A Distant Trumpet

Raoul Walsh's last movie and a western at that! He produced unforgettable classics of the genre such as " Colorado's territory" and "pursued ".

The movie suffers from a desultory script which mixes the Indian's plight with bland love affairs.The lead,Troy Donahue ,lacks charisma and is not very credible as a tough lieutenant .Diane McBain is as expressive as a Barbie Doll ,and only Suzanne Pleshette rises to the occasion.

There's a good use of the wide screen,a superb score by Max Steiner (with trumpets),a general who loves Latin quotations Julius Ceasar style (Veni Vidi Vici) That said,there's never a dull moment with Raoul Walsh .This is not his best or among his best ,but it's always good value.

Although no one would ever confuse Troy Donahue with John Wayne, Donahue does acquit himself well in A Distant Trumpet which turned out to be Raoul Walsh's final feature film.

Donahue who made his bones in Hollywood playing mostly decent All American type young men. Here he's a fresh West Point graduate assigned to an Arizona frontier post where the army is busy subduing the last of the great Indian tribes, the Chiracauhua Apache. He's under the command of General James Gregory who was a mentor to him at West Point.

In addition to fighting Indians Donahue has a romantic dilemma. He's engaged to Diane McBain who is Gregory's niece. But on the post now is an old flame Suzanne Pleshette who is married to fellow officer William Reynolds.

Donahue has a similar dilemma faced by John Wayne in Fort Apache. As with the Duke, Troy behaves in an honorable fashion. In fact in his private affairs he's honorable if very tempted.

Take note of a good performance by Judson Pratt as a superior and sympathetic officer to Donahue's plight and a really rollicking and unforgettable one by Claude Akins who is quite the flesh peddler to both the red and white race.

A Distant Trumpet is not as sentimental as John Ford's cavalry westerns. But Raoul Walsh ended his career with a good one.

Is that a western from Lesley Selander, Sidney Salkow, or what? I can't believe that this however good western is from the fabulous Raoul Walsh, his last stand by the way. His last film. Let's be fair, it's a good western, but it's for Walsh the metaphor of THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON, Custer 's last stand. But Errol Flynn is dead now, and Raoul Walsh's career faded out. So sad. The last film of a director is always touching for me. But imagine Troy Donahue as the lead in a Raoul Walsh's film...I did not weep but I feel some grief inside of me. But if you have not seen it yet, don't miss it. Imagine you are watching a Lesley Selander, Gordon Douglas or Sidney Salkow's western; the latest gave us SITTING BULL and GREAT SIOUX MASSACRE during the same period.

A Distant Trumpet is directed by Raoul Walsh and written by John Twist with the adaptation from Paul Horgan's novel by Richard Fielder & Albert Beich. It stars Troy Donahue, Suzanne Pleshette, William Reynolds, Diane McBain, Claude Akins & James Gregory. Max Steiner provides the musical score and William H. Clothier is the cinematographer.

1883, Fort Delivery, Arizona, and newly posted Lieutenant Matthew Hazard (Donahue) is about to be thrust into two wars. One is of the heart, the other pits him against the last pocket of Indian resistance: the Chiricahua's, led by the mighty War Eagle.

A blunderbuss "A" class production from Warner Bros that feels like a "B" class Oater from the 50s, A Distant Trumpet has much to recommend to the Western fan. Driven by a rousing cavalry themed score by Steiner, and beautifully photographed by Clothier around Red Rocks (New Mexico) & Painted Desert (Arizona) in Panavision/Technicolor, it's a film that carries a message and pays respect to the topic to hand. Without doubt the makers are keen to mark it out first and foremost as an adrenaline fuelled Cavalry Vs Indians based picture, with Walsh grandly staging the action sequence with skill (100s of extras/stunt men, no CGI here), but although the script could have done with some more work as regards the characterisations, the screenplay does make rich on the promise of adult themes. While the decision to let the Indian characters speak their own language is also a major bonus.

Where it falls down is three fold. Firstly is the problem of asking the average Donahue to carry the film, he may be easy on the eye to those so inclined, but his one note, expressionless, performance is often a distraction to the many splendours around him. Secondly is that the twin lovelies of McBain & Pleshette are underwritten and underused respectively, which in a film that's nearly two hours long (too long and that's the third point) is an act of stupidity. Some would argue that the love triangle sub-plot is an uneasy fit on context to the "war" at the film's core, but it does have value in regards to showing the point of view of the ladies marrying into the army way of life. Yes it should have been formed better, particularly from McBain's (yellow hair, yellow dress and vanilla ice cream skin) character's angle , but it does exist in the narrative and it's good to see.

It's far from the great swansong that Raoul Walsh deserved, but its pluses far outweigh the negatives. Be it battle orchestration (cliff top attack rules!), observing the thorn between two roses dynamic or just that it affords respect to the Indians, it's a film easily recommended to the genre fan. Besides which, Steiner and Clothier make it essential viewing. 7/10

Bringing closure to the Apache hostilities on the Arizona frontier is the subject of this cavalry-Indian dust-up. William Clothier's wide screen CinemaScope camera captures the colorful vistas and expanses of the southwest where the battles take place. The casting of the picture is somewhat off-beat, from the heroic Matthew Hazard to the Latin-quoting General Alexander Upton Quait and finally, and tragically, to the cowardly Private Cranshaw. The Indian scouts serve the cavalry with bravery and dignity while their wild and fierce brethren ride the warpath a final time to hold on to their way of life. There is also a romantic triangle that complicates matters at the post. Director Raoul Walsh, an old hand at action westerns, serves up several Indian-trooper clashes and Max Steiner contributes a very nice score that is reminiscent of his earlier music in John Ford's legendary westerns.