El indio Gerónimo

With a lot of stock footage from The Plainsman for the battle sequences and a plot partially borrowed from another Paramount classic Lives Of A Bengal Lancer, Geronimo is a good action film. It's however hardly the real story of the famous Apache Indian chief. For that you would have to see the film that starred Gene Hackman and Matt Damon back in 1993. For one thing they have the capture of Geronimo a decade earlier than when it occurred. U.S. Grant wasn't president when that happened, it was a man named Grover Cleveland.

But it's a good action western nevertheless. Preston Foster is your battle tested veteran of the Indian wars and he welcomes a new roommate on the post. It's William Henry son of the commander General Ralph Morgan and newly graduated from West Point. Morgan and Henry haven't seen each other for years and Morgan is a stiff ramrod of a soldier and not the most lovable guy around. He's been on a peace mission to Geronimo, but that quickly ends.

Andy Devine plays a civilian scout in the most Andy Devine way possible. Andy is actually less of a comic buffoon than usual. And playing a rat who is selling repeating rifles to the Apaches is Gene Lockhart who does his usual sniveling and groveling when caught. Geronimo himself is played with stoic menace by Chief Thundercloud.

I'm sure Geronimo was popular with the Saturday matinée crowd it sure has enough action. The players acquit themselves well, but this just ain't how it happened.

With the eponymous Apache leader (Chief Thundercloud) swearing revenge on the white men who killed his family years earlier, it falls to "Gen. Steele" (Ralph Morgan) - at the personal instigation of the US President - to try to make peace with this marauding warrior. Of course, it's not going to be that simple - there are vested interests on both sides who wish the conflict to continue, there's a good old dose of family melodrama as his son (William Henry) is also at the post - and they don't exactly see eye to eye, and we also have a wagon train carrying his wife and his son's fiancée en route to the fort through treacherous territory. Now the acting here isn't up to much - aside from the odd gun toting scene from Andy Devine's scouting "Sneezer"; nor is the writing but there are some fun action scenes with the feisty band of blue-shirts facing what appeared to be the entire, and heavily armed, Apache nation bearing down on them. It's far too long, too - but as standard B-western afternoon fayre, it's watchable enough though don't expect any history lessons!

Although it was apparently supposed to be another version of C.B. DeMille's "The Plainsman" of a few years before, Paramount obviously thought better of it, and assigned director Paul Sloane (who???) to make an "epic" on the budget of a B picture. Surprisingly, Sloane didn't do a bad job. For one thing, the picture is well cast. Preston Foster has always been a solid, if not stolid, actor, and Andy Devine is as amusing as always. William Henry looks a bit out of place playing the young officer, but he acquits himself well enough. The real stars, though, are Gene Lockhart, who plays his trademark weasely villain to perfection, and Ralph Morgan, who does an outstanding job as the commanding general assigned to stop Apache warrior Geronimo from his ravaging of the territory. Chief Thundercloud bears a strong resemblance to the real Geronimo and actually does quite a good job, conveying the menace, cunning and intelligence that even the enemies of the actual Geronimo gave him credit for. The battle scenes, although consisting mainly of footage culled from many previous westerns--several of them looking like they dated back to the silent era--are for the most part pretty well integrated into the picture, although there are several instances where the use of process rear-projection shots is painfully obvious, notably during the fight on the island in the middle of the river. Overall, though, this is actually an entertaining picture. Although Paramount tried to fool the audience into thinking it was a bigger picture than it actually was, they really didn't need to do that, because it stands on its own pretty well. Enjoyable.

... is what we used to shout whenever we jumped from the diving board into the swimming pool at school when we were about 8 years old. So, I guess the guy has provided a legacy. In this film, General Ralph Meeker (Steele) is charged with ending the troubles with Indian war leader Chief Thundercloud (Geronimo) who is taking revenge on white settlements for killing his family. Under Meeker's command is Captain Preston Foster (Starrett), Indian Scout Hunter Andy Devine (Sneezer) and Meeker's son William Henry (John) as a rookie soldier. However, there is also a villainous Gene Lockhart (Gillespie) who is selling the latest guns and ammunition to Thundercloud and providing tactical information to him. Can the General negotiate peace? No is the answer.

The film is ok. Unfortunately, there are no characters to root for as the cast are slightly disappointing. We needed a John Carradine or someone with charisma or some kind of personality. Somebody who could grab the audience attention and engage us with. I'm afraid that we don't really care about this lot. The film is basically about the father-son relationship between Meeker and Henry, both of whom are pretty annoying, especially Henry. We watch to see how the film pans out but that's it. This is not a true story so it loses a mark for this as well. An ok watch.

"Geronimo" was apparently intended to be an epic western by Paramount but instead is no more than a "B" plus actioner. Taken on that level it is not bad. Much criticized for its extensive use of stock footage and cheap looking process shots, it nevertheless comes off as a pretty good western.

The story involves the efforts of the U.S. Army to stop Geronimo (Chief Thundercloud) from attacking the white settlers. General Steele (Ralph Morgan) is appointed to the task by President Grant. Assisting him are Captain Starrett (Preston Foster), a veteran Indian fighter who along with chief scout Sneezer (Andy Devine) have spent many years fighting against Geronimo. Into the mix comes the General's son (William Henry) who has been assigned to the General's command straight from West Point. Unscrupulous gun runner Gene Lockhart has been arming the Indians and assisting Geronimo in massing the tribes.

Although Foster and Ellen Drew are top billed, neither are the main characters in the story. The main sub plot involves the conflict between Morgan and Henry. The veteran Morgan steals the picture in my opinion. Drew is seen in only a few scenes and spends most of her screen time in a hospital bed. Foster plays nursemaid to the General's son, grumbles a lot with Devine and does little else. Chief Thundercloud is suitably brutal and savage, as the title character. Watch for veteran Indian actor Charlie Stevens as an Apache messenger. He was reportedly a blood relative of the real Geronimo.

The battle scenes are good and the acting is good all around. "Geronimo" may not have been the epic that Paramount intended, but it is an entertaining hour and a half in any case.