Femme d'Apache

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.

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.

After a deadly battle between Apache warriors and cavalry soldiers, the leader of this Indian tribe named "Nanchez" (Rodolfo Acosta) is taken prisoner and escorted back to the fort pending his removal to a reservation. Also captured are a few braves along with several women and children. However, it's only after the soldiers have rounded all of them up that they discover that one of their prisoners is a white woman-and she has a young half-Apache boy with her. To that effect, it is later learned that her name is "Cora Sutliff" (Barbara Stanwyck) and after being captured by the Apache several years earlier was forced to become the wife of Nanchez--and the small child named "Quito" (Terry Lawrence) is a result of this relationship. Complicating matters is the fact that she was married prior to being abducted and, not knowing what else to do, the Army decides to send her and her son back to her husband "Fred Sutliff" (John Dehner) on the next stagecoach to Tucson. And to make sure she gets there safely, a soldier by the name of "Sergeant Clovis Hook" (Joel McCrea) is assigned as her escort. What they don't know is that Nanchez has escaped from custody and, after reuniting with several warriors. Has followed in pursuit--and he has every intention of reclaiming his son in the process. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a fairly decent Western that focused heavily on the issue of racism which was rapidly becoming quite contentious during this particular time in America. Admittedly, there are some scenes involving Quito which were a bit too cutesy but other than that I enjoyed this film, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Another fine McCrea Western with more substance than most. Cavalry sergeant McCrea must get white Indian squaw Stanwyck and little half-breed son past bigoted whites and hostile Apaches to her former husband Dehner. Along the way, they encounter many difficulties from both whites and Indians.

Those scenic Utah vistas, even in b&w, lend real credibility to the proceedings. And catch that opening scene. Note the brutality from both cavalry and Apaches, as latter execute prisoners, while former lays waste to Indian encampment. Throughout, the subtext hints at an underlying commonality between the two races despite the hostility. Or, as Apache Nanchez and cavalryman McCrea observe during a peace parley, there's a little of each in both of them.

Now, the question logically arises—given the warfare and brutality, why is McCrea so basically kind to enemy Stanwyck and son. Sure, she was captured and made a squaw and still has white skin, but she's also born Nanchez's son, captivity or no captivity. That's enough for most whites to hate her. Thanks to an intelligent script (except for the contrived ending), we find out. McCrea was a captive during the Civil War and stayed alive by imitating a dog, of all things. So, he knows what it's like to humiliate oneself in order to stay alive, which is what the unrepentant Stanwyck has done as a captive of the Apaches. It's a solid psychological point and a credit to McCrea that his character would risk such a demeaning episode in his background.

There's also the suspenseful stand-off around the fallen stagecoach. It's pretty clear that McCrea will shoot the boy if Nanchez attacks. It's also a pretty cold-blooded gamble. What's rather surprising is that McCrea shows no doubts or compunctions about risking the boy's life. Not too many Westerns of the time showed the hero holding a gun (through Holliman) to a little boy's head, amounting to an unusual departure, particularly for McCrea's apparent lack of feeling. Of course, what's going on underneath the steely resolve is likely entirely different.

Stanwyck is excellent as the stoical Cora Sutcliff. Her career had fallen off since there weren't many A-pictures available to a middle-aged star. But being the down-to-earth person she was known to be, she gives this B-Western her best, and it shows. I just wish Earl Holliman had more screen time. Some people are born to play certain parts, and he was born to play a good-natured, slightly oafish cowboy. His scenes with McCrea amount to little gems of unspoken affection. At the same time, I'm guessing young lady Kohner's part was added to Holliman's to give the movie more youth appeal. But most of all, the film has the great Joel McCrea. No actor brought more quiet dignity and less egotism to the traditional cowboy role than he. Unfortunately, I expect it's that very low-key approach that has lowered his public profile over the years. Too bad.

This 1957 release came at a time when both movies and TV were saturated with cowboys and six-guns. As a result, many quality Westerns got lost in the crowd, and, I expect, this humane little effort is one of them. Nonetheless, the ending is much too conventional and conveniently pat to distinguish the results completely from the pack. I just wish the script showed the same imagination in the last 5 minutes that it showed in the other 70-some. Then we would have had a complete little gem.

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.