Apache Trail

This film begins with a cowboy by the name of "Tom Folliard" (William Lundigan) having been arrested and detained in a local jail for 90 days waiting for a judge to preside over his case involving an armed robbery committed by his notorious brother "Trigger Bill Folliard" (Lloyd Nolan). Fortunately, when the judge arrives Tom is immediately acquitted and released. However, when he goes back to reclaim his old job of riding shotgun on a stagecoach line he is informed that it has since been filled. That being the case he eagerly accepts an assignment managing a remote stagecoach way station which is nearly abandoned due to the increasing restlessness of the local Apache tribe in the area. But what he doesn't know is that his brother also has plans involving this way station and they don't coincide with his. Likewise, he is ill-prepared for a rivalry between two attractive women by the names of "Rosalie Martinez" (Donna Reed) and "Constance Selden" (Ann Ayars) competing for his affections as well. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this way an okay Western film which managed to pass the time easily enough and for that reason I have rated it accordingly.

APACHE TRAIL (1942) was Donna Reed's ninth role under her M.G.M. contract. As someone new at Culver City, Ms. Reed was put through her paces in a variety of roles, too learn the ropes. Here Donna is 'Rosalia Martinez' a immigrant with her Mother, recent from Spain and somehow stuck in the middle of the Arizona desert. Looking a bit too Middle-Western and with a unconvincing accent.

The story has all the makings of the 'B' Westerns churned out over at REPUBLIC. Brothers at odds with each other, the good, William Lundigan, the bad, Lloyd Nolan, renegade and all around creep. Usual cast of supporting Actors including Chill Wills, Grant Withers and Connie Gilchrist, etc. Also thrown in, some 'dudes' from the East with a 'femme fa-tales', plus a attack by the Apaches on their lone outpost. Competently directed by Richard Thorpe too the level or the limits of his talents, that were perfectly suited for this effort. At 66" it will not tax the viewer.

This was another of those thankless roles a rookie had to suffer through before making the grade and Stardom. I am sure that Ms. Reed's private thoughts were not that charitable when she first was given this assignment and the script. Though back then if you wanted to make it in the 'Studio System' you did what you were told. Ms. Reed proved not only a apt pupil but was good enough to play M.G.M. politics and soon would be getting more challenging roles. Her skills would finally be rewarded with the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (1953) COLUMBIA.

Lloyd Nolan and William Lundigan are unlikely feuding brothers in this modest programmer that has faint echoes of Stagecoach about it. Although he was born and raised in San Francisco, Nolan sounds like he comes from the Bronx, which isn't a good fit for a cowboy. He's agreeably sleazy, though, and Lundigan makes a likable leading man.

Lloyd Nolan, cheerful black-hearted villain, shows up at his brother's stagecoach way-station, and menaces everybody there so he can get his hands on some loot. Will the denizens of the way-station force Lloyd outside the walls of the station, when justifiably irate Apaches march down the APACHE TRAIL to demand his hide?

This is a pretty good (if somewhat set-bound) western, featuring a nice villain turn by Nolan (who really does pull off both his trademark everyman likability and hiss-able villainy) and a ridiculous hot-blooded Latina turn by Midwesterner Donna Reed. There's nothing especially different about this one -- but the careful, somewhat slow MGM pacing and the generally good level of acting keep the subplots moving along. If you like Westerns, you might miss the stunting and outdoor photography you might get in other films like this, but you'll probably like what you see.

All in all, this is not a bad way to spend an hour and a half.

A man with a shady past managing a stagecoach way station is reunited with his outlaw brother, whom he is convinced is up to no good. They are forced to put aside their differences to protect the town when a force of Apaches goes on the warpath, seeking retribution on a white man who deceived them.

A fairly dependable and enjoyable B-western about a pair of estranged brothers (William Lundigan and Lloyd Nolan) who are thrown together by an Apache uprising. Donna Reed provides the love interest, while Chill Wills supplies the philosophising, and there's an array of interesting characters - it was remade as Apache War Smoke, but Apache Trail is much better, more tighter and engaging with a sharp focus on the characters. The running time, however, is too short for more fleshing out the characters and having more tension. Lloyd Nolan takes the acting honours as a slimy criminal with an eye on the Stagecoach payroll, but his lingo and look seems to come out of a 1930's speakeasy. All he needed to do was flip a coin and say "Curtains."