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Apache was the third feature Robert Aldrich directed. Before he worked as an assistant director to Jean Renoir, William Wellman, Lewis Milestone and even Charlie Chaplin and also made several episodes for TV films. He was invited to direct Apache by its co-producer and main star Burt Lancaster.

The Apache's particularity is that it doesn't enter the classic Western scheme of almost obligatory showing of the Indians as bad guys, thou the most illustrious example of this probably belong to John Ford's 1964 Cheyenne Autumn with which the legendary director bid a farewell to the genre. Also Apache's distinctiveness resides in the treatment that is given to the central theme of the Western genre, which is revenge.

Here the Indian rebellious warrior Massai, wonderfully played by Burt Lancaster is obsessively seeking revenge facing the enemy not only in a form of one person or a small group of people in accordance with traditional Western vengeance system, but in a form an entire society either Indian or White, a society that he considers his enemy and against which he courageously fights alone not looking for help from anyone till he meets an equally strong character Nalinle (Jean Peters), a woman who simply accepts him as he is ready to share all the difficulties of Massai's life and even to sacrifice her own life for the man she loves. From this point on as his affection for Nalinle increases, his desire to fight everything and everyone proportionally decreases resulting in his settling down looking for more peaceful existence, which is hardly possible due to the burden of his past deeds which weighs over him personified in a collective figure of the American authorities who unceasingly continue to hunt him down.

A weak, but also in many ways remarkable Western featuring convincing performances from Burt Lancaster and Jean Peters in a tale of self-sacrificing love and courageous but ultimately pointless fight for imaginary cause. 7/10

If you can suspend disbelief that Burt Lancaster and Jean Peters are Apaches, then this isn't a bad western. If you can't, well then there's gonna be a lot of low ratings posted here.

In 1886, Geronimo and his braves surrender to the U.S. Calvary in New Mexico and are shipped off to Ft. Marion, Florida. All except one, an Apache named Massai (Burt Lancaster) who begins a one man war against the whites.

Massai escapes from the train that is shipping the Apaches back east and makes his way back to New Mexico. From there, he attacks wagons, soldiers, bridges etc., making life hard for the authorities. He kidnaps Nalinle (Jean Peters) and takes her up to the hills with him while Indian scouts John McIntire and Charles Bronson hunt them down.

Massai finds an isolated spot in the high country and starts to plant a small corn field from seed he got from a Cherokee farmer (Morris Ankrum). He also gets Peters pregnant with child.

The ending scene in Massai's little cornfield is pure Hollywood. The action scenes are tight as we see Lancaster jumping from rock to rock as he picks off at least 10 of the Indian scouts that have him surrounded. But then as Massai is wounded and runs into McIntire in the cornfield, disbelief occurs and the conclusion seems tacked on in order to make a happy ending out of it. You'll have to see it for yourself.

Still, it's entertaining enough as it is. It's based on a true incident and Lancaster at least brings some dignity to his role as the noble warrior turned farmer who wants to be left in peace. It could've turned out a lot worse.

I give it a 6 out of 10 for his performance alone.

This is an exciting and masterful movie by the great Robert Aldrich , at his first and the best Western . Many years later bloody fighting with the settlers in the American frontier and a bitter battle between the Apaches and the US cavalry in the struggle for the West , the chief Apache Gerónimo is obliged to undertake a humiliating defeat . But his warrior more radical and violent named Maasai (Burt Lancaster), renounces to accept rendition . Maasai refuses to surrender and takes on the relentless American cavalry (John McIntire , Charles Bronson) , attempting to get a step ahead of the perfectly trained troopers ,all of them have vowed to kill him . Meanwhile , he falls in love for a gorgeous Apache woman (Jean Peters) . And as his crusade will precipitate toward an epic final battle . Maasai to be realized that he must persevere , not only for his life , but also by the pride of all his Apache race . There really was a renegade Apache warrior called Massai, who was a bloodthirsty killer renowned for stealing, raping and murdering. He did indeed escape from a prison train bound for Florida and made his way back to his homeland.

This thoughtful picture is an excellent adaptation based on the novel by Paul J. Wellman titled ¨Bronco Apache¨ . This film is , along with "Devil'S Doorway" and " Broken Arrow", one of the few titles of great quality shot in the 1950s to praise the figure of the Red Skins against White Men . Interestingly , the screenwriter James R Webb and the director Robert Aldrich found the character Maasai of the original novel very aggressive , so they decided to join an Apache woman well performed by the wonderful Jean Peters who married Howard Hughes . Lancaster makes an unforgettable and top-notch interpretation as a two-fisted warrior named Maasai , transmitting all the fierceness , nobility and ubiquity of his particularly stubborn role as well as unfriendly . A top-drawer western , the third feature film of the great Aldrich , here directing a Western masterpiece and to confirm with another great movie : "Vera Cruz" . "Apache" is a thrilling and vibrant story to deal with the figure of a rebel Indian ; the own Aldrich did in 1972 another splendid film with this theme : "Ulzana's raid" also with Lancaster as starring . The good of the screenplay is presented to the American Indian with dignity , honour and understanding . This is an intelligent , top-of-the-range piece for its time that had the original tragic final re-shot, against Aldrich's wishes , to make it more happy . He later concluded that "if you shoot two endings, they will always use the other one, never yours".

In ¨Apache¨ Robert Aldrich gave a tense and brilliant direction , though was shot in 30 days . Aldrich began writing and directing for TV series in the early 1950s, and directed his first feature in 1953 (Big Leaguer ,1953). Soon thereafter he established his own production company and produced most of his own films, collaborating in the writing of many of them . Directed in a considerable plethora of genres but almost all of his films contained a subversive undertone . He was an expert on warlike (Dirty Dozen , The Angry Hills , Attack , Ten seconds to hell) and Western (The Frisko kid , Ulzana's raid, Apache , Veracruz , The last sunset) . ¨Apache¨ is a masterful film in all aspects , is among the best westerns of the cinema . Rating : Above average , it's a must see and a standout in its genre ; thus, this film was a commercial success .

Apart from Burt Lancaster's macho warrior performance, this movie is also saved by Robert Aldrich's direction. It's not brilliant in any sense, but pure enough to tell a story with some unique moments that give it his trade mark. Also the subject matter of an Indian being a hero was not common in the 1950s. It was a brave attempt to create empathy for the Indian Warrior, but it was not difficult because Burt Lancaster played it perfectly in a heroic campy style. I know, white folks playing Indigenous roles can sometimes put you off, but because of the time period it was made in, I decided to let it go and enjoy this Western romp because Lancaster is my all time favorite actors, and I was always interested in Aldrich as an accomplish director who had his own style that suited this film to perfection.

The movie tells the story of a rebellious apache who refuses to surrender with his chief Geronimo,and wages a one-man war against the U.S. cavalry.

Following movies like "Broken Arrow (1950)" this film takes the side of the Indian.Lancaster is again at his most athletic in the leading role,but he makes a rather unlikely Indian.The same could be said of Jean Peters,who nevertheless looks ravishing as Lancaster's squaw.It's anyway an entertaining movie.

Apache is directed by Robert Aldrich and adapted to screenplay by James R. Webb from the novel "Broncho Apache" written by Paul Wellman. It stars Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, John Dehner, Charles Bronson and Paul Guilfoyle. Music is by David Raksin and cinematography by Ernest Laszlo.

"This is the story of Massai, the last Apache warrior. It has been told and re-told until it has become one of the great legends of the Southwest. it began in 1886 with Geronimo's surrender."

Apache has problems, undoubtedly, from the casting of overtly bright eyed Americans in the principal Native American roles, to the shift into love story territory, and on to the studio enforced compromised ending, it's a mixed bag for sure. If you can get over these "issues" then there is still a lot to enjoy here.

You're not a warrior any more; you're just a whipped Injun.

Apache follows in the footsteps made by Broken Arrow and Devil's Doorway that saw a shift in how Native Americans were being represented on screen. The story of Massai (Lancaster) is a fascinating one, even if the movie doesn't quite be all that it can be. It shows him as a stoic and complex individual, fiercely determined in a last man standing type of way, while his confusion with the world he no longer understands - or cares to be part of - is expertly realised by Lancaster and Aldrich. One sequence has Massai walk through town observing the alien white man world at work, including Chinese folk busying themselves in a laundry, it's a smart piece of writing, proving that there is intelligence and points of worth in the story.

You are like a dying wolf biting at its own wounds.

Thankfully the film doesn't go too far the other way and paint Massai as a saint, we know what he is capable off, and he shows us his skills as a warrior as the story moves on. There's even a scene of major manhandling of Nalinle (Peters) that is uncomfortable viewing but actually integral to Massai's emotional state and how the story between the two unfolds. Here in is the problem, once Massai and Nalinle "fall" for each other the picture loses its edge, where even though Aldrich inserts some more action sequences, the grit, intelligence and narrative thrust has disappeared. This all leads to the ending, that as written originally should have seen a cold and dark finish along the lines of the brilliant Devil's Doorway. Instead we get something approaching cuteness and not as profound as the studio obviously thought it was.

The casting of Lancaster and Peters gives the film athletic muscularity and beauty (respectively), certainly in Lancaster's case he throws himself into a role he actively courted to take him onto another acting level (he co-produced it with Harold Hecht). It takes some getting used to, but they provide wholesome characterisations even if they never convince as Native Americans. Support work from McIntire and Dehner is strong, but unfortunately Bronson (here billed as Buchinsky) is short changed by a screenplay that doesn't enhance a very promising character. Raksin's score blends the usual Indian thrums with a love theme that is not dissimilar to the love theme used by Alex North for Spartacus six years later. While Laszlo's Technicolor photography is grade "A" stuff where the landscapes (a number of locations were used, primarily in California) form a telling part of the plotting.

Problems for sure here, and in truth it's the weakest Western made by the Aldrich/Lancaster pairing, but it has good strengths, it was a financial success and it's a story well worth being told. 7/10

I grew up watching westerns so in turn love them dearly....they tie me in with a great childhood when things were simple and life was good in an unadulterated sense.

Burt Lancaster has always been a prominent actor and his talent is so very showing in this movie. Charles Bronson is also in the movie and comes across very well as a young actor who is later destined to be one of the greatest actors of our time. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie on a lazy Saturday afternoon and I highly recommend it for its soothing effects of a simple yesteryear long gone except in cinema.

It is a typical plot of indians being pushed out and destroyed by the Union Army with one stand out rebel.....hell bent with an anger created thru intense hate, yet capable of showing love towards the woman in his life.

I enjoyed cowboy movies when I was young, but after TV and Hollywood together beat the genre to death with over-exposure and triteness (to be supplanted by space operas, car chases/explosions and, now zombie/vampire adventures), I wasn't sorry to see westerns die their slow death... though an occasional decent one pops up now and agin. The silliness of the casting and the seemingly requisite neat, dry-cleaned look of every single soldier and saddle tramp, just gets in the way of anything special this movie might have had when first conceived.

What has me really puzzled about this movie is why Burt Lancaster would put himself in such a thing. It was, after all, a "Hecht-Lancaster Presentation," so, presumably, he would have had control over its creation. I guess Burt, an actor I have long admired, saw this as a step forward by adding some shades of gray to Hollywood's usual depiction of the Indian "savages." It is a bad movie, chock full of poorly-acted stereotypes, clichéd situations and unbelievable events. A few of my *favorites* - Burt, single-handed, turns over a wagon with two full-size bad guys in it. The almost virgin birth of his child: After doing almost everything allowable in a movie of this type (including clubbing the would-be girl friend), they finally get to romance and in the blink of an eye, she is pregnant, goes full term without a hint of a bulge and delivers her first child unassisted after about a 5 minute labor (while she is, seemingly, bed-ridden from having been tending the crops which are growing nicely in some of the driest soil ever photographed).

Speaking of the soil: I re-watched this warhorse of a flick (Why do folks here consider this a great Altman movie?) after many years because it is on a long list of films shot in or around Sedona, Arizona. I have visited Sedona twice. It's redrock towers are a sight to behold and it is clear why it was a favored location. Even now, with most of the beautiful hills adorned by dense necklaces of cute SW modern homes and condos, occupied by the upscale folk who can afford to live there, it still has much to beguile. If you visit, check out the local funky museum and, while taking in the old photos and wrangler gear, ponder what we have wrought. If you are like me, you may wonder why such transitions seem so tragically inevitable.

RELEASED IN 1954 and directed by Robert Aldrich, "Apache" is based on the real-life story of Massai (Burt Lancaster), a Chiricahua Apache who was exiled with other Apaches to a reservation in Florida to be held with Geronimo and Chihuahua, but he escapes the train somewhere near St. Louis and travels 1200 miles back to the Mescalero Apache tribal area, conducting one-man raids near what is now the Arizona-New Mexican border. John McIntire plays the chief of scouts commissioned to capture Massai while Charles Bronson (Buchinsky) is on hand as an Apache scout. Jean Peters plays an Apache babe who, in real life, was Zanagoliche.

Massai actually escaped the prison train with a Tonkawa Native named Gray Lizard and they traveled the long journey back by foot together, eventually parting company in Southeastern Arizona. Gray Lizard is, unfortunately, completely omitted in the film.

To enjoy this movie you have to look past Lancaster in the lead role or, at least, imagine him to look more like a real Apache. But, keep this in mind: Since Massai is the sympathetic protagonist of the story the movie would've never been made in the early 50s without a known Hollywood star playing the role. Why? Simple: Producers needed to attract viewers in order for the film to make money. Actually, Lancaster isn't too unbelievable in the role, as long as you can disregard his blue eyes. Unfortunately babelicious Peters looks way too European to play an Apache squaw, even though they tried to hide it by darkening her skin. On the positive side, there are a lot of real Natives in peripheral roles.

The whole first act is great as Massai is a fish-out-of-water in the city of St. Louis. Unfortunately there are dull stretches in the second and third acts. Nevertheless, "Apache" was better than I thought it would be and inspired me to look up the real-life Massai. It was also a hit at the box office despite falling into relative obscurity since then. The score is surprisingly bearable for an old Western.

"Apache" made Native Americans (who aren't really 'native' since their ancestors emigrated from Asia) sympathetic characters in cinema, along with earlier Westerns, like "Buffalo Bill" (1944), "Fort Apache" (1948) and "Broken Arrow" (1950) and later Westerns, like "The Last Wagon" (1956), "A Man Called Horse" (1970) and "I Will Fight No More Forever" (1975).

THE FILM RUNS 1 hours & 31 minutes and was shot in California, Arizona and New Mexico. WRITERS: James R. Webb wrote the script based on Paul Wellman's novel.

GRADE: B-

We all know old Hollywood cast white actors in ethnic roles, putting dark makeup on their skin or tape on their eyes. If you're a social pioneer, you shun the actors who participated. If you're a loyal movie fan, you realize that the studio system was just different back then and not everyone was Paul Muni who refused the parts and destroyed his career.

In Apache, Burt Lancaster plays a famed Indian warrior captured and sent to a reservation. It might be a treat to see him scantily clad and fighting anyone who stands in his way, but the casting choice is a poor one. You can see even more of him in The Swimmer and he doesn't have a silly wig on. Jean Peters is also in heavy makeup, the woman of Burt's desire. One interesting aspect is the lack of Hollywood smooches. Burt and Debra wouldn't have kissed, according to their culture, so instead, they nuzzle and caress.

Do you recognize the young cutie pie, Charles Buchinsky, in the supporting cast? It's Charles Bronson in one of his early roles! Unless you are a die-hard Burt Lancaster fan, though, you can see "Buchinsky" in some other movies before he changed his name without watching this sanitized Hollywood drama. It may have its dramatic moments, but it's nowhere near realistic.

Once upon a time it was considered not only acceptable but positively common-place for white men to play Native Americans; why, even that handsome non-entity Jeff Chandler got an Oscar nomination for playing Cochise. In "Apache" it was the turn of Burt Lancaster to grow his hair, wear a bandana and speak in broken English and not only that but his 'squaw' was none other than Jean Peters. Such miscasting virtually kills Robert Aldrich's otherwise fine western about the last Apache to defy capture.

It's a handsome and reasonably intelligent picture that cries out for real Native Americans or at least actors who don't sound like Burt Lancaster. He may vaguely look like an Apache but there's nothing you can do to disguise that distinctive Lancaster voice. It's certainly not an offensive film and I'm sure everyone involved thought they were honoring their Apache hero but a film needs more than just good intentions. It may not be Lancaster's finest hour nor is it Aldrich's but then even second-rate Aldrich is far from negligible.

Like "Broken Arrow", which came out four years earlier, "Apache" deals with the Apache Wars of the late nineteenth century and is loosely based on fact. It is, however, set at a rather later period of history than the earlier film. Geronimo, the last Apache chief to continue to resist the white settlement of the American South-West has finally been forced to surrender to the US Army. (Geronimo played a minor role in "Broken Arrow" as the main opponent of Cochise's peace treaty with the whites). Geronimo and his warriors are transported by train to a reservation in Florida. While they are passing through St Louis, however, one warrior, Massai, manages to escape and sets out to walk all the way to back his homeland.

Another similarity between this film and "Broken Arrow" is that both are made from a point of view sympathetic to Native Americans. Indeed, "Apache" goes further than the earlier film in this respect. In "Broken Arrow" the main Indian character, Cochise, and the main white character, Tom Jeffords, are both treated sympathetically and are given equal prominence. Here Massai is very much the most important character, more prominent than any of the white characters, none of whom are particularly sympathetic.

A key scene in the film comes when Massai, on his long trek back to the South-West, meets a Comanche farmer in Oklahoma. Hitherto Massai, like all Apaches, has seen himself as a proud hunter and warrior, scorning all those, be they whites or members of other Indian tribes, who earn a living by growing crops. Seeing, however, that the Comanche live in peace with their white neighbours, he reasons that a similar change of lifestyle could enable the Apache to do the same. Upon his arrival back in the Apache homelands, however, he discovers that the white settlers and the military have no intention of allowing him to live in peace, and he begins a one-man war against them.

As in "Broken Arrow" the main Indian characters, Massai and his wife Nalinle, are played by white actors, something which would today doubtless be condemned as politically incorrect but which in the fifties would have been regarded as quite acceptable. Burt Lancaster may have been attracted to the part by his liberal political convictions which were to become more important in his choice of roles later in his career. It must be said, however, that Lancaster is far less convincing as an Indian than Jeff Chandler had been in "Broken Arrow"; no attempt was made to hide the fact that both he and his co-star Jean Peters had blue eyes, something not normally associated with pure-bred Apaches. Another Indian character is played by a white actor, a young Charles Bronson in an early role. This was not, in fact, the first film in which Lancaster had played an American Indian; three years earlier he had played the title role in "Jim Thorpe- All American". Thorpe, however, although a member of the Sac and Fox nation, had European blood on both sides of his family, so Lancaster's looks were not such an issue in that film.

"Apache" is a frequently enjoyable Western adventure, but I would not rate it as highly as "Broken Arrow". Whereas "Broken Arrow" had tried to present a more balanced picture of life in the Old West than many traditional Westerns, which had simply portrayed Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages, "Apache" goes too far in the other direction, substituting for the old stereotype a new one of the American Indian as heroic noble savage. Burt Lancaster gets a chance to show off the athletic and acrobatic skills which were his stock-in-trade during the early part of his career, but this is not really one of his best performances or one of his best films. 6/10

Very good classic western that has a Holywood formula but with more than the usual edge.Showcasing the Native American side here during the late 19th century.Great chemistry between the lead actors.The production was nothing spectacular but was very good enough over all due mainly to the script and performance of Lancaster and Peters.Good action mixed with a cute and convincing love story.Only for liberal minded people who love Westerns and big fans of the lead actors......

Aldrich's first Technicolor picture, as well as the first star-driven one, sees him feeling towards future greatness, but stumbling along the way. "Apache", produced by Lancaster himself, never overcomes the terrible casting of the title character. Six foot tall, blue-eyed and Nordic looking, Lancaster is about the most unrealistic Indian ever, and the terrible wig they equipped him with does not help much either. Watching him and Jean Peters in their make up is almost akin to watching minstrels in black-face. Lancaster can show off his great physicality and athletic skill but to very little avail. The story is often clumsy and suffers from severe pacing problems and at times incongruous editing. Clearly, Aldrich and his collaborators were not ready yet for the bigger things to come in the future, but the jump in sophistication from this rather crude picture to "Vera Cruz" later in the same year is still rather astonishing. "Apache" is a very minor genre entry, perfectly watchable but without any lasting contribution to the Western, even given its unusually (certainly at the time) friendly portrayal of the American Indian. Aldrich and Lancaster would reunite and return to the themes presented here with much bigger success later in their careers for "Ulzana's Raid."

There is more yucky brownface in this film than a busted freezer full of melted fudgesicles. And the dialogue given Burt Lancaster and Jean Peters to mouth is of the stiff, declamatory, Shakespeare made easy variety that was de rigeur in 50s/60s westerns featuring Native Americans. And the happy ending feels completely wrong. Yet there are sustained parts of this early Robert Aldrich work that merit one's attention. Like the hellish vision of rowdy St. Louis at night as Lancaster's title character literally falls into a chaotic, Caucasian world of fire engines, carnival barkers, ladies of the evening and sneering youths. I also liked the way Aldrich first sets up a sexist relationship between Lancaster and Peters and then undercuts it as she teaches the very macho Massai how to plant and grow corn. And whenever the great character actor John McIntyre is on screen, portraying the world weary, romantic, cynical and tough Indian scout Al Sieber, I notice that James R. Webb's dialogue actually approaches the land of nuance. Aldrich must have noticed this too because when he revisited this subject eighteen years later, in the better "Ulzana's Raid", he made the Sieber-like scout the central character and had Lancaster play him. Give it a B minus.