The Yellow Tomahawk

This western belongs to the second part of career for Lesley Selander, his best part, unlike his cheap one, during the forties. Here, with more budget, he is of course more comfortable, and without being under the lack of freedom, which is usually the bad side of a bigger budget. Producers generally remove any wish for something new, or unusual, when some directors dare something daring. Exectuves only seek the gross, and in that purpose, the key is to propose to audiences what they seek for, what they search for, and certainly not something unexpected. Such a shame. Here, with this film, and others that he made more or less in the same period, Lesley Selander makes me think of a total freedom, concerning camera angles, characters study, and above all the Indian attack over the cavalry base camp, so violent, so brutal, with shocking scenes of women slaughtered with tomahawk. Yes, this is a very effective, excellent western from a specialist. An overall atmosphere and spirit that you can't forget, especially from a grade B movie, and not a Z.

The Yellow Tomahawk is a typical western from the 1950s. Perhaps it was forgotten because of the time it was released. It was 1954 and everyone was running after widescreen and colour films. This film, on the other hand, is in narrowscreen and was shot in black and white. But it has a solid cast. Rory Calhoun is the protagonist, a man who, like the western genre itself, went from film to television and always offered good portraits of those tough men who conquered the west. At his side, we have a treat for the male eye in the beautiful Peggy Castle, who loves to take baths in streams despite the threat of an imminent Indian attack. Joking aside, she is a pretty woman with a strong character who deserved better luck in her professional career. We also have Lee Van Cleef, a classic villain in both Hollywood and spaghetti westerns. Here, with a little makeup, he is the Indian who sends the soldiers the yellow tomahawk, as a warning that they are not welcome because he has to take revenge on the soldier who commands the camp, played perfectly by Warner Anderson, since he was the culprit of one of those indiscriminate massacres where the frenzy of the lowest human instincts does not respect women, children, or the elderly. Perhaps the best thing about this plot is the fatalism of the situation. There is no solution. The conflict cannot be avoided. The Indian only understands the Law of Talion, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. In a supporting role is Peter Graves. In his case he is dominated by gold fever and sells his soul for those nuggets of golden metal, therefore he is not the hero we so admire in Mission Impossible. Also, as an unlikely interracial couple, but one that is consolidated by actions rather than words, were Noah Beery, with a very long acting career in film and TV, and the young Rita Moreno, who years later would burn up the screen in The West Side Story (1962).

In short, an entertaining western, with a tough conflict between soldiers and Indians and with very well-known figures that I like to see again.

The Yellow Tomahawk is directed by Lesley Selander and written by Harold Jack Bloom and Richard Alan Simmons. It stars Rory Calhoun, Peggie Castle, Noah Beery Jr., Warner Anderson, Peter Graves, Lee Van Cleef and Rita Moreno. Music is by Les Baxter and cinematography by Gordon Avil.

Scout and tracker Adam Reed (Calhoun) is handed a yellow tomahawk by Cheyenne warrior Fire Knife (Cleef). It is to be given to Major Ives (Anderson) as a proclamation of war, a heed to get women and children out the way prior to attack. Ives stubbornly rejects the threat...

Another splendid 1950s Oater begging to be sought out by fans of the genre, and another reason to laud Calhoun as underrated in his time. Story wise there are familiar tropes, but it's always nice to see a screenplay sympathetic to the Native Americans, where here led by *ahem* Van Cleef they are fed up of encroachment and seek to defend their tribal lands. There is honour in the actions, which in turn solidifies a believable friendship between Fire Knife and Reed.

It's also in parts sexy, which gets its first marker during Reed and Katherine's (Castle) first meeting, god bless water! Ok! So the inevitable coupling is all a bit sudden and trite given an event previously, but the romance factor here does not hinder the depth of the screenplay. Also bonus is that Reed is not some unstoppable muscular hero, he is openly shown to be as fallible in a fight as all of us can be - twice! The makers are not here purely for comic book

There's twists in store as well, one of which is a doozy, while the action as you would expect under Selander is very competent and exciting. You will not forget the massacre sequences, where the eye for an eye - violence begets violence theme is banging the drum, while the presence of Beery and Graves is most welcome. Filmed in Colour but released to TV in black and white, a Western fan can't help lament this fact. For you can see the wonderful Kanab locations begging to be colourized. Shame that.

The messages within my grate on some, but if shrugging that off there is a whole lot for Western supporters to savour here. 7/10

An Indian scout warns the settlers around the army post they are in danger from Indians and he is proved right. Twenty-seven year old Castle fills out her tight-fitting shirt and jeans and makes her presence known as she breaks her engagement with an army officer and falls for Calhoun--who, as a scout, rescues her and the commander after the raid. But the rescue is only temporarily as, on their way to the nearest fort, they are attacked again by Indians led by Lee Van Cleef. He and his fellow Indians want the commander for what he did at Sand Creek. It was there, in history, that the Federal army slaughtered Indian women and children without giving them a chance to surrender. Calhoun wants to keep him alive and take him to the fort for court-martial so to help stop future slaughter of Indians.

It's a typical 50's Western but one of the good ones--perhaps because of Rory Calhoun (who was always good) or Peggy Castle who made cowboys glad they were men. Or both!

Although color would have been nice for this western shot on location in Kanab, Utah, The Yellow Tomahawk is no frills, brutal, and bloody western about some survivors of a massacre trying to make it home to safety. The Cheyennes however are only retaliating for the infamous Sand Creek Massacre in which the commanding officer had a big part. The commander is Major Warner Anderson who has some real issues of his own.

Rory Calhoun and Noah Beery, Jr. play a couple of scouts who see the problem, but are helpless with Anderson's intransigence and stupidity. Anderson even after Sand Creek is now building an army fort on Cheyenne land and the Cheyenne don't take kindly to that. They send the army warning signal of The Yellow Tomahawk which is their way of saying clear out. The scenes of the massacre of the cavalry and some civilians including women is not for the squeamish.

Peggie Castle and Rita Moreno play the women paired with Calhoun and Beery. Peter Graves is a shifty gold prospector. But the film belongs to Warner Anderson, this might be his career role. You won't believe why he ordered the Sand Creek massacre, but it's actually curiously relevant to issues coming before the Supreme Court to be rendered as I write this.