L'aventure est à l'Ouest

No one of earth could guess that this western could be made by the great Warner studios director Llyod Bacon, who gave us so many gems such as SAN QUENTIN, RACKET BUSTERS, MARKED WOMAN during the thirties and forties. Universal studios also hired a Hollywood veteran in the early fifties, for one western, Alfred Green, for SIERRA, starring Audie Murphy. But later Universal will get Nathan Juran and Jack Arnold for westerns, science fiction, and some crime dramas. I don't mean that this Universal Pictures western is lousy, bad or whatever else of this kind, but I just would have never believed any one about the fact that Bacon made it. I guess he needed money when he accepted the contract. Anyway, it was nearly his end of career and life too. Any Universal western is very entertaining, colourful, and that makes this company the best specialist during the fifties of great B westerns, starring the likes of Audie Murphy, Jeff Chandler or Rock Hudson in the leads. So, yes, this movie deserves to be watched, if you are a western buff, but if you are a big Lloyd Bacon's fan, with the memory of his Warner years, well, you should be warned or get away from it. That depends of you taste and state of mind....

I have a great affection for both Faith Domergue and Jeff Chandler. I do not feel that they got the scripts they deserved, and I believe this was the first time they acted together. The chemistry was good, but sadly the film should have expanded Domergue's role more than it did. Given the grand title the film needed more playing time and probably would have had if Cinemascope had been on offer in 1953. Bur given these quibbles the film is solid, thoughtful and has a liberal feeling to it often lacking in Westerns. The friendship between the Indian woman and Domergue is one example. I will not give any spoilers but just say that I would prefer to see this kind of Western than many others that have an over masculine bravado and a total indifference to the loss of the Indian populations which was too often portrayed.

Not a great or even a very good Western, but notable, for 1953 (more than ten years before Cheyenne Autumn), for its relatively strong anti-racist message with reference both to the Abolitionist issue in the Civil War and to the long history of failed promises to Native Americans. Given the standard tendency of Westerns (at best) to skirt over race entirely or to present a favorable interpretation of the Confederate cause, this is no small issue.

Apart from Dr Westgate's (Chandler) obvious sympathy for the Indian position, he presents his case for Indian neutrality in the Civil War to the Sioux Council, citing the clear racism of the Confederate general (which he implied would be transferred to the Sioux if they made common cause with the Confederates) and the sacrifice being made by Northern troops in the cause of racial equality. Elmer Daves' Broken Arrow of 1950 with James Stewart and Chandler had already raised the issue of Indian grievances against US Indian policy, but this was emphasizing the message in a 'B' Western context.

This low-budget, low-ambition western actually contains the line, "white man speak with forked tongue." Well, nearly. A doctor poses as a vet to track down two horse thieves and prevent the great Sioux uprising. Rather slow-moving and the liberal speeches at the end are the last straw.

A crooked horse dealer threatens to spark an Indian uprising during the Civil War when he steals horses belonging to the Sioux. It's only 80 minutes long, but The Great Sioux Uprising seems to go on forever thanks to a pedestrian screenplay from no less than four writers. Jeff Chandler, one of Hollywood's blandest leading men, plays a Union doctor suffering from battle fatigue who gets wind of bad guy Lyle Bettger's plot to steal hundreds of horses belonging to the Sioux, who, a little unusually for an early '50s Western, are portrayed as victims pushed to violence by the treacherous white man. Don't hold your breath waiting for that uprising - this is a title that fails to deliver on its promise.