Rifles Apaches

I noticed something unusual tonight. Although I have seen most of the films of most of the most famous American actors of the 1930s-50s, I actually have seen very few of Audie Murphy movies. Because of this, I really have no idea if he was a good actor or not or whether or not I'd enjoy his movies. I have seen a few westerns as well as "The Red Badge of Courage"....but not in many years. So, I searched YouTube and found his film...one of Murphy's later outings.

When the story begins, Captain Stanton (Audie Murphy) is given command of a company of Cavalry soldiers to capture a group of renegade Apache who, for some odd reason, don't want to live on a crappy reservation. However, to capture these men, the Captain orders his men to live much like Indians...eating what they find as they travel, going without sleep and being just as dedicated as the Apache. They eventually catch up with them...but the Apache voice their gripes to him...that gold prospectors were invading their reservation lands (which really did happen in the 1870s)! What's to come of this fragile peace? And, what is to become of the Captain and his less than enlightened views of the natives?

Like too many westerns of the 1950s and 60s, the major Indian characters are all played by white guys in makeup. I don't hate this so much for politically correct reasons as realism reasons....they just don't look like Apaches. I did appreciate, however, how they had the Apache leader speak Spanish instead of English, as the Apache often spent much of their lives in Mexico...not just the US. This is just a nice touch of realism. Plus, throughout the movie, the Mescalero Apache are actually the heroes.

So is the movie any good? Yes, though I was surprised that the story made the Captain a rather stereotypical 'Indian hating' guy. Fortunately, and what made the film so good, is that over time, the Captain did change his views...especially as he saw those in charge cheat the Mescalero AND the local miners did much to stir up the war...something that actually happened in real life, especially in the Dakotas when gold was discovered on Indian territory.

Overall, a most unusual film...and a movie that seemed very ordinary but improved as I watched. It's actually an excellent film and portrays the natives in a much better way than they'd generally been shown before this.

Apache Rifles is directed by William Witney and adapted to screenplay by Charles B. Smith from a story written by Kenneth Gamet and Richard Schayer. It stars Audie Murphy, Michael Dante, Linda Lawson, L.Q. Jones, Ken Lynch, Joseph Vitale and Robert Brubaker. Music is by Richard La Salle and De Luxe cinematography is by Arch R. Dalzell.

Murphy stars as Capt. Jeff Stanton, a cavalry officer in Arizona territory, 1879, who is assigned to bring to the reservation the runaway Apaches who have had enough of the greedy gold miners pillaging from their promised land. Originally driven by his hatred towards Native Americans, Stanton's cause is muddied when he starts to fall for half Indian Dawn Gillis (Lawson), who in turn is courted by Red Hawk (Dante).

By 1964 the conventional B Western was very much on the wane, with the theme of being sympathetic to the Native Americans having already been explored significantly in far better Westerns than Apache Rifles. Though it never hurts to have another one in any day and age, mind! Apache Rifles is pretty standard stuff, it's decently constructed and paced by Witney, who gets to show his talent for action scenes, Murphy is his usual affable self, even getting to put some emotion conflict into the portrayal, and exterior photography out of Mojave and the Bronson and Red Rock Canyons is most pleasing. It never quite hits the dramatic heights it aims for because the simmering love triangle often stops the picture in its tracks, a shame especially as some political shenanigans could have been explored further, while a quick about turn in the finale smacks of audience manipulation and comes off as a cheat. But it's inoffensive stuff for the most part, enjoyable for the right reasons within its low budget, even if it's just one for Murphy fans to tick off their lists, never to be seen again. 6/10

The first of Whitney and Murphy's "Didactic History Trilogy" whereby they seek to re-educate the viewer on the American West. Probably the closest Hollywood ever got to Rossellini's TV and the polar opposite of the cartoon nihilism of Leone. Best scene: Murphy, always tortured by whiskey, uses whiskey to torture the bad. Audie Murphy gives a good performance in his role as Jeff Stanton, the captain who acts like he is in charge and is determined to stop the Apaches from causing trouble.

Elsewhere, Linda Lawson is respectable in her role as Dawn Gillis, the missionary who Jeff adores, while Michael Dante is decent as Red Hawk, one of the men who is captured, and L.

This is a fully-fledged 90 minutes approximately action Western film , fast moving , tense , rousing scenes and excitement throughout its running time . A young cavalry officer called (Audie Murphy) is assigned the job of bringing in a band of Apaches Miscalero led by Vitorio (Vitale) and his son Red Hawk (Michael Dante) who have been terrorizing the countryside . They have escaped from San Carlos reserve , illustrating the callous disregard with which the government treated the Apaches as the US agency fails to deliver even the meager provisions without proper supplies for survival . But the captain Stanton is caught in the crossfire of passions and greed . There arrives a new Colonel (John Archer) and Stanton turns into second-in-command and he subsequently is dismissed .

The picture packs whirlwinds of manic action , thrills , fights , sustained energy and often commendable results . The film has a slickness and crude vigour , though some scenes are failures . The Indian attacks , shootouts , pyrotechnics , battles , riding pursuits , all of them are spectacular and the film is another passable Hollywood product but of B-series . It contains some vigorous and ingeniously done action scenes , but others no-nonsense . The highlights of the movie are the overlong fighting between Stanton and Red Hawk and the final Indian attack to cavalry . Gorgeous outdoors filmed on location in Bronson Canyon , Mojave, California and Red Rock Canyon State Park Cantil, California . It was professionally directed by William Witney who spent his entire career making serials and second-features , one of them is this ¨Apache rifles¨ , providing the screenplay allowed him to keep them thrilling at his own moving and relentless gallop . It has a rigour look , hard-edged scenes , action-packed , wild energy , exciting images that , in the eyes of connoisseurs makes one of the most acceptable of his kind .

This traditional Western was regularly directed by William Witney , though contains some vigorous scenes . Witney was a craftsman who directed 140 titles from the 30s . Oklahoma-born William Witney began his long screen career as a studio messenger in silent days joining Republic Pictures shortly after . By 1936 , he was already script supervisor on serials and his own directorial career started the following year . Witney graduated to director at 21, he was Hollywood's youngest , and he teamed with director John English on many of the period's best serials . He realized many of the era's best serials , most of them highlighted by kinetic fight and chase scenes that helped change the face of action movie-making and from 1956 , he transferred these stirring energies to TV Westerns with prolific and enjoyable results . The favorite shooting was the 1939 serial ¨Zorro's fighting legion¨ . As his pictures were mainly serials , after WWII service with US Marines , he moved on to Roy Rogers Westerns , inserting into them a new tough backbone that offended some Rogers purists . In 1954 he made one of the best films ¨The outcast¨ with John Derek , besides his television work which includes some quite exciting episodes of such series as ¨High Chaparral¨, ¨Bonanza¨, ¨Laramie¨, ¨Zorro¨, ¨The Virginian¨ and ¨Wagon train¨ and he followed to work for cinema and was capable of making large-scale movies as ¨Santa Fe Passage¨ involving a wagon train against Indians , ¨The Bonnie Parker story¨about the famous gun-moll , and specially ¨Master of the world¨ an amusing Jules Verne adventure with Vincent Price and Charles Bronson . The motion picture will appeal to Western buffs ; it's an agreeable popcorn story plenty of shots with Indians , soldiers and gunfighters .

This is a serious-minded and sincere effort at presenting some of the difficult aspects of US-Native American relations in the old west, albeit through a Hollywood lens. It delivers above its low budget and features a remarkably lean script in a conventional style.

Massacres anywhere were extremely brutal in the 19th century and one is depicted in this film as is a Custer type of US army blunder. This movie is violent but it is depicted within the context of what actually happened in those days, and isn't gratuitous or exploitative.

Audie Murphy is very watchable with his undeniable screen presence and his strong war hero credentials. You know that he could really lead these soldiers to hell and back if necessary. In fact, he literally could. A love triangle is rather awkwardly shoe-horned into the movie featuring beautiful and soft spoken actress Linda Lawson (who is virtually forgotten nowadays). She is perfect as a compassionate activist endeavoring for progress on the frontier. Her gentle acting style works well against the believable controlled violence personality that Murphy was able to develop for all of his soldier roles.

Acting by the supporting cast is uniformly good and features the ultimate movie rabble-rouser L.Q Jones. Jones rouses a lot of rabble in this one.

This skillfully edited and filmed low budget movie is worth your viewing time.