, die slow.”
Jubilo to the comatose white woman: “Reckon you heared. I’ve been left behind to kill you. Sorta hate to though. You’re so pretty.”
Ned Romero as the Cheyenne warrior, demonstrating his skill with a bow and arrow in The Talisman (1966)
Linda Hawkins as the white woman, accepting flowers from the Cheyenne warrior leading her to safety in The Talisman (1966)
Louis Bacigalupi as Issac, refusing to go along with the rape of a woman in The Talisman (1966)
Richard Thies as Buford awakes to a reminder of the atrocity he and his colleagues committed in The Talisman (1966)
Ned Romero as the Cheyenne warrior, studing the white woman’s picture in a locket in The Talisman (1966)
Linda Hawkins as the white woman, scrambling to safety once the talisman has been returned in The Talisman (1966)
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