Apache Trail

From MGM's B picture unit comes Apache Trail and the old saying in Hollywood is certainly true here such craftsmanship went into their B pictures at MGM that they would be top of the line at other studios. The story that Apache Trail was adapted from is by Ernest Haycox who wrote Stagecoach.

This is another stagecoach story with a group of men and women rapped in a stagecoach station with attacking Apaches. Among those trapped inside is Lloyd Nolan and it's him the Apaches want. His brother William Lundigan is the stationmaster. Will blood prove thicker than water?

Some of the plot elements and characters from Stagecoach you will immediately recognize. Apache Trail is not a classic like Stagecoach, but it's a competent and sturdy B western from that Tiffany of studios MGM.

This film begins with a cowboy by the name of "Tom Folliard" (William Lundigan) having been arrested and detained in a local jail for 90 days waiting for a judge to preside over his case involving an armed robbery committed by his notorious brother "Trigger Bill Folliard" (Lloyd Nolan). Fortunately, when the judge arrives Tom is immediately acquitted and released. However, when he goes back to reclaim his old job of riding shotgun on a stagecoach line he is informed that it has since been filled. That being the case he eagerly accepts an assignment managing a remote stagecoach way station which is nearly abandoned due to the increasing restlessness of the local Apache tribe in the area. But what he doesn't know is that his brother also has plans involving this way station and they don't coincide with his. Likewise, he is ill-prepared for a rivalry between two attractive women by the names of "Rosalie Martinez" (Donna Reed) and "Constance Selden" (Ann Ayars) competing for his affections as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this way an okay Western film which managed to pass the time easily enough and for that reason I have rated it accordingly.

Tom O'Folliard (William Lundigan) is released after a 90 days stay in jail. He took the heat for his criminal brother Trigger Bill Folliard (Lloyd Nolan). His former boss reluctantly gives him a second chance at a remote stagecoach stop. Señora Martinez (Connie Gilchrist) and her daughter Rosalia (Donna Reed) are eager to leave until they see him arriving. A stagecoach stops with high class lady Constance Selden and the payroll box for the soldiers. Next comes Tom's no-good brother followed by hostile Apache. The disparate group has to defend the isolated compound.

This starts as a good solid B-western with a drive-by judging. I can almost accept Donna Reed as Latina. It ends with some good Indian killing action although it all looks very familiar. It turns out that I've already seen the action with another version called Apache War Smoke (1952). Nevertheless, the action is good and the rest is fine.

Lloyd Nolan, cheerful black-hearted villain, shows up at his brother's stagecoach way-station, and menaces everybody there so he can get his hands on some loot. Will the denizens of the way-station force Lloyd outside the walls of the station, when justifiably irate Apaches march down the APACHE TRAIL to demand his hide?

This is a pretty good (if somewhat set-bound) western, featuring a nice villain turn by Nolan (who really does pull off both his trademark everyman likability and hiss-able villainy) and a ridiculous hot-blooded Latina turn by Midwesterner Donna Reed. There's nothing especially different about this one -- but the careful, somewhat slow MGM pacing and the generally good level of acting keep the subplots moving along. If you like Westerns, you might miss the stunting and outdoor photography you might get in other films like this, but you'll probably like what you see.

All in all, this is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

Apache Trail is directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted to screenplay by Maurice Geraghty from a story by Ernest Haycox. It stars Lloyd Nolan, Donna Reed, William Lundigan, Ann Ayars, Connie Gilchrist and Chill Wills. Music is by Sol Kaplan and cinematography by Sidney Wagner.

Ernest Haycox's "Stage Station" was put together as Apache Trail and ended up being a better than average "B" Western. Set essentially at the Tonto Valley Station, story finds Nolan and Lundigan as polar opposite brothers caught in the middle of the Apache's ire on account of Nolan's dastardly ways. Also at the station are a roll call of familiar 1940s Western characters, gruff men of honour, some lovely women causing sexual friction and a token Indian guy working for the whites.

This small group of people will have to defend the Station (come Fort) against what seems like 300 Apache's; that is unless they agree to give up Nolan, who of course has "not" exactly endeared himself to the group during the siege. While there's naturally the "brother" angle hanging heavy in the air, something which almost detracts from the love triangle sub-plot as the "honest as apple pie" Reed (playing a Latino!) and "smoking hot but questionable in morals" Ayars conspire to put hero in waiting Lundigan in a choice situation.

The production is a mixture of poor rear projection and stage work with gorgeous exterior location work (Tucson, Arizona), while the acting is exactly what it is, a group of actors either contracted to the studio, working for food or hopefully taking the first steps on the ladder to better opportunities. The photography is very nice, but the poor racist bravado of the era is not, while Thorpe's staging of action is indicative of his career in how he makes a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Accept it for the time it was made and this is a decent and enjoyable film. It was loosely remade in 1952 as Apache War Smoke, suffice to say that even then, ten years later, the material still didn't advance to anything out of the ordinary. 6/10