L'Homme de San Carlos

it is its basic virtue. for theme and for its inspired manner to present as biopic. for acting and for the mixture of innocence, courage, force and beautiful images. for realism and for Audie Murphy performance. a film about the image and the essence of relationship and about a form of heroism who has not ordinaries rules. a classic western. and more because it is not an idyllic picture about Far West but body for a noble message who preserves the measure at high level. touching and convincing, it has a special note of melancholy and poetic message. a film. real good. a homage. like remember source about the respect for the other, out of ordinary tolerance.

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.

I just caught this movie recently on AMC and was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. I am a big Audie Murphy fan, but even I am willing to admit that most of his movies rarely rise above mediocre. This movie, however, has Audie in the hands of a good director, with a competent script, and some very good supporting cast members.

There were a couple of moments when Ann Bancroft was on screen when my mouth dropped open at how utterly gorgeous she was. Simply breathtaking! Charles Drake and Morris Ankrum do nice work, and Jay Silverheels can do no wrong in my book (I could watch that noble face and listen to that great voice all day long).

I confess to not knowing the real story of Clum, so I was not distracted by how factually accurate this account was (or wasn't, as the case may be). I watched it purely for its entertainment value and walked away completely entertained. Yes, the script has some rather heavy-handed messages we are beaten over the head with throughout, but I feel most of society could stand to be beaten over the head with some positive messages regarding friendship, loyalty, family, and race relations, so that didn't bother me.

I feel Audie Murphy did some of his best acting work in this film, so if you get a chance to see it, I would highly recommend giving it a shot...it's good old fashioned entertainment.

An enjoyable movie for a lazy afternoon. But there was a lot of schmaltz and predictable action, and the dialog was a little fake. But at times there was a nicely presented humorous edge to conversations as in the "maybe" style. I also enjoyed it for the typical Old Tuscon movie set location having been there a number of times myself. Being based on a true story the screen writer did a good job. I feel this movie is a good example of the style of westerns of which John Wayne was a good example. It remains simple in format, clear in style, and does not contain excessive goofs. One simple goof I noticed was how clean the Agent's suit was after he had just been rolling in the dirt. A nicely told story, enjoyable to watch, and the kind of movie experience I enjoy without the excessive violence, vulgar language, and smut contained in many modern works.

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.