Warpath (1951)

Edmund O’Brien is John Vickers, a former Civil War officer with a score to settle.

His fiancée was crippled by a wound during a bank robbery; he watched her suffer for seven months before dying. Now he’s after the three men responsible.

He tracks down Herb Woodson and guns him down. But before dying, Woodson tells him the other two men joined the cavalry. And so Vickers enlists in the famed 7th Cavalry, hoping to finish his quest for retribution.

He immediately runs afoul of mean-tempered Sgt. O’Hara (Forrest Tucker). He quickly falls for a sutler’s daughter named Molly (Polly Bergen). And he soon finds himself fighting Indians in a desperate stand with the rest of Troop M.

Vickers rescues his troop with a daring ride back to the fort, earning a promotion in the process.

Meanwhile, he’s starting to suspect that one of the men he’s looking for is O’Hara. The most disturbing thing about that: O’Hara is good friends with Molly’s dad, Sam Quade (Dean Jagger).

In fact, they’ve known one another for years. Could Quade, Molly’s father, be the other man Vickers is searching for?

Edmund O’Brien as John Vickers, being questioned by the Sioux about Custer’s whereabouts in Warpath (1951)

Polly Bergen as Molly Quade, thanking John Vickers for helping her out in Warpath (1951)

Review:

Pretty well-done Cavalry-Indian film, complete with some fine action footage, though the ending is way too upbeat considering it occurs during the Battle of the Little Bighorn, with the knowledge that Custer and his men have likely been wiped out.

O’Brien plays a man so intent on revenge, that he’s willing to sacrifice anything, including his affection for Molly Quade. It isn’t until he finds himself prisoner in a Sioux village — along with the men he’s seeking — that he begins to see things differently.

The cast is full of familiar faces, with Wallace Ford and Paul Fix as two of O’Brien’s fellow troopers and Harry Carey Jr. as his commander. It marked one of the first film roles for Polly Bergen, who enjoyed a long film and TV career that stretched into the 2000s, with perhaps her best role coming as Gregory Peck’s tormented wife in 1962’s “Cape Fear.”

It marked the first of three Westerns director Byron Haskin made starring Edmund O’Brien, followed by “Silver City” (1951) and “Denver and Rio Grande” (1952).

Forrest Tucker as Sgt. O’Hara, in another quarrel with the suspicious John Vickers in Warpath (1951)

Dean Jagger as Sam Quade, the sutler whose past comes back to haunt him in Warpath (1951)

Directed by:
Byron Haskin

Cast:
Edmund O’Brien … John Vickers
Dean Jagger … Sam Quade
Forrest Tucker … Sgt. O’Hara
Harry Carey Jr. … Capt. Gregson
Polly Bergen … Molly Quade
James Millican … Gen. George Custer
Wallace Ford … Private Irish Potts
Paul Fix … Private Fiore
Louis Jean Heydt … Herb Woodson
Paul Lees … Cpl. Stockbridge
Walter Sande … Sgt. Parker
Charles Dayton … Lt. Nelson
Robert Bray … Maj. Comstock
Douglas Spencer … Kelso
James Burke … Oldtimer

Runtime: 95 min.

Harry Carey Jr. as Capt. Gregson, informing John Vickers of a promotion in Warpath (1951)

James Millican as Gen. George Custer, congratulating John Vickers on a job well done in Warpath (1951)

Memorable lines:

Molly Quade: “You won’t have any hair left if you keep cutting it.”
Sam Quade: “Indians won’t bother to scalp me then.”

Sgt. O’Hara, urging John Vickers to fight him in front of the Sioux warriors: “C’mon, or do you want these mangy dog-eaters to do the job for you?”

Kelso, wagon train guide: “I don’t want to be a hero. I just want to get out of here alive!”

Wallace Ford as Private Irish Potts, welcoming John Vickers to the Seventh Cavalry in Warpath (1951)

Paul Fix as Private Fiore, getting up the nerve to ask Molly for a dance while Private Potts (Wallace Ford) looks on in Warpath (1951)

Dean Jagger as Sam Quade and Polly Bergen as his daughter Molly, captive of the Sioux in Warpath (1951)

Edmund O’Brien as John Vickers, being questioned about his reasons for joining the cavalry in Warpath (1951)