Femme d'Apache

One of Joel McCrea's better westerns is Trooper Hook the story of a man given a mission to deliver a recent captive of the Indians back to her family.

This is no ordinary captive. Barbara Stanwyck has been with the Apaches for several years and has been the squaw of Chief Rudolfo Acosta and has had a son by him. After an a raid on Acosta's village she's discovered by the cavalry and identified. She and her little boy are taken to the fort and McCrea is given the assignment of taking her back to husband John Dehner. But this is going to prove a difficult journey on many levels.

Had Trooper Hook been directed by someone like John Ford it would have gotten far more acclaim than it did. There are elements of Ford's Stagecoach, The Searchers and Two Rode Together in Trooper Hook. And Rudolfo Acosta as Chief Natchez seems to be continuing the part he played in Hondo.

One thing I've always liked about westerns they certainly give the more mature among us the chance to be heroes. And the movies never had a better straight arrow hero than Joel McCrea. It's mentioned he's a career soldier and 47 years old. He needs every bit of that experience for the job at hand.

Stanwyck has a tough road to hoe in this film. A lot of very self righteous people wonder why she just didn't kill herself rather than submit to Acosta. McCrea understands however, the scene where he tells her of his experience in Andersonville prison during the Civil War is the most effective in the film.

Lots of western regulars fill out the supporting roles. In addition to those mentioned look for Earl Holliman as the sympathetic young cowboy who hitches a ride on the stagecoach, Celia Lovsky and Susan Kohner as grandmother and granddaughter, Edward Andrews as a sniveling rat who will make your skin crawl, and Royal Dano as the stage driver.

Rape, Illegitimate birth, Miscegenation and kidnapping were usually not subjects for the Saturday afternoon kiddie crowd who saw westerns. But the Fifties was the decade of the adult western and Trooper Hook is a prime example. In fact on her Big Valley television series, Stanwyck had a similar story line with Michael Burns about a young boy who was born to a white woman captive and later returns to white society. Only the story was from the kid's point of view.

Trooper Hook is the sixth and last film Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck made. It might very well be the best of them. Though director Charles Marquis Warren was obviously influenced by John Ford, I doubt very much if Ford himself could have done a better job. Trooper Hook is an undiscovered masterpiece in need of reevaluation.

I saw this film years ago, and still remember it for the incredible photography of the traveling stagecoach and backgrounds.The Cinematography rivals anything John Ford has done. The movie has received mediocre reviews, however, one should remember that the story was told as a ballad. I felt it dealt surprisingly well with inter-race prejudice. Barbara Stanwyck had a reputation for being pro-native-american. She acted her role as the white mother of an indian child well. Joel McCrea also was under-rated in his role as the sympathetic cavalryman. The supportings were solid gold character actors-Royal Dano as the stagecoach driver, Earl Holliman as the shy drifter, Rudolfo Hoyos as the Apache leader determined to get his son back. For a non-color film, it was better than most westerns of the era. I hope that someday it can be released on vhs for all to enjoy the wonderful camera work in it.

Joel McCrea and Barbara Stanwyck are well-matched in an okay western with a theme that's been done before in other films, namely "Duel at Diablo" several years later. Most of the film take place in a stagecoach as a white woman with a half-breed son journeys home to her husband after years of captivity among the Indians. The citizens are unwelcoming to mother and son and McCrea is along to serve as an escort and buffer against the bigotry shown to his charges. There are a few action scenes but the film centers on Stanwyck's hardships against frontier attitudes about her situation. McCrea is a comforting presence in Stanwyck's life and their friendship and trust deepen during the journey. Rudy Acosta is good as the Indian chief who wants to reclaim his son, as is Earl Holliman as a wandering cow puncher. John Denher is the hard case rancher who reluctantly accepts his wife but not her Indian son. Royal Dano has some colorful lines as the stagecoach driver.

Trooper Hook is directed by Charles Marquis Warren and collectively written by David Victor, Jack Schaefer and Herbert Little Jr. It stars Joel McCrea, Barbara Stanwyck, Earl Holliman, Royal Dano and Rudolfo Acosta. Music is by Gerald Fried, with theme tune song by Tex Ritter, and cinematography is by Ellsworth Fredericks.

Upon capturing a band of marauding Apaches, Cavalry Sergeant Clovis Hook (McCrea) finds a white woman amongst the group. Cora Sutliff (Stanwyck) was taken by the Apache years ago and became the squaw of their leader, Nanchez (Acosta), she also bore him a child, Quito (Terry Lawrence). The army decides to reunite Cora with her white husband and charge Hook with delivering both her and Quito safely across country to the Sutliff homestead...

Splendid cast is assembled for this black and white Oater that is more about racism and the problems of inter-racial relations in the Old West, than it is a Cavalry Vs Indians shoot 'em up. Story essentially follows a stagecoach travelling across country that finds Hook, Cora and Quito encountering all manner of characters along the way, most of whom are racist. While of course there is the small matter of the Apache being on their tail as well.

Hook is a grizzled old badger, orders are orders, regardless of if he had any sort of objections to his mission, he's there to keep order and see the job through. For various reasons, everyone on the journey will be looking to him for action and decisions, not least Cora and Quito who begin to form a warm relationship with him. It of course builds to a head once the Apache come back onto the scene, and there's the issue of if Cora's husband will accept her and her half-breed son into his life?

It's very competently performed, and with the exception of some of the lower budget aspects of the production, it's well crafted by Warren. Unfortunately the writing doesn't always give the outside characters a quality of script befitting the themes of the story. Hook and Cora get some good back story, she in explanation of her captivity and he with his rueful recollections as a prisoner of the Civil War. While Holliman is served well as a genial cowpoke and Dano as the crotchety stagecoach driver is great fun.

Coming as it did post far better movies that dealt with prejudice themes in the Indian Wars, it feels like a coat tail grabber, and a watered down offering at that. That it's still a worthy viewing experience comes down to the work of a committed set of lead actors. 6.5/10

This 50s western is way ahead of it's time. It deals with child custody and parental rights issues, as well as the racial implications created by the abduction of a white woman by Indians. Once again, director/writer Warren, (Little Big Horn(1951) presents a tidy package, well scripted, acted, with attention to detail. The cast is first-rate and Holliman does a good job in one of his early roles. Put it all together with a nifty title song by Tex Ritter, and what we have here is something FAR from forgettable.