La terra degli Apaches

In the various tellings of the tale of the OK Corral, the name John Clum comes up as a peripheral character. At that point in his life he was Mayor of Tombstone, Arizona and founder and editor of the Tombstone Epitaph which was in editorial support of the Earp brothers. But before that John Clum was an Indian agent, sent to the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona to reform the corrupt practices regarding same. Audie Murphy plays an eager and honest Clum in this film.

The poor Indians were caught between a rock and a hard place. Either it was the army who was going to govern them or as was argued the civilian Interior Department.

Clum has some interesting and novel ideas about giving the Apaches a large measure of self government. But the real story of Clum is hardly touched on. He stands out simply because he was honest. Sad to say Indian agents for the most part were hack politicians from the political machines back east. Whether they were hired by the War Department or the Interior Department, a lot of them robbed the poor Indians blind. Right at this time, one of the most notorious scandals of the Grant Administration was the Whiskey Ring which involved various trading posts and reached right up to the Secretary of War, a gentleman named William Belknap who resigned before he was impeached.

Murphy gets able support from two leading ladies, pretty and perky Pat Crowley who plays his eastern fiancé and Anne Bancroft who is the spectacularly beautiful Indian widow who's crushing out on him. Jay Silverheels who played Geronimo in Broken Arrow, plays him again in Walk the Proud Land. Charles Drake plays the former army sergeant who hires on as a blacksmith at the San Carlos Reservation and becomes Murphy's best pal and confidante.

Walk the Proud Land is one of the few western films to have a choreographer in the person of Tommy Rall. Rall, a well known Broadway dancer, plays a young Indian warrior who becomes Murphy's friend. There is a lengthy sequence involving the Apaches entertaining some white VIPs at Murphy's wedding to Crowley with some tribal dances. A nice mix between the real deal and what you might see in Rose Marie's Totem Tom Tom number.

Walk the Proud Land is definitely one of Audie Murphy's better westerns for Universal and a nice tribute to a real western figure.

it is its basic virtue. for theme and for its inspired manner to present as biopic. for acting and for the mixture of innocence, courage, force and beautiful images. for realism and for Audie Murphy performance. a film about the image and the essence of relationship and about a form of heroism who has not ordinaries rules. a classic western. and more because it is not an idyllic picture about Far West but body for a noble message who preserves the measure at high level. touching and convincing, it has a special note of melancholy and poetic message. a film. real good. a homage. like remember source about the respect for the other, out of ordinary tolerance.

I just caught this movie recently on AMC and was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. I am a big Audie Murphy fan, but even I am willing to admit that most of his movies rarely rise above mediocre. This movie, however, has Audie in the hands of a good director, with a competent script, and some very good supporting cast members.

There were a couple of moments when Ann Bancroft was on screen when my mouth dropped open at how utterly gorgeous she was. Simply breathtaking! Charles Drake and Morris Ankrum do nice work, and Jay Silverheels can do no wrong in my book (I could watch that noble face and listen to that great voice all day long).

I confess to not knowing the real story of Clum, so I was not distracted by how factually accurate this account was (or wasn't, as the case may be). I watched it purely for its entertainment value and walked away completely entertained. Yes, the script has some rather heavy-handed messages we are beaten over the head with throughout, but I feel most of society could stand to be beaten over the head with some positive messages regarding friendship, loyalty, family, and race relations, so that didn't bother me.

I feel Audie Murphy did some of his best acting work in this film, so if you get a chance to see it, I would highly recommend giving it a shot...it's good old fashioned entertainment.

An enjoyable movie for a lazy afternoon. But there was a lot of schmaltz and predictable action, and the dialog was a little fake. But at times there was a nicely presented humorous edge to conversations as in the "maybe" style. I also enjoyed it for the typical Old Tuscon movie set location having been there a number of times myself. Being based on a true story the screen writer did a good job. I feel this movie is a good example of the style of westerns of which John Wayne was a good example. It remains simple in format, clear in style, and does not contain excessive goofs. One simple goof I noticed was how clean the Agent's suit was after he had just been rolling in the dirt. A nicely told story, enjoyable to watch, and the kind of movie experience I enjoy without the excessive violence, vulgar language, and smut contained in many modern works.

I was brought up to believe the "indian" was "the baddie"! At no point did anyone ever tell me that their land was being taken over by "white men" who were mainly full of lust for gold and other such things. The Indian was in the minority which is why today the land we know as the USA is run by "white men" This particular episode is about how 1 man managed to get the warmongering apaches to settle down in peace, although clearly there was very little in it for them! Historically, they like other Indian tribes have been badly treated and let down by "white mans law". Audie Murphy does well in his portrayal of a true story, ably supported by Anne Bancroft and other known faces. Those who invaded their land DO have much still to answer for!