L'attaque du Fort Douglas

Forget all the nasty things that reviewers have said about MOHAWK, an unpretentious, thoroughly enjoyable, ahead-of-its-time 1956 Western starring handsome Scott Brady (was the word "hunk" in use as early as the 1950s?) as an artist from Boston commissioned to do a series of frontier paintings to present the Iroquois Indians in a favorable light. Since Brady usually does these paintings with his shirt off, small wonder he attracts the amorous attentions of a trio of gorgeous gals: brunette Indian maiden Rita Gam, auburn-haired sexpot Allison Hayes and blonde beauty Lori Nelson (try and guess which one he winds up marrying; a nice surprise!). For about an hour, the romantic cavorting of Brady and his beauties take the forefront (the Breen office must have been napping during a lakeside interlude and make-out session with Brady & Gam wearing as little as possible). Then the final 20 minutes get down to the inevitable cowboys vs. Indians clash, but since the screenplay is refreshingly original enough to make a distinction between the good and bad white men, and the savage vs. civilized Indians, you'll probably care about who dies and who survives. And rather than try to stage the climactic uprising within the limits of its modest budget, MOHAWK smoothly incorporates some spectacular footage from John Ford's 1939 extravaganza "Drums Along the Mohawk" (which accounts, I imagine, for why this independently-produced movie was released by 20th Century-Fox). So what's not to like? Slick direction, a sensible and often good-humored screenplay, a terrific supporting cast, and beautiful color photography contribute to making this good-natured escapism a lot more enjoyable than many of its big-budget, boring CinemaScope counterparts from the same era. A hearty, sincere, belated thanks to everyone involved with MOHAWK. They appear to be having a very good time, and so should you, the viewer.

Kurt Neumann directed "Mohawk" with unusual skill, and the cast of this amazingly entertaining adventure-drama is far above the usual B-film independent acting ensemble of amy era. The storyline is also quite clearly developed and an interesting historical treatment. In the film's first eight minutes, we meet and care about a dozen characters and set up a strong confrontation between the Mohawk tribe led by T4ed de Corsia and Mae Clarke and the soldiers and settler at Fort Alden, led by John Hudson and the villain of the piece, John Hoyt. Besides these fine actors, the film features Vera Vague, Lori Nelson, Neville Brand, Tommy Cook, Allison Hayes, Rhys Williams and Harry Swoger, plus Rita Gam and Scott Brady as the leads. Its literate script abounds in interesting scenes; the outdoor scenes work well. Gam and de Corsia seem perfect for their parts, giving their speeches expressing the Amerind point of view unusual intensity. Many reviewers liked this film, using terms such as lively, interesting and memorable to describe it. There are small glitches in production, and the movie needed a bigger budget. But I have seen it in B/W, color, English and Spanish; and I can recommend it to those who enjoy Grecianzed Near-Easterns and literate sci-fi and detective films for the same qualities those genres possess--it's about as far from anti-individualist mean-streets naturalism populated by debased postmodernist or character-flawed ugly types as one can get--which is why we go to movies. Its realism is heightened by considerable artistry; the battle scenes are epic; and its psychology works very well on several levels of meaning. A credit to all concerned.

"Mohawk" is a 1956 color film starring some darn good-looking young people, beautiful scenery, and a different point of view towards Indians. Scott Brady is an artist living in a fort that exists in peace with the Mohawk Indians, except for one rabble-rouser (John Hoyt) who grew up in the area and wants the Indians out. The script is interesting for the period, because the Brady character is constantly reminding people that the white man took land from the Indians.

The cast is populated with some gorgeous starlets: Lori Nelson, Allison Hayes, and Rita Gam. Scott Brady, who ended up becoming a character actor, actually started out as a poor man's Robert Wagner and is an attractive lead here.

Mae Clarke of the Cagney grapefruit is the Indian Chief's wife. All of the Indians have shaved chests. The most familiar actor to most will be Neville Brand as one of the Indians.

Okay, and the guys will love it.

Let me just say that I did not expect much from this film when I popped it into the DVD player. It is on a 4 movie set from Platinum Great Westerns Vol 8. that I paid only $4.00. Well, they must of remastered this one, quality is excellent. Almost looks like a 3D color movie at times. The flick itself...pretty good not a western at all though. Set out east in 1790 with the blue coats and settlers invading upon the Indian's habitat. Commissioned Boston artist Scott Brady frolicking with 3 beautiful women, fiancee Lori Nelson, bar maid Alison Hayes, and Indian princess Rita Gamm. Sinister demented land owner John Hoyt plays the white skins against the red skins so both wipe each other out and the valley will be all his. Crazed Mohawk Neville Brand doing frenzied war dances, only makes matters worse. Ends with exciting attack on the fort, bad guy gets his in spades, and Brady picking the right gal for marriage. The movie is no deep drama by any means, but it moves very quickly, nice to look at in a 1950's avante garde way, some (not all) of the outdoor sets are really on a studio sound stage so there are paintings as backdrops that are VERY obvious. Fun movie though to enjoy for what it is.

I remember as a teenager passing a theater poster of a scantily clad Rita Gam and wishing I had the money to go in. I know now what I didn't then-- it was my lucky day. Even a longer look at that shapely leg wouldn't have made up for all the bad acting (deCorsia's wooden Indian should be planted in front of a cigar store), the stupefied poetic dialogue ("You shine like a moon above the stars,"), the ridiculous Hollywood casting (malt-shop teen Tommy Cook as Indian warrior), and the ultra-cheap production values (backgrounds painted by art class dropouts). Heck, they couldn't even stage minimal outdoor battle scenes, using stock shots from 1939's Drums Along the Mohawk instead. Note too, how artificially the Indians emerge from the forest as though they're expecting a parade to pass by. At least the producers knew enough to play up the sex angle with a bevy of Indian maidens apparently recruited from a Las Vegas stage show. I'm just sorry that director Kurt Neumann's name is attached to this misfire. He did manage a number of quality low-budget sci-fi flicks like The Fly (1958), Kronos (1957), and the ground-breaking Rocketship X-M (1950). Maybe there's a lesson here, like it's easier to direct bug-eyed monsters than a bunch of phony Indians.