Hölle der tausend Martern

Run of the Arrow (Samuel Fuller, 1957) is an embryonic version of Dances With Wolves in director Sam Fuller's familiar tabloid style: short, flamboyantly written and with the best stuff right at the top. It begins on Palm Sunday, 1865, "the last day of the war between the states", with Fuller taking us to the very heart of the conflict via a mesmerising opening tracking shot. Corpses are strewn across the smoking landscape, where an unmanned cannon has fallen silent, smashed to pieces. An air of desperation and exhaustion hangs heavy over the action. A Yankee soldier on a knackered horse staggers towards some unknown, meaningless destination. A shot rings out and he slumps to the ground. A Confederate infantryman (Rod Steiger) lowers his gun and moves forward. Ransacking the man's pockets, he finds a food parcel and begins eating the spoils off the dying man's stomach. That line from The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down comes to mind: "We were hungry, just barely alive." Having had his fill, Steiger straps the man to the guy's own horse, and takes him to a field hospital. It's a brilliant intro. But then Steiger starts talking and the film goes downhill.

Accents are a funny thing. It's nice when someone gets a voice down pat, but it often feels like window-dressing. And illogical window-dressing at that, since Nazis don't generally converse with one another in heavily-accented English. Jimmy Stewart gave a great performance in The Shop Around the Corner without attempting a Hungarian accent, and Claude Rains was a fitting French captain in Casablanca despite his distinctive English tones. Keeping your own accent also means you avoid taking a road to supposed 'authenticity' that's full of pitfalls. A terrible voice can sink a film, or at least prove a major distraction, and that's the case here. Playing a second-generation Irish immigrant fighting for the Confederacy, who finds a new home with the Sioux, Steiger opts for an accent that can best be described as 'South Asian Norwegian'. Perhaps he was confused about playing an honorary Indian, because no matter how bold and progressive the film is, offering an insightful look at Sioux customs, it still has a hero who sounds like a sort of Slumdog John Qualen. By d'yevil.

Such self-satisfied broadsides aside (I'm sorry, I really do like Fuller), Run of the Arrow turns out alright. The titular rite-of-passage - which sees Steiger forced to outpace some rampaging Sioux, or else find a new skin - is exciting and well-paced, with an intelligent follow-up in the second half. Fuller's much-celebrated focus on the feet during that sequence was actually enforced by Steiger's sore ankle, but elsewhere there's some strong direction that makes the most of several ambitious, realistic sets. Steiger is periodically effective, even hampered by that ridiculous voice, with Ralph Meeker perfectly cast as his main nemesis - a cigar-chomping Indian-hater - and Brian Keith an effective moral yardstick, though the rest of the cast is largely nondescript. The interesting, well-researched portrait of the Native American lifestyle is ultimately overtaken by a drawn-out action climax that begins effectively, with an interesting subversion of Western folklore that sees the Indians riding to the rescue, but frankly goes on a bit. Fuller's script also lacks clarity, even when dealing with his favourite theme of redemption, which is very unusual for this filmmaker.

In the end, Run of the Arrow is a fascinating, admirably ambitious film, but it's a long way from being a classic, with confused plotting and an inability to build on its fascinating opening scenes. On this evidence, it's a damn shame that Fuller never made a full Civil War picture, as he seems ideally suited to the material. But then again, every Fuller film starts and ends with a bang, and though John Ford's 21-minute section of How the West Was Won ('The Civil War') is extraordinary, his feature-length treatment of the conflict he remained so obsessed with, The Horse Soldiers, is a shambles.

Trivia note: This was the first movie to use blood squibs. No Run of the Arrow, no Wild Bunch. A small price to pay for that peculiar thing Steiger is doing with his larynx.

Run of the Arrow is the 50's equivalent of 'Dances with Wolves', so if you wanted to watch Dances with Wolves in the 50's, you had to watch this. That's not such a bad thing, however, as although this film isn't brilliant; it's better than Dances with Wolves. The story follows the adventures of Pvt. O'Meara (portrayed impressively by Rod Steiger), a soldier on the losing side of the American Civil war. He is dismayed by his side joining with the other side at the end of war, and he wants no part of the unified American nation. So, he travels south to the land of savages, because "at least they have pride". On the way to the south, he meets up with a renegade Sioux Indian scout and he finds an admiration for the Sioux culture. He later becomes the first man to beat the 'run of the arrow', and finds himself taking a squire and being accepted into their tribe.

The visuals are gritty and fairly brutal. There is also lots on offer in the way of entertainment: the scene in which our hero beats the run of the arrow is well filmed and exciting, which is just the way it should be. Aside from this, the movie also features a quicksand scene, a near skinning alive sequence and a great Americans vs. Indians battle scene. It also stays entertaining all the through, and that is much to the movie's credit; it's something that Dances with Wolves couldn't manage anyway. The film also features two great actors, which very much impress. The aforementioned Rod Steiger is the first, who takes the lead role. Although he doesn't ever set the screen on fire, he is always believable in his role, and that is enough. Aside from Steiger, the film also features the talents of the very talented Charles Bronson as a Sioux Indian.

The story is nothing new for those who have seen films like Dances with Wolves, or Witness; but remember, this film predates both of those by nearly thirty years, so it's not unoriginality on the part of this. In fact, my only major criticism of the film is that it's under-ambitious. It never really gets under the skin of it's story, and that is a loss to the film as if it had have done; it would have been a more well rounded film. Smaller criticisms are that it's very short, and related to that; the ending feels very rushed and doesn't really satisfy the viewer. Still, The Run of the Arrow is a classic film and one that should not be missed by anyone lucky enough to see it.

RUN OF THE ARROW This Western is about as off the beaten path of classic Westerns as I think that you can get. Made by Samuel Fuller in 1957, Run of the Arrow is an odd and strange film. Fuller, and particularly his film Steel Helmet, has been cited as an influence by directors from Quentin Tarantino to Stanley Kubrick. Fuller was also known to be more than a little bit of a nut, and the closest thing that the studio system came to releasing independent film in those days. The premise of Run of the Arrow, a southern civil war veteran who decides, rather than live in the surrendered south that he'll go out west and living among the Sioux, is both original and strange. The dialogue is often overwrought and Rod Steiger, in the lead role often falls into Charles Laughton like overacting. Steiger could be a very good actor, with the right director to keep him in check, as in On the Waterfront, or the exquisite The Pawnbroker. Here he is not kept in check and the price paid is often ham handed delivery. The Indians of course are played by white men with spray on tans, which adds to the strange almost surreal quality of the film. One of those actors, the only one who does not seem to require a spray tan, is Charles Bronson as the Sioux Chief. Bronson's extreme muscularity seems somehow out of place in this period piece. His bulging biceps and ripped abs seem too modern at a time when people were still buying gimmicks from Charles Atlas ads (And let's face it, Atlas was anything but buff by today's standards.). (As a side note, I once had to audition for Bronson for one of his Death Wish movies. It was a second or third reading and the character was required to perform some martial arts. Bronson asked me how high I could kick. I said something cute like high enough. He walked up to me and asked me if I could kick above his head. I nodded. He wasn't that tall. He said "Show me.". So, without thinking I threw the kick. I remember that as I did I heard gasps from around the room that I would be crazy enough to do such a thing to a man who was still a pretty big star back then. Bronson, though, never blinked. He never took his eyes off of mine. And I remember thinking that, despite the fact that I had already been in more real fights than I could count, that this was no Hollywood actor. This was a hard man. And, despite his being in in his 60s at the time, I had the feeling that I would not want to mess with him. He shook my hand. He didn't squeeze, but I could feel this iron strength in his grip. I think I read somewhere that he had spent his youth as a coal miner. All this to say that this was had a very impressive presence...). Run of the arrow is a flawed and often melodramatic film. I know that all of this sounds like I'm not recommending it. But I am recommending it, for two reasons. First, if you are a lover of classic movies, and Westerns in particular, as I am, then Run of the Arrow is as different from the Westerns of its day as it could possibly be. And, second, as someone of native heritage, Run of the Arrow is the first film that I can think of, a rare film even by today' standards, in that the Native characters are the good guys, and it is white characters who are the bad guys. That alone makes Run of the Arrow, to me, more than worthy of seeing. It isn't perfect. It's very flawed. But it's not like any Western made in its day and its not like many Westerns made today. You may laugh at the wrong moments at times. But you'll probably remember Run of the Arrow long after you've forgotten more polished and well laid out classic movies. So I do recommend it. I recommend Run of the Arrow quite highly. Because it is strange. Because it is different. And because it tries to do something that far too few movies have to courage to do. It at least tries to be truly original. #movies #film #filmcritique #classicwesterns #runofthearrow #samfuller

Itself influenced by "the most dangerous game" (Cooper/Schoedsack,1932) "run for the arrow" inspired in part both Cornell Wilde 's overlooked "naked prey" (1966) and Gibson's overrated "Apocalypto" .All these films ,including Fuller's display a lot of sadism.

A confederate ,after a war he just lost ,sick and tired of his compatriots, wants to live among the Indians.Is it crazier that the journalist who gets admitted to an insane asylum to unmask a murderer? ("shock corridor")or the GI who after the war wants to marry a German and unmask the "werevolves" these youngsters who want to carry on with Hitler's "work"?("Verboten" )or the prostitute in search of respectability who wants to help disabled children and believes that songs can cure them?("naked kiss")

Sam Fuller's westerns are something different ;"Forty guns" and "run of the arrow" cannot be compared to the classics of the era (Ford,Mann,Daves ,etc)just as "shock corridor" is a thriller of its own kind or as "pick up on South street " is a spy thriller with no connection with those of Hitchcock and Lang.The hero portrayed by Rod Steiger thinks he has found a place and a new home in a new people ;but when war breaks out between his former compatriots and the Indians ,he does not know where he stands anymore .The frontier between the two worlds is frail .You can say the same for most of Fuller's movies

This is the story of an ex-confederate Army soldier , circa 1865 , it begins in Palm Sunday , April 9, 1865 Appomatox , Virginia , the last day of the war between the States . During surrender General Lee to the North commanded by General Ulyses S Grant at the end of the Civil War an ex-confederate soldier(Rod Steiger) does his choice , to see the Union killed his brothers , as he changes his life . He flees , meets , understands , joins and eventually becomes a member of a Sioux tribe , engaged in war against the white man . Meanwhile he befriends an Indian scout ex-soldier (J.C.Flippen) , marries an Indian woman (Sara Montiel) and adopts a kid . At the final of the movie is told a particular phrase : ¨The end of this story can only be written by you ¨.

It's an interesting and competent story with images tremendously exciting and tense and powerfully rough-edge moments . It depicts a thought-provoking perspective on the plight of native Americans and with scenes of epic proportions as the manhunt . The intriguing premise fails to satisfy completely but gets breathtaking moments as the human chase and Indian customs . This sometimes too objective film lacks a sense of definitive character undermining its important message . Overacting and distracting performance by Rod Steiger ; boasting a most restrained playing from Brian Keith, Sara Montiel , Charles Bronson and Ralph Meeker . Lively musical score by the classic Victor Young and colorful cinematography by Joseph Biroc who reflects splendidly the gorgeous scenarios.

In this picture Samuel Fuller proved his talent of vision and intelligence . Fuller made various Western as ¨I shot Jesse James(49)¨, ¨The baron of Arizona(50)¨, ¨Forty guns(58)¨, and ¨The meanest men in the West (76)¨ , but his most fluid and strongest work lies in his war films as ¨Steel helmet(51)¨ , ¨Fixed bayonets(52)¨, ¨Hell and high water (55)¨, ¨China gate (57)¨ , ¨Merrill's Marauders (62)¨ and ¨The Big Red One (80)¨. Rating : Better than average . Worthwhile watching .