Ambush at Cimarron Pass

First, would I recommend this movie to average Joe? No But to a moviebuff I will.

Let's get Clint out of the picture first. Trademark speak between his teeth: CHECK! Grumpy: CHECK! But here is were the fun begins for me as a movie buff, knowing well that he was told that he was going nowhere delivering his lines like that I agree. Line delivery by Clint in this movie is bad, youthful, stiff and over the top. If someone would have told him that in 10 years he would be a rising star and in 50 he would be known all over the world, I belive he would've smacked that person in the face, writing it down to an insult.

He performs better when the characters emotions are toned down which is highly noticable and the star shines through just a brief notice of what's to come.

Regarding the film and script it's stupid. Trained soldiers doing all kinds of stupid stuff that if this was a modern war epic would make people cringe.

The version I was watching had subtitles that were totally of with the dialogue, something that just added another dimension to it.

Not for everyone, will not watch ever again.

4/10.

Let's face it - the only real reason to catch this pedestrian oater is to get a glimpse of a 27 year old Clinton Eastwood. The future star is still coltish in his acting craft here, and he hasn't fully developed his excellent timing and intensity as in "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" and "Dirty Harry", but the B western does show why this film was a good reason that he pursue acting. His scenes with Margia Dean are the best in showing a charisma which would one day make him box office.

Made in 1958, Eastwood looks very youthful. He holds his own in scenes with a sturdy and sullen Scott Brady, and is somewhat confined by a script that has him cast as the young fool. But Eastwood does well with what he's got, and exhibits a star quality as a young Hollywood actor.

One of the earliest of Clint Eastwood's Roles. This movie quotable lines about masculinity. The central theme here is bargains. Survival depends on bargains. Copelan at the helm of his first and only film explores the usual themes of man versus man, man versus society, man versus his environment, and the issue of apocalyptic armaments. Clearly, the Winchester repeating rifles at the heart of this drama serve as metaphors for atomic weapons. Copelan emphasizes their role early on by presenting them in the first close-ups so that we cannot overlook them. The durable and dependable Scott Brady must prevent these rifles from landing in Apache hands. Watchable only due to Eastwood's early presence.

'Ambush at Cimarron Pass' is a bit of a bore.

Even though I don't think it's as bad as one Clint Eastwood reportedly does, I do agree in the sense that this 1958 production is a limp effort at making a western. I found none of the characters to be likeable, not that they're necessarily unlikeable per se, and the events depicted onscreen failed to give me any form of entertainment/enjoyment.

Eastwood is solid in arguably his biggest role at this point in time, though the rest of those alongside the aforementioned aren't noteworthy to me - at a big push, Scott Brady is the standout of the others. Eastwood didn't return to film acting after this until 1964, but arrived back with a bang with the start of the Dollars Trilogy - I look forward to watching those!

Remnants of an ambushed Army unit hook up with a group of cowboys to fight their way through Indians on the warpath. Sounds like it could be an exciting western, but this one is dull, dull, dull. It moves like molasses, the action scenes are uninspired, the acting is pedestrian, the writing is flat, even the photography isn't very good. Eastwood, in a very early role, plays an ex-Confederate who doesn't like the idea of fighting on the same side as Yankees. That's about the only remotely interesting situation in the whole movie, but Eastwood wasn't experienced enough an actor to pull it off, and his character comes across as petulant rather than angry or embittered. A very ordinary western. Actually, a very less-than-ordinary western. Worth a look if you're a die-hard Eastwood fan and want to see him at the very beginning of his career. Otherwise, don't bother.