L'Homme de San Carlos

There a few greatest star to have a enough charisma as much as Audie Murphy had, I did remember perfectly once around 1981 on TV "Audie Murphy's week" from monday to friday at 9.00 pm o'clock, l've been waiting for a long time a remastered official copy of this movie watched a couple times only, Murphy playing a legendary John Philip Clum a Indian agent with clear ideas handling with those natives, concerning their traditions and values, letting to them to decide for themselves, a real human treatment to those people who were the true and authentic owner of the those lands.

They deserve more respect from us, this meaningful production gives back a slight concept how should be better spared them of such killing, treated by disproportionate forces, usually a cold blood, severely decimeted with no mercy, John Clum who shall be eternity remembered as "Indian's protector" few times we have this kind of approach on western movies, mostly of them show a opposite way, perhaps to confirm such saying " a thousand lies overcome a single true if said repeated" a defeated people have to stand such barbarism, this picture has my respect forever, still more with Audie Murphy!!

Resume:

First watch: 1989 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.5.

In the various tellings of the tale of the OK Corral, the name John Clum comes up as a peripheral character. At that point in his life he was Mayor of Tombstone, Arizona and founder and editor of the Tombstone Epitaph which was in editorial support of the Earp brothers. But before that John Clum was an Indian agent, sent to the San Carlos Reservation in Arizona to reform the corrupt practices regarding same. Audie Murphy plays an eager and honest Clum in this film.

The poor Indians were caught between a rock and a hard place. Either it was the army who was going to govern them or as was argued the civilian Interior Department.

Clum has some interesting and novel ideas about giving the Apaches a large measure of self government. But the real story of Clum is hardly touched on. He stands out simply because he was honest. Sad to say Indian agents for the most part were hack politicians from the political machines back east. Whether they were hired by the War Department or the Interior Department, a lot of them robbed the poor Indians blind. Right at this time, one of the most notorious scandals of the Grant Administration was the Whiskey Ring which involved various trading posts and reached right up to the Secretary of War, a gentleman named William Belknap who resigned before he was impeached.

Murphy gets able support from two leading ladies, pretty and perky Pat Crowley who plays his eastern fiancé and Anne Bancroft who is the spectacularly beautiful Indian widow who's crushing out on him. Jay Silverheels who played Geronimo in Broken Arrow, plays him again in Walk the Proud Land. Charles Drake plays the former army sergeant who hires on as a blacksmith at the San Carlos Reservation and becomes Murphy's best pal and confidante.

Walk the Proud Land is one of the few western films to have a choreographer in the person of Tommy Rall. Rall, a well known Broadway dancer, plays a young Indian warrior who becomes Murphy's friend. There is a lengthy sequence involving the Apaches entertaining some white VIPs at Murphy's wedding to Crowley with some tribal dances. A nice mix between the real deal and what you might see in Rose Marie's Totem Tom Tom number.

Walk the Proud Land is definitely one of Audie Murphy's better westerns for Universal and a nice tribute to a real western figure.

In 1870s , Arizona , an Indian agent called John Clum (Audie Murphy) sent from Washington to take charge of an Apache reservation , San Carlos , and he makes up peace between the stiff Union army and the rebel Apache tribes headed by the famous chief Geronimo (Jay Silverheels who played several times this role). He implemented a limited form of self-government on the reservation that was so successful that other reservations were closed and their residents moved to San Carlos . At the beginning , in 1874 , he wins over reservation leader , Chief Eskiminzin , (Robert Warwick) , it causes the Indians to have great respect for him ; but a bit later on , things go awry . Meanwhile , Clum befriends an Indian widow (a very young and attractive Anne Bancroft) given to him as a housekeeper . Then , there appears his Eastern bride (Pat Crowley) , but latter has a lot to learn . Clum tamed Apache war-lust with the power of his faith and conquered a savage warrior in a showdown of raw courage . Conflicts arise when Geronimo's uprising takes place and he crashes against the understanding John Clum .

Acceptable picture based on actual events about an authentic Indian agent , John Philip Clum , being adapted from the biography ¨Apache Agent¨ by Woodworth Clum . This role has appeared in several other films as ¨Wyatt Earp¨ by Laurence Kasdan , ¨Tombstone¨ (played by Terry O'Quinn) , ¨Hour of the Gun¨ (performed by Larry Gates) and ¨Gunfight at the O.K. Corral¨ (interpreted by Whit Bissell) . The film has an enjoyable message dealing with a pacifier who fights for the rights of the Apache tribe and based on mutual respect for independence rather than submission to Army , as well as demonstrations of religious faith . As Clum uses of diplomacy and trustworthy in Apache leaders , and then the reservation is put on the road to autonomy . The picture is spoiled by a ridiculous ending when John convinces leader Geronimo to surrender himself to the authorities by means of a ridiculous set-up . Passable acting by Audie Murphy as an Indian Agent sent to try new approach to peace with Apaches . The motion picture was professionally directed by Jesse Hibbs . He was an American director of second features , primarily westerns , at Universal in the 1950's . Being especially known for TV series as ¨Perry Mason¨ (1957) , ¨Gunsmoke¨ , ¨Laramie¨ and ¨F.B.I.¨ (1965) as well as Westerns and Thrillers . He directed various Audie Murphy vehicles such as¨: To hell and Back¨ (1955) , ¨World in My Corner¨ (1956) , ¨Ride a Crooked Trail¨ (1958) and ¨Medal of Honor¨ .

Based on facts , these are the following ones : President U.S Grant established the San Carlos Reservation . After an investigation of political abuses within the Office of Indian Affairs , the Dutch Reformed Church was given charge of the Reservation. They sought out a candidate at Clum , he knew that a number of Indian Agents had already come and gone . Some Indian agents sought the position only as a means to line their own pocket , selling government-supplied food and clothing and keeping the profits for themselves . Later on , Clum moved to Florence , Arizona Territory and bought a weekly newspaper , the Arizona Citizen then operating in Tucson , but he moved it to Florence . For the next two years he published editorials criticizing "the Army of Arizona and the political double-crossers in Washington". Following the great silver strike in Tombstone , in 1877 , Clum moved to Tombstone and after the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral on October 26 , 1881 , the Earps suffered losses to their family . Clum later became the first mayor of Tombstone , Arizona Territory , after its incorporation in 1881 . He also founded the still-operating The Tombstone Epitaph on May 1, 1880 . Ike Clanton filed murder charges and after a month-long preliminary hearing , Justice of the Peace ruled the men had acted within the law . He helped organize a "Vigilance Committee" to end lawlessness in Tombstone , and his association with that group helped get him elected as Tombstone's first mayor under the new city charter of 1881 . While mayor he became lifelong friends with Wyatt Earp and one of his greatest supporters . His friendship with Earp and loyalty to the business leadership made him a target for the outlaw Cowboys . On December 14 , Clum was on a stagecoach en route to Benson to catch a train for Washington, D.C., where he planned to spend Christmas with his parents and son. He and his newspaper had consistently supported the lawmen . The stagecoach was fired upon by unknown assailants and although the driver Jimmie Harrington was able to outrun the attackers , he had to stop to remove a lead horse that had been shot through and was bleeding to death . Clum was certain the hold-up was cover for an attempt to kill him , so didn't reboard the stage but walked until he found a horse he could borrow . He got to Benson the next day . Clum sold The Tombstone Epitaph and left Tombstone . The newspaper is still published today as a nationally distributed chronicle of the old west. He later served in various postal service positions across the United States .

In this true story about the Indian Agent John Clum, who went from the East to the Apache Indian reservation near Tucson, Arizona in 1874 to work with the mistreated Indians, Audie Murphy performs well in his role as a reserved man who is, nonetheless, bold toward the uncooperative U.S. Army and brave toward some Apaches who are mean with a killer's temper; he has to demonstrate his bravery more than once. The authentic Old Tuscon is, naturally, appropriate, and this movie set is very Old-West looking. The story can be provocative in a sense, for it begs a question concerning what our attitude should be toward Native Americans and any other minority group. Charlie Drake shows his acting prowess both as an army sergeant and as an occasional drunk. Pat Crowley is also capable in her role as Clum's wife, a lady herself from back East who must adjust to the situation into which her husband is thrown, if she can make such an adjustment. Anne Bancroft is very convincing as the lovely and tempting Indian widow who becomes so much in love with Clum. And Jay Silverheels shows what the mean Geronimo must have been like. It is not only a good western and a good biopic, but it does, again, challenge our thinking about our attitude toward minority races. The movie is worth the while for many reasons.

The narrative of John P. Clum's broadly varied activities is one of the most dramatic in U.S. history, his tenure as Indian Agent at Arizona's San Carlos Reservation, 1874/77, being particularly noteworthy and forming the subject of this film starring war hero Audie Murphy as Clum. During his assignment to San Carlos, Clum established the first Indian tribal police and court system, using the former to capture the wily Geronimo, convincing the renegade that he was surrounded by a large group of warriors, far from the case. By accomplishing all of this and more, Clum eliminated any possible requirement for continued deployment of a United States Army cavalry regiment at San Carlos, which erased profits from provisioning for the Army and made Clum's presence less than heaven-sent for the mounted troopers. WALK THE PROUD LAND is based upon incidents to be found within Woodworth Clum's 1936 biography of his father, which is the principal source for the screenplay written by the capable pair of Gil Doud and Jack Sher. Unfortunately, Doud ("To Hell and Back") and Sher ("Shane") fail to utilize the most dramatic elements of Clum's story, replacing them with a collection of banal contrivances which serve only to dissipate the feature's impact. Filmed with the wide-screen Cinemascope process, and with sublime Technicolor, the work is delightful to the eye, and benefits as well from the stylish efforts of costumer Bill Thomas. A top-notch performance is given by Anne Bancroft as an Apache warrior's widow who is "given" by the tribe's chief to Clum and who becomes his strongest ally against the Agent's enemies from within both the cavalry and the tribe. Audie Murphy's native earnestness is very effective in his portrayal of Clum, with his palpable lack of emotive flexibility being of no consideration here, and he is well supported by Bancroft, sturdy Charles Drake as his closest comrade, winsome Pat Crowley as his wife, Tommy Rall as his Indian blood brother, and character actors Addison Richards and Morris Ankrum. Many good hands were not utilized properly during the creation of this film, and since Clum's travails were largely for nought, Geronimo being released by his successor, leading to nearly 15 years of unabated Indian wars, a bittersweet and indeed revelatory quality would have been more effective in lieu of numerous scenes depicting lamely comedic children and romantic frippery that have no basis in fact.