Chuka

This is a strange western that I think owes some inspiration from John Ford's classic Cheyenne Autumn. Like the Ford movie it's concerning starving Indians on the reservation, in this case Arapahoe who resolve not to starve any longer.

Especially when post commander John Mills has plenty of army supplies in his fort and won't feed the Arapahoe or give them guns to hunt. His fort is a last chance outpost where apparently the army sends all its misfits from the commander on down. Holding some kind of discipline together is Sergeant Ernest Borgnine.

Into the mix rides gunfighter Rod Taylor in the title role together with Luciana Paluzzi and her niece Victoria Vetri. Paluzzi and Taylor had a little something something going back in the day.

In any event the Arapahoes have them boxed in with a massacre impending. Our sympathies are completely with the Indians on this one. This post contains some of the worst specimens of human being ever gathered together in one spot. Mills is a frightening spectacle with Borgnine enforcing his edicts on an unruly post. Of course there's a reason he's a drunken shell of a man which we learn near the end of the film.

Chuka misses being a classic because of the pedestrian direction it got from Gordon Douglas. Someone like Delmar Daves or John Huston could have made it a classic. The cast is a good one.

John Ford would never have directed it though, no way he would have portrayed his beloved United States Cavalry like this.

Confronted with impending starvation and death "Chief Hanu" (Marco Lopez) of the Arapaho tribe mulls attacking a nearby United States Army outpost to acquire food and weapons. Although the commanding officer of the fort "Colonel Stuart Valois" (John Mills) fully understands the plight of the Arapaho, his superiors don't believe an attack is imminent and have forbidden him to help them out. Adding to his concern is the fact that the soldiers he has under his command are extremely undisciplined and a search party he has recently sent out has yet to return. Along with that a stagecoach carrying two female passengers and a gunslinger has arrived and with them the driver brings even more ominous news. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this film turned out to be a solid, no frills western for the most part. Admittedly, some of the action scenes were a bit too far-fetched with the gunslinger "Chuka" (Rod Taylor) being much too fast and accurate with his pistol to be believed. Even so, I liked the way the story progressed and I thought that Luciana Paluzzi was perfectly cast as "Senora Veronica Kleitz". Be that as it may, I enjoyed this movie and because of that I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

Chuka was co-produced by Rod Taylor's Company Rodlor he had all control of this fine picture, since The Time Machine the Australian Rod Taylor became one of my favorite actor, on greats movies as The Birds and The Mercenaries, he made few westerns, Chuka quite sure is the best, here in Brazil according my old fellows moviegoers, have been said the same, Chuka is great, Rod Taylor recently was presented by Tarantino as one his great hero in his childhood.

Supported by a strong casting the plot orbit around of the odd members of Fort Clendennon, where gathered the scum of the US's Army, surrounded by hungry Indian of the great nation Arapahoe in middle of the desert, Chuka arrives at Fort facing his destiny where his former girlfriend Veronica (Luciana Paluzzi) and his niece Helena (the beauty Victoria Vetri) whom find a safe shelter, there are multiples colorful characters, as the British Colonel Stuart (John Mills) who was spelled by British Army due he is a drunker.

The Major Benson (Louis Hayward) for a cheater gambler, the rough Sgt. Hahnsbach (Ernest Borginine) follows the strict orders of Col. Stuart by personal reasons, anyway all them were there as a punishment impose by the US's Army, the highlight come up with the fight between Chuka and Hahnsbach that surprisingly ends up in a draw, the final Arapahoe attack on the fort is inexorable, but stays a feasible doubt at the end, great western, too much underrated by IMDB's members!!

Resume:

First watch: 1988 / How many: 4 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8.

The story occurs in 1876 , Chuka (Rod Taylor) is a grizzled gunfighter who helps an unexperienced though honorable cavalry officer to appease renegade soldiers and hold a tribe of Arapahoe Indians . When the main characters arrive at the fort a soldier being flogged for desertion (though whipping had been prohibited by the U. S. Army as of 5 August 1861) . There Cavalry commandant (John Mills) is saddled not only problems with the American Natives but also the irritability among his own troops (Louis Hayward) . Chuka eventually puts the bridle on tight and protects a pair of damsels (gorgeous Luciana Paluzzi and Angela Dorian or Victoria Vetri , famous Miss Playboy) in distress . Meantime , the violent Indians are out on a rampage of killing , vengeance against the white intruders and with the aim for getting food .

This is an unusually brutal tale of a hard-bitten gunslinger assembling a detail of misfit cavalrymen to hold-off rampaging Indians . Rod Taylor and an expert all-star-cast shine in this gripping story about a surrounded garrison and director takes a fine penned screenplay creating a cavalry vs. Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the anguish and desperation of the stressed soldiers . It's the habitual theme about an unit stranded by enemies and their grueling efforts to break the siege , issue imitated many other times . The picture contains nice moments but partially unsatisfying for the reason of the claustrophobic environment . Produced by Rod Taylor , this Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining enough . It displays a colorful and adequate cinematography by Harold E. Stine . In addition , atmospheric as well as evocative musical score by Leith Stevens .

The motion picture was professionally directed by Gordon Douglas . He was an expert on adventures genre , such as ¨Black arrow¨ , ¨Fortunes of Captain Blood¨ , both starred by Louis Hayward and Western genre , as he proved in the enjoyable films starred by Clint Walker such as ¨Fort Dobbs¨, ¨Yellowstone Kelly¨ , ¨Gold of seven Saints¨ , Gregory Peck as ¨Only the valiant¨ in similar plot to ¨Chuka¨ , Richard Boone as ¨Rio Conchos¨ considered the best , and others concerning legendary bandits as ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ , ¨Great Missouri raid¨, and anything else . Rating Chuka : 6/10 . Acceptable and decent Cavalry/Indian Western . Well worth watching.

That's for me one of the best Gordon Douglas' western, besides RIO CONCHOS of course. And Rod Taylor is purely magnificent in this awesome role, as excellent as in THE MERCENARIES, which he made the same year. It is a superb story, adapted from a novel by Richard Jessup that I have not read. It is action packed, moving, poignant concerning characters relationships, even the sub characters are terrific. John Mills, the British famous actor, gives here one of his most brilliant performances. It is an Indian wars, military western, not an outlaw one, a fort under siege scheme, an underrated film for my taste, but I repeat, an excellent one. And an unforgettable ending which may leave you unsatisfied. But that's a matter of opinion.