Fort Utah

This is one of those Westerns that has very stock characters and relies on the "fluff" of scenery and action.

The "fluff" is good. The fights look more like reality than the goofy choreographed ones for the bubble boys. People wrestle clumsily. The only comical fight is between the hero and wagon master, which has the look of a goofy choreographed fight of taking punches.

They seemed to want to make several characters work, but they are poorly written. The wagon master, played by John Russell, and the Strauss Indian agent were obviously meant to be the two "deep" characters, but they are written so horribly, that even clever acting and directing can only lure in the most brain dead.

A lot doesn't work here. The most perplexing plot hole is how a wagon train full of people is wiped out by Indians with legitimate anger, in such a fashion. They have trained cavalry men helping, and new repeating rifles. When it is over, there are only corpses and about ten healthy survivors, none with any serious wounds. Why they are left, one can't explain, unless they found a really good hiding place, but most of them were plainly in the middle of the melee. I can only surmise that at the end, the Indians kicked up horse dust to finish them off, and somehow the survivors found an air pocket. Best explanation I can give. However, this should have been explained.

What does work is the "normal" look of the leading characters. Even the heroine is no "model". She looks like any one else. These are ordinary looking people, and that gives an interesting look to a film that relies on the "interesting look".

John Ireland plays Tom Horn, a man trying to go from nowhere to somewhere who rides right into an Indian uprising in the process. He finds himself trying to save the members of a wagon train, first from the Indians, then from the renegade whites who massacred an Indian village to set the redskins on the warpath in the first place.

John Russell plays Ela Jonas, a guide who lost one wagon train and desperately wants to lead this one to safety. Robert Strauss plays Ben Stokes, a grizzled Indian agent. And Virginia Mayo is Linda Lee, a woman headed West as a singer ... or a mail-order bride ... or perhaps a prostitute ... who tries to hide the truth from everyone but Horn.

All find themselves in the abandoned Fort Utah, wondering who they'll have to fight off - the Indians or the white renegades, led by Dajin (Scott Brady). And wondering where the cavalry troop that was supposed to occupy the fort has gone.

Wagon train travelling in perilous country, smoke signals, renegades, deserted fort and angry native Americans - this western full of familiar tropes but it's not any less enjoyable. Actually the plot is quite good - there's no cavalry coming to the rescue and the bad guys are not the Indians, but a band of renegade led by Scott Brady. There's some good action sequences especially at the end and good performances by John Ireland, Virginia Mayo and John Russell. It might have stock footages, poor stunt doubling but it does its job as diverting time filler.

AC Lyles productions, also known as Second Chance westerns - because the casts were composed mostly of Hollywood vets - are mostly acceptable, entertaining, but where clichés are unfortunately not always absent. Here, you have a tremendous Scott Brady as the lead villain, the bad guy in chief.... Nothing exceptional but quite good, better than a lead good guy played by a wooden John Ireland. It is action packed, with a bodycount that will help you wasting time without any boredom. So that's not the worst of AC Lyles productions, and maybe among the three or four best. I have always had tenderness for those features hiring forgotten Hollywood glories, giving them a second chance.

Fort Utah is directed by Lesley Selander and written by Steve Fisher and Andrew Craddock. It stars John Ireland, Virginia Mayo, Robert Strauss, Scott Brady, John Russell, Richard Arlen and James Craig. Music is by Jimmie Haskell and cinematography is by Lothrop Worth.

Drifter Tom Horn (Ireland) teams up with Indian Agent Ben Stokes (Strauss) to help a pioneer wagon train against army deserters and Indian renegades.

Filmed in Technicolor/Techniscope out at Vasquez Rocks and Santa Clarita in California, Fort Utah, in spite of being shot in 1966, feels like a 1950s Oater. Of course the big giveaway is that the headliners in the cast are more long in the tooth than back in the day. Yet collectively they have produced a a very decent Oater with old fashioned value.

There's plenty going on in the plotting. The Indians have had enough of the reservation living arrangements so a renegade band have fled, leaving Ben Stokes the not unenviable task of trying to locate and placate. There's a gang of army deserters - The Marrauders - led by nefarious Dajin (Brady) out for what they can get their hands on, illegally of course. Right in the middle of hostile territory is a wagon train of pioneers who unbeknown to themselves are going to need help to survive, enter Tom Horn and the Fort Utah of the title.

Pic never wants for action, Horn gets into a fight pretty much every ten minutes, be it fisticuffs or shoot-outs, there's barely pause for him to take breath, well except for when he's getting smitten with Linda Lee (Mayo a gorgeous mature at 46) that is. She's travelling with the wagon train and has a secret as well as a major cleavage that gets an airing during a ferocious Indian attack on the wagon train. Whilst unsurprisingly she's getting unwanted attention by a scallywag pioneer fellow...

Some of the stunt doubles are very poor, which sort of sits with Haskell's cheesy musical score, and the big finale features a WTF moment to close down the encounter. But with some very nice photography for the night time scenes, and the superb backdrop of Vasquez Rocks pleasing the eyes, one can't grumble about not having it all. It's not a classic of course, and it has some formulaic baggage to carry around, but for old fashioned Oater lovers this has much to recommend. 6.5/10

In his review, revdrcac was right on--this is a fairly typical sort of A.C. Lyles production. In the 1960s, he made quite a few westerns starring folks who used to be stars. Few of these films were particularly distinguished and most seemed to have very small budgets--but they were entertaining (especially "Johnny Reno"). The likes of Dana Andrews, Richard Arlen, Howard Keel, George Montgomery, Rory Calhoun, Lon Chaney and Yvonne De Carlo all found work in his films--folks whose careers had long seen better days. Perhaps Lyles just liked these older and experienced professionals or, more likely, he liked that they could be had for a lot less money than the hotter and younger actors of the day. Here, John Ireland, Arlen and Virginia Mayo all get a second chance--which I appreciate, as they were good actors (particularly Ireland).

The film begins with Ireland on his horse--minding his own business. Suddenly, an Indian attacks him and the attacker is killed in the mêlée. Soon, an Indian agent (Robert Strauss--in a VERY atypical sort of role for him) meets him and they decide to ride together for safety. Soon, they are attacked by even more natives. Obviously, SOMETHING is up with the local Indian tribes! Then, they soon meet up with a wagon train and their leader (John Russell)--and they decide to help them, otherwise they could soon be massacred. What about this Fort Utah? Well, the hope is that someone can get their and get help...otherwise they're all on their own. But, when Ireland makes his way to the fort, he finds it nearly abandoned...except for some nasty killers who are deserters. See this film to see and to find out what happens next.

What I first started watching this film, I thought this was yet another film where the Indians were stupid and one-dimensional. Well, fortunately, this turned out not to be the case--they had a darned good reason to be mad! Aside from a bit of macho posturing and cheap production values (the lousy use of stunt-men in the fight between Ireland and the would-be rapist is pretty laughable), the film manages to work pretty well due to good acting and a decent script. I particularly like the relationship that developed between Ireland and Mayo, but also LOVED the weird casting of Strauss--he was a hoot. Not at all brilliant overall, but well worth seeing if you like the genre.