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After watching this film I thought back to 1957 when this film first came out and I wonder if anyone noticed that Pawnee was a remake of The Ten Commandments set in the old west. I guess that Paramount thought that Herbert J. Yates and Republic Pictures which was on its uppers at that time had nothing worth suing over.

George Montgomery plays a man who was raised by the Pawnee after his white parents were killed. At least that explained those baby blue eyes that Burt Lancaster in Apache and Chuck Connors in Geronimo couldn't explain. He's the adopted son of Chief Ralph Moody, favored so much so that blood kin Charles Horvath is jealous. Montgomery is even moving in on Charlotte Austin the Indian maid set to marry the chief to be.

It's Moody's wish that Montgomery go among his own race and see how they live and how the Pawnee can adapt in their world. Which he does by taking a job as wagon train scout for a wagon train headed by Bill Williams. And then Montgomery catches the eye of his girl Lola Albright.

I think you can see the similarities and the final climax between the Pawnees, settlers, and cavalry is the parting of the Red Sea and it all ends romantically as it did for Moses.

Pawnee is a below par western that has me wondering if Cecil B. DeMille was insulted or flattered.

The Images are Bright and Colorful and the B-Cast is Strong.

However the Repeating Emphasis on Family, Child-Bearing and the Like,

Overwhelms what Little this Exercise in Cookie-Cutter Film-Making has to Offer.

It's Inoffensive White-Bread Population Control.

Even the Central Character George Montgomery's "Pale Arrow" Story is of Growing-Up into the Man He has Become in Search of His White Roots.

The Action is Minimal and the Extended Battles are Lifted from Other Films.

The Movie Offers Not Much More than Time-Killer Eye-Candy.

A Lot of it Takes Place on Fake-Looking Sets with Squeaky-Clean Clothes with Cliched Characters and Dialog Coming-Off as "American Family Pamphlet" Guide.

If there's Such a Thing as Typical "Cut-Corners" B-Western Formula, this is it.

Not Much to See Here...Only the Cast and Color are...

Worth a Watch.

George Waggner was a good western director, not ambitious but with good talent to show. This one will not stay forever in my memory. The basic scheme is interesting, a White risen grown up among Indians, but that's not that new; some westerns used this plot too. Anyway this one is an agreeable time waster with a George Montgomery doing his job. But everything is predictable, tha's an element which I always take care of. I like being surprised by something unusual and here, nothing of this kind. Many westerns were like this anyway. So just watch it for the quality, atmosphere, charm. Any die hard western buff will like it.

Despite a veteran cast, this one just doesn't make the grade. The script is routine at best, and most of the location and action scenes are nothing more than stock footage, most of it gleaned from "Buffalo Bill" (1944). Ms. Albright can almost always lift a B picture to the status of "watchable" however, here she is reduced to nothing more than window dressing between old stock footage action scenes. Pass on this one.

George Montgomery didn't make particularly good westerns--like a lot of other western stars he was tall, good-looking, rode a horse fairly well, and was a strapping physical specimen, but he just didn't that "something" that set him apart from the rest of the crowd. He did make a few better-than-average westerns--1951's "The Texas Rangers" fits that description--but for the most part his stuff was for the lower half of a double bill, cheaply made in black and white for low-rent outfits like Allied Artists or some independent company, and one was pretty much like the next. There are two things that set this one apart, however--(1) it's in color and (2) it has Lola Albright.

Like many of his westerns, it's not particularly well-shot, even though it's in color, and is cursed with a surfeit of stock footage, much of which doesn't match the "new" footage. Fortunately, the new footage also contains Lola Albright, who, even in a long skirt and loose blouse is incredibly sexy, with that smoky, almost growling voice of hers in full bloom, and she's actually the best part of the picture. The plot is one that's been done a million times before--white boy's parents die, he is raised by Indians, complications ensue--and better, but Albright is pretty much the only reason to watch this. Stony-faced Charles Horvath plays--as he has done many times before--a villainous Indian warrior (although he's actually Hungarian), veteran character actor Ralph Moody plays--as he has many times before--a kindly old Indian chief, George Waggner directed and co-wrote the script (and didn't do particularly well in either department).

The film's cheapness shows through at every turn, and overall it's just a fair way to spend an hour or so, but not much more than that.