War Drums

Smouldering senorita Joyce Taylor opts for a life in war paint & trousers kicking ass by the side of long-haired, blue-eyed Apache warrior Lex Barker (midway between Edgar Rice Burroughs & Karl May) in this pro-Indian De Luxe Color western set just before the Civil War which provides a bonus in the form of the presence of a still relatively young & fresh-faced Ben Johnson midway between John Ford & Sam Peckinpah.

The low-budget color western, WAR DRUMS (1957), is quite a discovery. A quirky variation on BROKEN ARROW (1950), it focuses on Apache-white tensions in Arizona in the early 1860s, but offers Apache chief Mangas Coloradas as the hero. A love triangle is created involving Riva, a Mexican woman captive who becomes Mangas's wife, and Fargo, the white trader and friend of Mangas who also loves Riva. The film doesn't downplay Apache-white hostilities or end on a false note of hope. It's an honest, deeply felt western drama with good performances by a pair of stars, Lex Barker and Joan Taylor, who didn't often get the chance to create such rounded characters, and a second male lead, Ben Johnson, who did.

Interestingly, the film begins by focusing on the bitter ongoing conflict between Mexicans and Apaches, a historical reality rarely dealt with on film. The opening sequence features a lot of untranslated spoken Spanish. Mangas and his braves raid a ranch of Mexican horse thieves and kill the men, take back their horses, and abduct Riva. On his way back with her to his own encampment, Mangas stops to eat and trade with Fargo and his party. It is here that Fargo falls for Riva and offers to trade his new repeating rifle for her. Mangas refuses and declares he'll make her his wife.

Back at his village, Mangas turns Riva over to his sister and cousin (Jil Jarmyn, Jeanne Carmen) to give her an Apache makeover. Riva insists on riding and hunting with her husband and not doing women's work. Mangas agrees and takes her out on hunting parties with him. Soon Riva is decked out in a series of attractive, if unlikely, buckskin outfits befitting her new role. The medicine man (John Colicos) and two other warriors protest their chief's marriage to a "Mexicana." Mangas fights and kills the two warriors and the Medicine Man wisely relents and agrees to perform the marriage. Fargo shows up on the day of the wedding and makes another offer for Riva, but it's too late. He watches with a broken heart as she comes out in a stunning blue-and-white buckskin dress-and-boots ensemble that rival any of the Indian women's fashions paraded by Debra Paget in her Indian westerns, BROKEN ARROW and WHITE FEATHER.

Eventually, the harmony is broken by white miners panning for gold whose intrusion on Apache land and brutalization of Apaches lead to the war drums of the title. Fargo finds himself caught in the middle and his attempts to act as go-between are doomed to failure, leading to the breakout of full-scale war. Mangas takes the name of Mangas Coloradas, after the long red-sleeved shirt he must wear to cover up the scars inflicted by the white miners. Eventually, Mangas is wounded and seeks the help of a white doctor, leading to the takeover of a white town by Apaches until such help can be found. As the doctor tends Mangas' chest wound, a white woman undergoes labor pains in the same room, making for quite a powerful scene. Eventually, Fargo, now a major in the U.S. Army, arrives to intervene.

Although none of the lead actors are actually Indian or Mexican, they all seem to be powerfully motivated by the spirits of their characters. (Taylor's character at least speaks a lot of Spanish, which adds a touch of authenticity to her portrayal.) Lex Barker, a former Tarzan, makes a stubborn, determined and charismatic Apache chief. Not long after this film, he moved to Germany and made a series of highly successful westerns there, making him that country's most popular movie star for much of the 1960s. Joan Taylor was a sharp-featured, dark-haired actress who made a strong impression in such 1950s genre outings as APACHE WOMAN, GIRLS IN PRISON, EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS and TWENTY MILLION MILES TO EARTH. She cuts quite a striking figure here as she rides alongside Mangas, dressed in buckskin, painted for war and wielding a mean bow and arrow. Ben Johnson, better known for his work in John Ford and Sam Peckinpah films (plus his Oscar-winning turn in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW), plays a decent, tender, fair-minded white man who represents quite a contrast to the gold-hungry whites who instigate the open warfare with Apaches. Canadian actor John Colicos, later to be seen in TV's "Battlestar Galactica," appears in an early Hollywood role as the Apaches' flamboyant, overly expressive medicine man.

The film is shot almost entirely outdoors on picturesque locations. The murky color print seen for this review, as broadcast on superstation TBS, doesn't do justice to the expert cinematography by William Margulies. This is one of many unsung westerns from the 1950s that would benefit greatly from a remastered DVD edition enabling it to be re-discovered by western fans.

Standard Indian Western dealing with a historical character the Apache leader Red Sleeves or Mangas Coloradas who along with Cochise and Jeronimo fought ferociously against the white men. This concerns Mangas Coloradas , Lex Barker , who takes a Mexican woman , Joan Taylor , from a man who mistreated her . Meanwhile , settlers and mean prospectors break the fragile peace . Mangas Coloradas has a good friend to Fargo : Ben Johnson, who equally falls in love for the Mexican Riva : Joan Taylor, then their friendship is hardly tested. While some settler assaults and Indian raids take place. As Red Sleeves and other Apaches execute uprising against invaders and raid miners, then President Abraham Lincoln transfers troops to Fort Sumter. It is is up to Fargo to avoid a bloody and long war. The deadliest thunder that ever rolled across the west !

This is a short budget film that eventually sustains some interest for quite a while , regarding the strong fighting between the Apache tribe , Mimbreños, with leader Mangas Coloradas against the USA Cavalry , being unaccurate historically the happenings developed in the movie . As it is a highly fictionalized account of Mangas Coloradas's life , paced in fits and starts. Trio starring : Lex Barker , Joan Taylor , Ben Johnson become involved into a triangular love story , being accompanied by a so-so support cast, such as : Richard Cutting , John Pickard , John Colicos , Larry Chance and brief appearance uncredited by recently deceased Stuart Whitman .

It contains an atmospheric cinematography by William Margulies , though being really necessary a perfect remastering because of the film copy is worn-out .And thrilling, evocative musical score by Lex Baxter , this composer was regular in Roger Corman films and Samuel Z Arkoff , James H Nicholson's American International Pictures . Being produced in little budget by Howard Koch for United Artists . The motion picture was middlingly directed by Reginald Le Borg . He was a craftsman who directed several films with no much success, such as : The eyes of Annie Jones, The Black Sleep, Sins of Jezabel, The Flanagan Boy , G.I. Jane , The Dalton girls, , Wyoming Mail , Troublemakers , Joe Palooka , Philo Vance , San Diego I love you , Destiny , Jungle woman ,Port Said , Fall Guy , being his big hit : Diary of a Madman with Vincent Price . He went on directing episodes of TV series as Bronco, Maverick, The Alaskans , Sugarfoot , Bourbon Street , Death Valley Days , Wire Service , among others . Rating 4.5/10 .Mediocre , a routine , run-of-the-mill Western with limited interest , only for Western hardcore aficionados .

I enjoyed this one despite the typical mistakes in actual history. It is set around 1860 and everyone on both sides has repeating rifles. The actual Mangus Colorado died a horrible death in 1863 at the hand of soldiers. However he was well over 60 when he died, not the strapping character portrayed in the movie.

Mangas Coloradas (Lex Barker), an Apache chief and white trader Luke Fargo (Ben Johnson) are bound by friendship and their mutual love for Riva (Joan Taylor), a Mexican-Native American girl rescued from horse thieves. Riva marries Mangas, who teaches her the warrior's ways and she later warns the Apaches of an ambush by white soldiers. When Fargo, who did not intend an attack, is injured, Riva helps him - a kindness he must choose whether or not to return when war with the Apaches erupts.

Judging by some of the reviews I read about this 1957 western you would think this is a below par western, but in my opinion it's a really good film with a sympathetic portrait of the Apaches. Here they are the ones clearly wronged, and it also depicts the clashes between Mexicans and Apaches in the beginning, which isn't always covered. It balances action, drama and conflict and even a bit of romance really well. Of course, it's not historically accurate, but I didn't expect it to be. If anything, with its colours and costumes, it looks like a comic strip, but the acting is far from juvenile- Lex Barker is really good as Mangas Colorado, giving him a human element as well as a warrior one, Joan Taylor as the Mexican who becomes his wife is given a refreshing role as a female warrior, but it's Ben Johnson who really adds some depth here as Mangas Colorado's friend. What I think was needed was a longer running time and more character developing, but I'm nitpicking. It's a really good western.