Les flèches brûlées

Flaming Feather casts Sterling Hayden as a rancher and Forrest Tucker as a cavalry lieutenant who make a bet as to who will catch the notorious outlaw known as the Sidewinder. Hayden whose ranch was recently burned out and cattle stolen is not satisfied with the performance of the army in catching this desperado. The Sidewinder has as his gang a collection renegade Ute Indians which makes him the army business as opposed to civilian law enforcement. Hayden and Tucker have a wager on who will catch him first as no white people know his identity.

It wasn't hard to figure it out just look at the casting. Even without IMDb identifying the Sidewinder on Flaming Feather's page it was easy to figure out by the kind of roles this player is usually cast in. The real suspense is whether Hayden or Tucker will wind up with leading ladies Arleen Whelan and Barbara Rush. Another good part is that of Carol Thurston who played many exotic types in her career and is the Indian mistress of The Sidewinder.

Flaming Feather is good, but highly predictable.

"Flaming Feather", shot on location around Oak Creek Canyon near Sedona, Arizona, is a good example of a new type of Western which was becoming popular in the early fifties, using striking Technicolor photography of the magnificent scenery of the West as a backdrop to their stories. The Hollywood studios hoped that such films would become an important weapon in their battle against the new enemy, television, which at this stage could only show black-and-white pictures on a small screen.

The story centres upon a mysterious outlaw, known as the Sidewinder (after a species of poisonous snake). Although the Sidewinder is believed to be a white man, he leads a band of Ute Indians who have carried out a number of robberies. A rancher named Tex McCloud and a U.S. Cavalry officer named Tom Blaine both decide to bring the Sidewinder and his gang to justice and make a wager over which will get him first. There are a number of complications to the plot, including an attempt by a saloon entertainer named Carolina to persuade Tex to pursue Lucky Lee, a businessman and mine owner who allegedly owes her $20,000. (We never find out what this debt is for). Other important characters include Lucky's beautiful girlfriend Nora Logan, Turquoise, an Indian woman who is Nora's rival for Lucky's affections, a gambler named Showdown Calhoun and a mysterious figure named Tombstone Jack who is suspected of being the Sidewinder.

Some of the "new Westerns" of this period, such as the Mann/Stewart Western "The Naked Spur" were not just notable for striking photography but also brought to the genre a greater degree of character development and psychological analysis. Others, however, were beautiful to look at but their looks only served to hide a banal plot or second-rate acting. (I am thinking here of something like William Wellman's "Across the Wide Missouri", conceived as a large-scale epic, but so cut by the studio into something resembling a B-movie that Wellman virtually disowned it).

"Flaming Feather" falls somewhere between the two extremes. It does not have the depth of something like "The Naked Spur" or some of the other Mann/Stewart Westerns, but it is well-made and the plot, although complex, is always entertaining. There is no one outstanding star performance, but the acting is generally of a good standard. There is some very fine photography of the Arizona desert scenery. This is not quite in the first class of Westerns, but it is a good example of a second division one. 7/10

With the ' threat ' of television Hollywood assessed the situation, and drew in audiences with 3D films, Cinemascope and above all colourful Westerns, and the latter could be made on simpler budgets and no doubt this ' new ' formula helped to keep the ' threat ' away. ' Flaming Feather ' directed well by Ray Enright in his penultimate film showed landscapes in rich Technicolour and good enough actors to draw audiences in. As for the plot a man called the Sideliner with the help of a renegade tribe raids on settlers, causing many deaths. No spoilers as to the motive. Sterling Hayden ( well acted ) has his ranch burned down and counter attacks. It really is as simple as that, and he of course falls in love with Barbara Rush in one of her earlier roles. The ending I saw a mile off, no doubt along with many children in the cinema. Basic the film is but it along with others heralded the way for the great Westerns of the 1950's to come. Just for the sweep of the action in mythical landscapes this film is worth seeing, and laconic Hayden is always well worth watching.

A band of renegade Utes, led by a sneaky, low down, forked tongue white man, burn, loot, and pillage across the southwest. A rugged settler and the Army go after the elusive skunk and his gang of dirty rats and meet in a blazing gun battle in the mountains. Above average western.

Sterling Hayden stars as a cowboy who hits the trail in search of a renegade white man leading a band of Indians who burned his ranch and ran off his horses and cattle. The mysterious raider is responsible for the killing and looting of towns and wagon trains manages to elude the pursuing cavalry until events conspire to unmask the villain. Barbara Rush is the romantic interest of Hayden and also the renegade and her role is that of a damsel in distress throughout the picture. Forrest Tucker is good as an army lieutenant and there are comical exchanges between old timers Edgar Buchanan and George Cleveland. Victor Jury is also good as the dark, saturnine trading post owner. Arleen Whelan's role as a saloon singer doesn't have much to do with the film's plot but is quite a looker nonetheless. The technicolor is excellent, as is Paul Sawtell's spare music score.