Le Sorcier du Rio Grande

Considering the vast amount of Cavalry-vs.-Indians Westerns made during the genre's heyday, this emerges as a reasonably engaging entry – thanks to the pleasant Technicolor hues but, even more so, the scenery-chewing antics of its two stars (Charlton Heston and Jack Palance). I'd owned a copy of the bare-bones Paramount DVD for quite some time, but found the perfect opportunity to check it out now in tribute to Heston's recent passing.

He plays a maverick scout who, in the past, had spent some time with the Apaches; he knows them inside out and is, therefore, indispensable to the Cavalry because he can anticipate what their next move will be. The tribe has ostensibly capitulated and is heading towards the reservation but, when the current chief's son (Palance) arrives on the scene – having undertaken an education merely to fulfill a prophecy which would make him the savior of his people! – the attacks start anew, thus confirming Heston's skepticism of the whole deal (and which had practically ostracized him from his office). The film, whose title remains unexplained throughout, generally delivers in the action stakes (even if Heston and Palance's long-awaited showdown, the 'war' being resolved in single hand-to-hand combat between them, is a disappointingly hasty affair) – but is let down by a couple of obligatory romantic rivalries: Heston is torn between half-breed Katy Jurado, who's wasted, and Mary Sinclair, the widow of the Fort Commander who's also desired by his successor (Brian Keith).

Heston made a number of such minor genre fare (which, I have to admit, I had all but ignored all these many years) – including another Western penned by Charles Marquis Warren, PONY EXPRESS (1953) – before carving a niche for himself playing larger-than-life roles in a myriad big-budget spectaculars. Having mentioned the writer/director, I recently acquired another Western of his – the well-regarded and, reportedly, noir-tinged LITTLE BIG HORN (1951) which, naturally, revolves around Custer's infamous Last Stand.

(possible spoilers)

It's a shame that the world has gone so Politically Correct these days that a straight-forward film like ARROWHEAD is so maligned and probably couldn't be made today. It starts off with Charlton Heston as a very despicable and prejudiced cavalry scout who hates Apaches with a passion (he's grown up with them and claims to know their ways), and continually foils any efforts at peace talks between the Indians and the white men. When his bigotry results in the killing of a group of Apaches as well as his own people, he is fired and his boss Brian Keith wants nothing more to do with him. But even while ousted from his duties, nobody is spared Heston's personal wrath -- not even his pretty half-Mexican, half-Apache laundress (the beautiful Katy Jurado).

When the respected Indian Chief Toriano (Jack Palance) arrives on the frontier to make peace, Heston still warns not to trust him. And in an old-fashioned turn of events (by today's standards that is), everything Chuck has tried to impress upon his men from the very start actually turns out to be true... Toriano and his followers are in fact planning an ambush. So in a very bizarre twist, Heston's hateful character is hired back to help the fight and turns into the hero.

Not a "great" film, and a tad long at 105 minutes. But it's a strong depiction of the personal animosities and prejudices from both sides that often get in the way of progress. The performances of Heston, Palance and Keith are all good. Those who wish to change history and act as if these things never really happened should remember that this film was based on factual, real events. *** out of ****

Arrowhead is one of that batch of films that Charlton Heston did between his two DeMille pictures, some good, some mediocre. Arrowhead kind of falls between both categories.

It is one of the most uncompromising films in terms of the place of the American Indian. It's point is that the more we get rid of, the more room for the whites. So either pack 'em off to reservations or kill them. At least Charlton Heston's character feels that way.

Now there apparently is some justification for Heston's feelings at least as far as this group of Apaches are concerned. He was raised among them and knows them well. And knows that the young warrior prince. Jack Palance, is not going to go quietly off to a reservation.

None of which is really explored in the finished product. I have the feeling the editors left a lot of this film on the cutting room floor. Also Heston's relationship with Katy Jurado who acts as a spy while living without benefit of clergy with him is similarly untouched. But for that I blame the Code. What there is is quite daring for its time.

The ending is kind of silly also. When he has the drop on Palance, Palance asks Heston why he doesn't shoot him. Good question Jack, I can't figure it out either. More I won't say.

The film was shot on location in Texas and done very well. Palance, fresh off the acclaim he received from Shane, has the best role in the film. This is also an early film for Brian Keith and he acquits himself well as a young cavalry officer.

But Arrowhead could have been a whole lot better.

Charlton Heston plays an Indian-hating scout very loosely based on famed frontiersman Al Sieber (who, in reality, was a German immigrant who not only didn't hate Apaches but often lived with them and spoke fluent Apache dialects; he spoke almost no English because he detested American whites and refused to learn any more English than he considered necessary). He goes up against Jack Palance, an Apache he knew from his boyhood who is returning from several years at an Indian agency school that is supposed to have "civilized" him (also based on fact; many Indian children were forcibly sent to such a school in Carlisle, Pennsylvania). Heston, unlike the local military and civilian authorities, doesn't believe that Palance has been "civilized" and suspects that he's secretly planning to lead the Apaches in attacking and massacring the local white population. This is a tough and, for its time, brutal little western, well written and directed by Charles Marquis Warren, and pulls no punches in its depiction of racism on both sides; Palance hates whites as much as Heston hates Indians, and both have no compunction about killing those on the "other" side they've known for years simply as a matter of course. Palance and Heston are suitably intense in their roles--Heston perhaps a bit too much so--and the action scenes are handled very well, although the final confrontation between Heston and Palance is a bit of a disappointment. A good supporting cast of veteran western actors--Milburn Stone, James Anderson, Robert J. Wilke (not playing a villain for once), among others--contribute greatly to the film's pace and atmosphere (although the rivalry between Heston and army officer Brian Keith over a girl at the post is a bit superfluous). Well worth your time.

Ed Bannon (Charlton Heston) is a no-nonsense scout at Fort Clark, Texas, who used to live with the Apaches. He is suspicious when the son of the chief, Toriano (Jack Palance), is returning from his education back East at the same time the Chiricahuas are meeting the U.S. Army. He solemnly warns that they will not peaceably be shipped off to Florida. Brian Keith plays the new commanding officer of the fort in his feature film debut. Katy Jurado and Mary Sinclair are also on hand.

"Arrowhead" (1953) was based on W.R. Burnett's novel wherein the author patterned Ed Bannon (Heston) after the real-life Albert Sieber. Meanwhile the film was shot at the actual Fort Clark in Brackettville, Texas. As such, it has some authenticity in its favor even while a bit marred by the dated style of its era. The problem is some people don't want ugly reality, but rather political correctness.

I don't get what the problem is. Bannon is understandably cheerless in a tense life-or-death situation while the Chiricahuas are depicted as formidable warriors who are willing to fight to the death. The movie portrays the culmination of the Indian Wars (as far as the Apaches go) in a fictitious story backed by factual material and it's not pleasant, but rather grim and brutal. It was the Indian WARS, after all, not the Indian love-in.

The film runs 1 hour, 45 minutes.

GRADE: B