Tambores da Morte

This unheralded western is a solid yarn about a familiar plot of greedy whites scheming to mine rich gold deposits on Indian land. Audie Murphy's role as an Indian-hating cowboy is a bit out of character for him but he's okay in spite of his clean-cut, easygoing manner. Walter Brennan, a surprise member of the cast, is great in the role of Murphy's father and friend of the Indians. There are nice battles between the cowboys and Indians and the scenery is terrific. Lyle Bettger is the heavy and gives his usual fine performance. Jay Silverheels figures prominently in the picture and is stern but dignified as an Indian chief. Morris Ankrum and Mara Corday are also good in limited roles.

Nice Audie Murphy recital giving acceptable acting as a tough man who has to solve conflicts between greedy white men and Ute Indians . While he becomes a peaceful man who attempts to avoid an Indian war. But then things go wrong when his father , Walter Brennan, is kidnapped by villainous Lyle Bettger . A wildernes of danger¡ An empire of savage hate ¡

Decent Western with thrills , emotion , betrayals , assaults , Indian attacks and cavalry . It is a routine Western but it has some elements that make this oater an above average yarn . Audie Murphy , as usual , is pretty well , this time he resolves problems by keeping calm among contenders ,in which mean prospectors attempt to rob Indian mines and along the way confronting the always nasty Lyle Bettger , providing the best acting of the movie . Support cast is frankly good , with plenty of Western familiar faces as Hugh O'Brian, Emile Meyer , Regis Toomey , Morris Ankrum , Gregg Barton , George Wallace , Bob Steele , lone Ranger's Jay Silverheels, the beautiful Mara Corday and the great secondary Walter Brennan . It contains a thrilling and rousing score from Herman Stein and Henry Mancini , though uncredited . As well as colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Harold Lipstein. The motion picture was well directed by Nathan Juran for Universal Pictures . He was a notorious art director winning an Oscar for art direction on How green was my valley by John Ford . Then , he turned to directing in the the Fifties. Juran handled mostly low-budget Westerns and oaters such as : Law and order , Gunsmoke, Tumbleweed, as well as Sci-Fi opuses , his most famous were Attack of the 50 foot woman 1958 , The brain of the planet Arous , The deadly mantis, 20 million miles to earth . On the other hand he was also responsible for great fantasy adventures as The 7th voyage of sinbad, Jack the giant killer , 1958 . In the early Sixties he travelled Europe where he made Spaghetti Western as Land raiders . Furthermore , he directed a lot of episodes of popular TV series as Daniel Boone , Lost in space , Land of giants , Voyage to the bottom of the sea , A man called Shenandoah , The three musketeers , World of giants, among others . Rating , 6.5/10 . Better than average . The movie will appeal to Audie Murphy fans and Western aficionados .

An Audie Murphy western from 1954. A father/son transpo enterprise are hired to bring a shipment of gold to an embattled location where the Ute Indians hold a tenuous truce w/the passersby. Murphy & Western vet Walter Brennan play the business owners & what they don't know is there are outside forces at play hoping that a war will ignite between the white man & the native peoples so that the Ute's land can be properly exploited. Brennan is hurt in an early skirmish so its up to Murphy to smoke the peace pipe, as it were, w/the Indian elder but he carries a deep seated grudge against them since the chief's son caused the death of his mother. Being a film on the cusp of being truly great & memorable, it's a shame some of the individual elements are glossed over (something a more insightful director may've focused on) so that finish line could be crossed at the 90 minute mark. Look for Jay Silverheels (TV's Tonto from the Lone Ranger series of the 50's) in a pivotal role as the chief's son.

Crown City is a played-out mining town. Just a few hundred yards away across the river there are vast reserves of gold - but across the river is Indian territory and it takes a brave man - or a stupid one - to risk incurring the wrath of Ouray, Chief of the Ute.

At the start of this fast-paced western, there's a group of guys heading into Ute territory seeking gold, then there's a shootout between the utes and the gold-seekers, a fist fight around the campfire, and a swap goes wrong and there's another shootout - and this is all within around thirty minutes, and the rest of the film is the same, the plot is twisty and fully-charged like a sidewinder, the pace is frenetic, and the action is energetic( Audie gets to show off some Judo moves in some combat scenes), but most important the narrative flows freely.

Audie Murphy is gaining his confidence here, is really good as a guy transitioning from having bitter hate for utes to one who is on their side, Walter Brennan as his father is his usual excellent form, Hugh O'Brien makes an appearance as a gunslinger clad in black and a grin to shame a crocodile's grin, and Lyle Bettger does his usual turn as the slimy villain with a perpetual smirk. Mara Corday is a bad girl hottie and eye candy Lisa Gaye flutters her eyelashes and coos "Gary, Gary" repeatedly throughout the film.

This is one of my favourite Murphy westerns, it's energetic, action-packed, a busy plot and the story is just great. Saw this on BBC2 back in 1989, and I just have fond memories of watching it countless times afterwards.

Good Nathan Juran's western, one more starring Audie Murphy for Universal Studios, after GUNSMOKE and TUMBLEWEED. Yes, good stuff, not too long, rather action packed, and offering acceptable performances, despite a weak plot, not that surprising story. Full of charm little western from the fifties. And it is always a pleasure to have Lyle Bettger as a villain, as John Doucette or Robert Wilke...I repeat, no surprise but so much effective for a tremendous time spender - not waster. Universal Studios had the secret of cute and original westerns, a special touch that the other companies had not. Not better, but just different.