El caudillo rebelde

This is the story of Crazy Horse, who from a very young age was expected to go onto great things for his people. Taking in his youth and finally onto his accent as military leader, Chief Crazy Horse tells things from the Indian point of view.

This is a good and reliable Western picture, though sadly not using Indian actors to ram home the fact it's telling things from the Indian side of the vista, it's none the less unharmed by Victor Mature (Crazy Horse) and the rest of the white man cast. It's difficult for myself to personally gauge just what the makers were aiming for, was it honest portrayals? Or did they hope to make a stirring picture about a man proclaimed as a true great American General? Because they really don't achieve either of those things. But as I have said in my heading, this film doesn't waste one's time, it is a very interesting story, and technically it has its treats (filming in the actual Black Hills location a definite bonus for the story), yet ultimately I came away thinking that we could still do with a rousing epic to fully capture this man's biography.

Because ultimately it's a story well worth telling and a story worth telling with grace and elegance. 5/10

Typical for its time, this is a well-intentioned biography of (as it states) "one of America's greatest generals". Real Indians appear in the background, and, like they were in Ford films, they are great scene-stealers. Victor Mature, Ray Danton, and Suzan Ball are quite good. Better-than-average script, but the action scenes are only fair (it was not an expensive movie, and it seems that the violence, especially in Custer's last stand, is underplayed to accentuate War as a necessity and not a pleasure). Good Remingtonesque photography, filmed in the Black Hills.

This fine western traces the life of the Sioux warrior, from the time when he received his vision as a boy, his battles against red and white enemies, and finishes with his betrayal and murder by a fellow Lakota. Victor Mature is good as the Lakota warrior who is one of the most tragic figures in western history. The film examines the petty disputes among the Indians who could not present a unified front in the face of white westward expansion, especially the rush to the Black Hills in search of gold. The film shows two of Crazy Horse's famous battles, the Fetterman and Rosebud engagements to good effect but the Custer fight gets only a brief mention and is glossed over almost as an afterthought. The widescreen CinemaScope is excellent and bathes the beautiful landscapes of the Black Hills and the Badlands with beautiful color. The music by Frank Skinner is a dramatic and heroic accompaniment to a fine film that pays tribute to a great American.

Victor Mature playing Chief Crazy Horse gives one of his best performances from the Fifties. Although an Italian/Swiss would never be cast as a Lakota Sioux today, American Indians have no reason to criticize or be concerned with what Mature did with the role of one of their greatest heroes.

Curiously enough the Battle Of The Little Big Horn is given a short shrift by the film. Which in a way is good because Crazy Horse had been plaguing the white man for well over a decade when he emerged as a warrior chief of the Lakota with as much natural military ability as Cochise of the Apaches to the south. The action of the film is over a ten year period in terms of when Mature takes the role of the adult Crazy Horse.

The film is told from the point of view of John Lund who plays a white trader who was ambushed by the Sioux's rivals the Shoshone and is taken in and cared for by the Lakota. When Mature is courting Suzan Ball, Lund does him a solid and he's then got the Lakota welcome mat out for him.

Chief Crazy Horse was the farewell performance of Suzan Ball who was Lucille's cousin, also from Jamestown, New York died much too young after this film was completed. She had a bright promise and real beauty to give the big screen and small.

There are some fictional subplots working, but in the main the film is a true account. A really good western about a true warrior.

Victor Mature is Crazy Horse in this potted version of the Lakota Sioux and the war over the Black Hills, told from a viewpoint entirely on the side of the Indians.

Originally planned as a vehicle for Jeff Chandler, but that didn't happen. Mature was quite capable of giving a strong performance, but required a good script and strong direction, which were not available here. Leading lady Suzanne Ball had lost a leg to cancer five months before filming began, and so her movement was limited; she would die four months after this was released.

DP Harold Lipstein gives some nice, woodcut-like images, particularly in the long shots, resulting in a watchable but undistinguished Universal Shaky A production. With John Lund, Ray Danton, and David Janssen.