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An unpretentious Western totally unlike ' The Unforgiven ' which I reviewed just before this film. This is the kind of Western that is there as simple entertainment for those who like the genre. It gives a picture of the West as it really never was and the audiences of the time ( early to middle 1950's ) loved its nonsense because it kept to its formula. This formula consisted of colourful scenery, villains and heroes, women with improbably good clothes and makeup, a few battle scenes, horses and Indians and a lot of delightful hokum. The epitome of this is Saloon Bar music with the same ' tune ' played in film after film; 2Oth Century Fox was the past master of this ridiculous fiction. The whole concept of this image of the West was there to lull its audience into lies about how conquered America was constructed to put its indigenous people into Reservations. I accept the lie of this image of how the West was won as simple and superficial enjoyment; a guilty pleasure that entertains. This is totally unlike the Western with a message and often a fake finger wagging liberalism. This liberalism was to ease a conscience; a collective conscience of guilt and I dislike it. As they say in Film Noir ' it was too late for tears '. This simple film is all about the Gatling Gun and how it must not end up in Native American hands. It has a ridiculous song which is endearing and has Van Johnson, Joanne Dru and Richard Boone. An ' A ' cast in a basically' B ' film, and they all act to form and just as the audience expected them to do. There is a stirring climax and the Gatling Gun ( a horrible form of human extermination ) and it is made to look like a naughty toy. The mindless child I still am thoroughly enjoyed it.

In the last days of the American Civil War, a Confederate gun smuggler ends up helping to defend a Union fort when his weapons are sold to the Shawnee Indians.

Routine yet amiable western with light-hearted moments as well as tense ones. Van Johnson stars as a salesman going town with his assistance singing "tapioca." Clever bit is that it's a code word. It moves leisurely, and gets more exciting as it progresses and ends with a rousing cavalry vs Indians fight featuring a Gatling gun. Joanna Dru and Richard Boone as a villain also star. Van Johnson does well in his only western. Well photographed with fantastic rugged terrain.

This western is about two unreconstructed southerners who steal a Gatling gun from Union soldiers which winds up in the hands of an outlaw who sells the gun to Indians for gold. The film dwells on character development and takes a great deal of time detailing the two southern agents' travels from town to town delivering coded messages and trying to arrange a rendezvous with a contact to deliver the Gatling. The picture is another Blue vs. Gray conflict in the west with the Indians on the warpath against the soldiers, a plot angle that has been done better in other westerns. Van Johnson is okay as the hero and Joanne Dru is the gal who falls for Johnson. Richard Boone is a standout as a gun-running renegade in a role as a heavy he would reprise in other westerns. The supporting cast and color photography are good.

Jim Farady (Van Johnson)and his associate Benjy (Milburn Stone) appear to be hucksters ,travelling the West selling patent medicine (a muscle builder)but in reality they are spies for the Confederacy and are transporting a stolen Gatling Gun to the Confederate lines ,a journey that will take them through Indian Territory ,and the natives are not friendly. They attract the attention of a shrewd Pinkerton man Frank Kelso (Jeff Morrow)and are forced to smuggle the guns out concealed in a hospital wagon driven by the unsuspecting Nora Curtis (Joanne Dru)who is attracted ,somewhat against her will to Farady.they are betrayed by their ostensible escort ,Manning (Richard Boone)who has plans to sell the guns to the Indians for an attack on a nearby fort ,plans Farady sets out to foil.

The movie is immaculately shot in Technicolor by Edward Cronjager and Rudolph Mate ensures the action moves along with vigour .The acting is good and the movie never flags ,even finding time for a unique drunk scene -the inebriate in question being Nora .

The climax may appear familiar and if so this is unsurprising -the climactic battle is lifted from Buffalo Bill ,the Joel Macrae movie from an earlier decade ,and intercut with close up of the actors in this movie

Its a solid action Western and enjoyable for lovers of the genre

Two Confederate agents (Van Johnson and Milburn Stone) head west in order to bring a Gatling gun back to the South in the hopes of winning the Civil War. In order to travel with the famous gun through hostile Commanche territory they hire Indian trader Richard Boone to lead the way. Johnson and Stone hide their true identities by masquerading as sales reps for a cure all tonic and actually perform a song together in order to draw in a crowd. Amongst the crowds are various Confederate sympathizers who slip them concealed notes about where to go next. Also in the mix is Joanne Dru who plays a health care provider and who falls for Johnson's ruse as the tonic sales rep while gradually discovering his true Confederate identity. The action is mostly laughable, especially a big fight with Indians, though they (the Commanches) do get their hands on the Gatling gun and get a chance to use it. However, any film with Richard Boone in it is worth watching. He does not disappoint here as a sore tempered loser at poker and treacherous Indian trader. A few years later the film Rio Conchos portrayed a similar story of the Civil War out west, and this one also starred Boone. It's about ten times better than Siege At Red River.