L'assedio delle sette frecce

Surrounded by hostile desert and belligerent Mescalero Indians, the Confederate prisoners of Fort Bravo are most in fear of their jailer Captain Roper. Only the beautiful Carla glimpses a chink of tenderness in his armour, but she deceives him by organising and joining an escape party

William Holden is his usual excellent self as the moody captain who strikes fear into his confederate prisoners, but soon Eleanor Parker - who is there to help her boyfriend confederate captain played by Dynasty's William Forsyth to escape-thaws that cold exterior, and she falls for him too. This makes for an arresting dilemma for them, and a pleasant viewing. Escape from Fort Bravo is an interesting mix of romance, drama and the usual cavalry excursion. It's glossy like a painting, yet absorbing. However, the finale elevates this western drama further with a tense showdown with the Mescaleros. The locations is superbly captured, the Mesa and towering buttes just as commanding as John Sturges direction.

William Holden is Captain Roper, a strict commanding officer in charge of a large group of Confederate prisoners in a dry heat stockade at Fort Bravo, Arizona, in 1863...

He is disliked by his captors as well by his captives because of his displeasing behavior toward the escapees whom he invariably recaptures... A main example, dragging back to the fort John Lupton with a rope around his waist...

To Fort Bravo arrived, one morning, the talented, and beautiful Eleanor Parker (Carla) apparently for the wedding of a friend (Polly Bergen)... In fact she is scheming the escape of a rebel, Captain John Forsythe...

Carla - a confederate agent - knows how to charm and handle beautifully Holden in her sojourn in the fort... Holden is the only danger to her plan, as he is the man who finds everybody...

One night, she escapes in a horse-drawn cart with three men, and a coward storekeeper, her Confederate ally... A deceived Holden receives with shock the striking notice that Carla, the woman he loves, is the one who planned the escape... He sets out in their pursuit, ignoring that outside, and around him, in the wilderness, common enemy is watching, the deadly Mescalero Indians...

Holden is stern, enigmatic and firm as the brusque young officer, who keeps the restless prisoners in Fort Bravo while trying to keep out marauding Indians... However Holden is an ideal human officer with integrity beneath his inflexible rules that discipline is fundamental in and around Fort Bravo...

The film carries cautiously, continuous tense action sequences as it incorporates into the exciting climax... The state of expectation and the quality of hopefulness are extremely controlled... The cast gives force and pressure to the nature of the drama keeping the actions spontaneous... The dynamic climactic redskin ambush, with brutal arrow-artillery, express great tension... The rain of the Indians arrows is vigorously presented by John Sturges who directed many fine Westerns like "Backlash," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," and "The Law and Jake Wade."

"Escape from Fort Bravo" is a great Western and a good suspense drama with a sweet romance and spectacular action... The scenery is overwhelming: the jagged rocks, the dirt and the sage as well as the play of light and shade, all fulfilling, in Technicolor, one purpose, Grey against Blue and Indians against everybody...

William Holden's character, in the Civil War-era Western "Escape From Fort Bravo" (1953), has a very appropriate name. When we first see his Capt. Roper, he is dragging an escaped Confederate prisoner, by rope, across the desert; a not-so-subtle warning to any other rebs who might be planning a similar break from the Union fort, deep in the Arizona Territory. But when that escape comes, led by Southern Capt. Marsh (John Forsythe) and abetted by Texan belle Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker), Roper is forced to follow the fugitives...even though the path leads straight into the country of the bloodthirsty Mescalero Apaches. Filmed in Death Valley National Monument and in gorgeous color, "Escape From Fort Bravo" showcases some truly spectacular scenery, not the least of which is Eleanor herself. One of the 1950s' most gorgeous of actresses, she looks absolutely ravishing here, her famous red hair a wonder to behold. She would also appear the next year in another film--"The Naked Jungle"--featuring man-eating ants. (Oh, did I forget to mention that those Mescaleros have a nasty habit of tying their prisoners to ant hills?) "Escape" boasts a very tough-talking script, with glints of humor coming from the bickerings between (those great character actors) Williams Demarest and Campbell, and its final third is remarkably suspenseful, as Roper, Carla and the escaped rebs are laid siege in a ditch, while the Mescaleros pick them off with rifle shot and lob volleys of arrows into their midst. Director John Sturges would go on to make three more classic Westerns over the next seven years ("Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "Last Train From Gun Hill" and, of course, "The Magnificent Seven"), and here turns what is basically a "cavalry and Injuns pic" into a thing of real beauty and excitement. Yes, I really did enjoy this one.

It's an interesting western/prison movie cross-over, although above all the movie remains a western of course with some of its formulaic ingredients, in this movie it's mostly the use of Indians. The story makes the movie more original than most of the other western's from the '50's. It's originality also help to make this movie a better than average one.

Of course the story still feels the need to put in a love-story into the movie but that's basically the curse of every movie that's over 50 years old. Nevertheless the love-story itself is also quite different and original, so it isn't as distracting as in most other genre movies from the same period often was the case.

Director John Sturges has made many entertaining and adventurous movies in his career and I consider this as one of them, though it obviously is not his best work. It's just a good and enjoyable movie, with some real great moments, for in between.

At times its painfully obvious that the movie was for some part shot in studios with fake looking backgrounds in it. It makes the movie look outdated but that also by now has become part of the charm of these sort of movies. The cinematography is from Robert Surtees, who perhaps was the greatest cinematographer of his time. This movie isn't his best done however but it's a worthy one.

William Holden is good in his role, though it's hard to always like him because of the stubbornness and seemingly lack of emotion of the character. The supporting cast also pull of well, especially John Forsythe.

The musical score by Jeff Alexander is surprisingly great and I mean really great. It's not the usual some old, same old '50's western drivel. It's a score worth searching out, though I don't think it's available anywhere.

An enjoyable movie to watch, that's worth watching if you get the chance.

7/10

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Released in 1953 and directed by John Sturges, "Escape from Fort Bravo" was always one of my top Westerns of the 1950s. It stars William Holden as Capt. Roper, who ruthlessly oversees a group of Confederate prisoners at a fort in the SW wilderness. John Forsythe plays Confederate prisoner Capt. Marsh and Eleanor Parker stars as Carla, a woman who visits the fort under the pretense of attending a wedding. As Roper falls for Carla, the Confederates take advantage of his love blinded-ness. When Roper goes after a group of escapees the soldiers have no recourse but to team up against a band of marauding Mescalero Indians.

William Holden was in his prime here, as was the breathtaking Eleanor Parker, both stunning examples of masculine strength and feminine charm respectively.

Although the soldiers rarely miss and the Natives rarely hit, the Indians are depicted in a realistic, respectable manner, showing ingenuity in their resolve to wipe out the pinned-down group of whites.

William Campbell, well-known for the lead Klingon in the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and less-so as the alien Trelane in "The Squire of Gothos," has a formidable supporting role as one of the escaping Confederates. He was almost fifteen years younger and barely recognizable.

While the events take place in 1865 the song played at the fort dance, "Mountains of Mourne," was written by Percy French 31 years later. Someone must've come back from the future.

FINAL WORD: I realize a lot of pre-60's Westerns come off eye-rolling or artificial, but "Escape from Fort Bravo," doesn't fall into that category; that is, aside from the dated opening tune and the aforementioned song at the dance, as well as the parts that were obviously shot in the studio, which was typical in that era.

The film runs 99 minutes and was shot in desolate regions of California (Semi Valley) and New Mexico (Gallup), including Death Valley National Park.

GRADE: B+