"The battle cry that set the plains ablaze !"
John Vickers has spent eight years hunting for the three men who murdered the woman he loved. He finds one, Woodson, and kills him in a gunfight, but not before learning that the other two men have joined the U.S. Cavalry.
Edmond O'Brien
John Vickers
Dean Jagger
Sam Quade
Forrest Tucker
Sgt. O'Hara
Polly Bergen
Molly Quade
Harry Carey, Jr.
Capt. Gregson
James Millican
Général George Armstrong Custer
Douglas Spencer
Kelso
Wallace Ford
Pvt. 'Irish' Potts
Paul Fix
Pvt. Fiore
John Vickers has spent eight years hunting for the three men who murdered the woman he loved. He finds one, Woodson, and kills him in a gunfight, but not before learning that the other two men have joined the U.S. Cavalry.
_**A flawed, but exceptional Cavalry vs. Indians Western from the early 50s**_ A vengeful former officer (Edmond O’Brien) joins the 7th Cavalry in order to track down those responsible for his wife’s death years earlier with everything leading to a showdown with the Sioux and events surrounding the Little Bighorn debacle. Forrest Tucker plays his sergeant, Polly Bergen a romantic interest and Dean Jagger her shopkeeper father. James Millican convincingly plays General Custer. The plot of “Warpath” (1951) was ripped-off by writer Frank Gruber from Ernest Haycox’s novel “Bugles in the Afternoon,” which was made into an inferior stage-bound Western the year after this one (with Tucker in the same role, interestingly enough). O’Brien is certainly serviceable, but arguably miscast because he’s a little too pudgy for the role that called for someone of Kirk Douglas’ robust demeanor or John Wayne’s formidableness. Another issue is the old-fashioned way the men typically deliver their obviously-scripted dialogue in an austere rat-a-tat-tat manner, which seems unnatural. But, if you can acclimate, this is a great old Western that gets better as it proceeds and is superior to Ford’s renowned cavalry Westerns released just prior to this one. The movie delivers superbly in both human interest and action. The title “Warpath” has a duel relevancy in that the protagonist is on the warpath as well as the Sioux, and both justifiably. Speaking of the Sioux, producers used real American Indians (with the exception of the sub-chief, played by John Mansfield), as well as authentic locations from the same general area of the real-life events (listed below). On top of this Polly Bergen was sure a beauty in her prime. I’m surprised “Warpath” is so obscure. It must be because of the issues noted above, but they’re not significant enough to ruin what is a very compelling and worthwhile old Western that’s so meaty it could’ve easily ran another half hour. This is going down on my list of favorite Westerns. The film runs 1 hour, 35 minutes, and was shot in the greater Billings area of southeast Montana, including Yellowstone County and the Crow Reservation. GRADE: A-
Only the Valiant, a classic western adventure, based on a novel by Charles Marquis Warren, the film tells the story of a Cavalry officer who volunteers for a suicidal mission to fight the hostile Apaches in an effort to prove his loyalty to his men and the woman he loves.
Blaise Starrett is a rancher at odds with homesteaders when outlaws hold up the small town. The outlaws are held in check only by their notorious leader, but he is diagnosed with a fatal wound and the town is a powder keg waiting to blow.
A gunfighter and a cowboy help a Mexican girl avenge the land-related murder of her parents.
Karl Westover, an inexperienced farm boy, runs away after unintentionally killing a neighbor, whose family pursues him for vengeance. He meets Barbarosa, a gunman of near-mythical proportions, who is himself in danger from his father-in-law Don Braulio, a wealthy Mexican rancher. Don Braulio wants Barbarosa dead for marrying his daughter against the father's will. Barbarosa reluctantly takes the clumsy Karl on as a partner, as both of them look to survive the forces lining up against them.
Questions arise when Senator Stoddard attends the funeral of a local man named Tom Doniphon in a small Western town. Flashing back, we learn Doniphon saved Stoddard, then a lawyer, when he was roughed up by a crew of outlaws terrorizing the town, led by Liberty Valance. As the territory's safety hung in the balance, Doniphon and Stoddard, two of the only people standing up to him, proved to be very important, but different, foes to Valance.
A Union Cavalry outfit is sent behind confederate lines in strength to destroy a rail supply center. Along with them is sent a doctor who causes instant antipathy between him and the commander. The secret plan for the mission is overheard by a southern belle who must be taken along to assure her silence.
A man with a grudge against the late Little Joe seeks revenge on the Cartwrights and attempts to take over the Ponderosa.
The murder of her father sends a teenage tomboy on a mission of 'justice', which involves avenging her father's death. She recruits a tough old marshal, 'Rooster' Cogburn because he has 'true grit', and a reputation of getting the job done.
Searching for a doctor who can help him get his son to speak again--the boy hadn't uttered a word since he saw his mother die in the fire that burned down the family home--a Confederate veteran finds himself facing a 30-day jail sentence when he's unfairly accused of starting a brawl in a small town. A local woman pays his fine, providing that he works it off on her ranch. He soon finds himself involved in the woman's struggle to keep her ranch from a local landowner who wants it--and whose sons were responsible for the man being framed for the fight.
Doc Holliday travels to Tombstone, Ariz., with prostitute Katie Elder. Although the trip is difficult because Doc is ill with tuberculosis, they eventually reach their destination, where Holliday is reunited with his old friend Marshal Wyatt Earp, who has been clashing with the Clanton gang. Tensions between Earp and the Clantons rise until their infamous final showdown brings it to a head.