War Arrow (1953)

One of the best films i have seen

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This Cavalry vs. Indians Western deals with Major Howell Brady (Jeff Chandler) supported by two colleagues (Charles Drake , Noah Beery Jr.) are sent by Washington to end the Kiowa uprisings in Indian territory . As they are assigned to go to Texas and recruit peaceful tribes Seminoles relocated from Florida to aid the army in bitter fighting the savage and hated Kiowas . As US cavalry and Indian tomahawk (led by Maygro : Henry Brandon who starred the unforgettable Indian ¨Scar¨ in ¨The Searchers¨) , though initially hostile , they subsequently join army and saber fighting side-by-side for the glory of the West . Nevertheless , Col. Jackson Meade (John McIntire) is reluctant to this unusual alliance and distrusts having Indians as allies . Then , Brady leads his regiment on a wild chase across the plains and hills in this saga of the old west . Brady and his US cavalry squares off rampaging Kiowas commanded by Satanta who refuses to surrender himself . Along the way Brady tries to win the heart of a widow who married a Confederate officer whose body was never found , and may still be alive . This moving movie is an epic portrait of the historic story about celebrated Indians Seminola and Tomahawk against the Kiowas . The picture gets Western action , shootouts , a love story , breathtaking raids on a Yankee fort and results to be quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . At the ending , when takes place the Indian assault , possesses all the sweep , grandeur and noisy action of the greatest Westerns of an age long past . Nice acting from a great cast . As Jeff Chandler is good as Army Major Brady who attempts to vanquish Kiowas and to keep the peace between US cavalry and Indians . Chandler gives stature to the role , providing sincerity and bravura . Chandler was famous , until his early death , for playing Indian chief Cochise , a dignified portrait well shown in : ¨Broken arrow¨ , ¨Battle of Apache Pass¨ and ¨Taza , son of Cochise¨ . Although Chandler also played all kinds of genres , such as : ¨Return to Peyton Place¨(drama) , ¨Flame of Araby¨ (adventure) , ¨Merrill's marauders¨ (wartime , in his last film) , until his early death at 42-year-old . Mauren O'Hara as gorgeous and pleasant widow Elaine Corwin , proves to be a great actress , as usual . And other wonderful woman , Suzan Ball as Indian Avis , who also died early at 21 by cancer , being these ¨War arrow¨ and ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ both of them directed by George Sherman , his last films . And support cast is frankly excellent , such as : Noah Beery Jr. , Charles Drake , Henry Brandon , Dennis Weaver , Jay Silverheels , Jim Bannon , Lance Fuller and special mention for the veteran John McIntire . This thrilling and stirring Western was beautifully shot by William Daniels , Greta Garbo's regular cameraman . And an original and shining score from William Lava and Herman Stein , though uncredited . The motion picture was professionally directed by George Sherman in B-style , though has some flaws . Sherman made reliable low-budget fare for Columbia between 1945-48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another eight years , where he directed this ¨War Arrow¨ . Sherman specialized almost exclusively in "B" westerns there , including the "Three Musketeers" series, which featured a young John Wayne. George directed lots of Westerns as ¨The Last of the Fast Guns¨ , ¨The Lone Hand¨, ¨Santa Fe stampede¨ , ¨Red skin¨ , ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ ¨Calamity Jane¨, ¨Relentless¨ , ¨Comanche Territory¨ , ¨Dawn at Socorro¨, ¨Border River¨ and many others . He also made occasional forays into action and horror themes, often achieving a sense of style over substance . The only "A"-grade films to his credit were two westerns starring John Wayne: ¨Comancheros¨ (1961) (as producer) and ¨The big Jack¨ (1971) . His last films were realized in Spain as "Find That Girl" , ¨The new Cinderella¨ and ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨. War Arrow rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .

The setting of 1953's "War Arrow" is Fort Clark in West Texas near Brackettville during the Indian Wars of the late 19th century. Major Brady (Jeff Chandler) arrives from D.C. to utilize a small band of transplanted Seminoles to aid the US Army against the marauding Kiowas. Brady conflicts with the Colonel of the fort (John McIntire) and romances a redheaded widow (Maureen O'Hara) while a Seminole woman takes interest in him (Suzan Ball).Chandler was 33 during filming and is great as the masculine protagonist with Hollywood looks, but his greying hair makes him look at least a decade older. Sadly, he'd be dead in less than ten years due to a botched surgery. McIntire as the by-the-book and jealous CO is odious, but maybe redeemable.The women, O'Hara and Ball, are another highlight. Maureen was 32 during filming and looked great, but she's one of those women who became more exquisite as she got older (to a point, that is). In the early 60s she was one of the most beautiful women to walk the face of the planet. In "War Arrow" she hadn't reached her voluptuous peak yet and she was hardly a good actress at the time, but it is interesting to see her when she was younger. Just as beautiful – and perhaps even more so – was the rising brunette Suzan Ball. She was only 18 during filming and is just stunning as the Seminole Avis. Sadly, she would pass away a mere two years after "War Arrow" was released due to cancer.Another positive for me is the Agoura, CA, locations, which – surprisingly – are a decent stand-in for West Texas. In any event, the film has a great Western "look." Unfortunately, the film loses points due to using white actors in the main Native roles, like Dennis Weaver as the Seminole brave who loves Avis and Henry Brandon as Avis' father, Maygro, not to mention Ball as Avis. But this is forgivable since this was the standard practice of the time and there were no Native actors available. Less forgivable is the stereotypical portrayal of the Indians (the haltingly way they speak English, dancing around the fire and the music), but actually it's not as bad as you would think.The biggest negative is the old-style of filmmaking of Westerns at the time. This is clearly a Hollywoodized portrayal of the Old West that could never be mistaken for reality. Yet there are a number of Westerns that broke out of the these limitations of the era, like 1950's excellent "The Sundowners" (not to be confused with the 1960 film of the same name) and 1956's "The Last Wagon," both of which rank with my favorite Westerns of all time. I point this out to show that some Westerns rose to the top in the 1930s thru 1950s, but "War Arrow" wasn't one of them. Still, it's certainly worth catching for the positives noted above. For me, it's like going back in time and it's enjoyable for this alone.The film runs 78 minutes.GRADE: C+

Jeff Chandler and Jay Silverheels, who played Cochise and Geronimo, respectively, in "Broken Arrow" and "Battle at Apache Pass", return for this one. Silverheels is a chief of the rampaging Kiowa, although apparently subservient to the revengeful ex-confederate Captain Corwin! Chandler, as Major Brady, has a role somewhat like that of John Wayne in "Fort Apache", except that here it's the sitting fort commander(Meade), rather than the new guy from the East, who goes strictly by the book and doesn't know how to subdue the Indians. The legendary Indian fighter Ranald Mackenzie took 20 Seminoles with him in his illegal foray across the Rio Grande to bloody the noses of a mixed tribal group, which had been raiding into Texas. It happens that Mackenzie was headquartered at Fort Clark: the fort in the present story, during most of the 1870s, when the present story apparently takes place. Seminoles were moved to near this fort in 1872. In this film, the fictional Brady took this a step further, training the Seminoles to be the primary fighters against the raiding Kiowa, rather than just scouts. Fort commander Meade(John McIntire) sarcastically called them 'Brady's bunch', and wrongly predicted that they would prove no match for the Kiowa. Well, we can't really blame him for this reasonable prediction. However, he forgot that the Seminoles were given the powerful Henry repeater rifles, which their opponents lacked. Despite Hollywood films, such as this, Plaines Indians very seldom attacked well built forts, as they typically resulted in too many casualties. Here, the Kiowa were talked into attacking the fort by Corwin, who had an unsound desire to destroy this symbol of Union victory in the late war. What initially appeared to be a Kiowa victory, once they penetrated the fort door(much too easily without dynamite in the wagon!), later turned into a turkey shoot as they tried to escape. As Corwin tussled with Brady, he was shot dead, apparently by Chief Satanta(Silverheels), presumably miffed that Corwin had led his tribe into this disaster. Satanta was then quickly dispatched, symbolizing a probable end to Kiowa raids. There is a bizarre detail to the battle in the fort. Brady decided to shut the women and children in the fort powder magazine room. He then made a snake fuse of black powder leading to the door of this room, and lit the end. The idea was that, if the Kiowa won the battle, the women and children were better off blown to bits than to experience what the Kiowa had in store for them. Fortunately, Maureen's character sensed that the Kiowa would eventually lose, and broke out to destroy a part of the 'snake'.Young Suzan Ball takes on Maureen O'Hara's frequent role as a feisty independent-minded woman, whereas Maureen's character is rather bland, hobbled by uncertainty whether her estranged husband(Corwin) is still alive, and if so, whether she would want to receive him back into her life, given his known collusion with the Mexican government to promote Indian unrest in Texas. Nonetheless, she provisionally reciprocates Major Brady's obvious interest in her, hoping that he will eventually provide a ticket out of this desolate fort and landscape, ideally setting her up in some large Eastern city. Suzan Ball, as poor but ambitious Seminole maiden Avis, has similar goals. She has the advantage of having been to school in San Antonio, and in being the Seminole chief's daughter, which gives her temporary access to the soldiers in the fort, whom she can impress with her beauty. However, early on, we are assured by Brady that he has no intention of marrying her(too bossy and demanding?) and only has eyes for Elaine(Maureen's character). After she's given up trying to snare Brady, she completely changes her thinking; using her position in the fort to help in Brady's battles with the fort commander and deserting Seminoles. This change in attitude, culminating in her changed attitude toward the previously derided Pino, just doesn't ring true. Chandler and Ball were the male and female leads in "Yankee Buccaneer". However, Ball didn't end up romantically with Chandler's character in either that film or the present one. She would die of cancer at age 21, but not before playing Chief Crazy Horse's main wife. She was much more subdued in that role, perhaps because one leg had been amputated in an effort to halt the cancer spread.John McIntire is OK as the overly pessimistic fort commander, who too often resents the opinions and actions of the upstart Major Brady. My favorite of his film roles is the charismatic villainous Gannon, in "The Far Country". Noah Berry and Charles Drake are OK as Brady's two loyal, somewhat knuckleheaded, sidekicks, reminding me of the pair of sidekicks played by Alan Hale and 'Big Boy' Williams in "Santa Fe Trail"Dennis Weaver hardly looks convincing as a Seminole(Pino).He came across much better as the Navajo chief in "Column South".Look for this film on YouTube.

"War Arrow" opens with major Jeff Chandler arriving at Fort Clark, Texas, and discovering that Colonel John McIntire openly opposes the government endorsed plan to make use of displaced Seminole Indians to stop the bloody Kiowa uprising on soldiers and settlers...In fact, the only person at the fort who is friendly to Chandler is Maureen O'Hara, the attractive widow of Captain James Bannon...All the action leads to a tidy end: Chandler discovers Bannon is very much alive (at least at the climax of the movie) and is really the renegade white chief of the Kiowas...In the small assigned action-packed moments in this slight entrance, the pillaging Kiowas are totally controlled... For a rare change Maureen had some harsh competition in the fascinating department, which was supplied by Suzan Ball as the passionately sensual daughter of the Seminole chief...The film is more of an excuse to show that excellent guys, always end up with excellent girls—even when the best guy resists authority and tries to match one tribe of Indians against another... All right! But not very imaginative... don't you think?