La Fureur des Apaches

The "War Hero" who is a "War Hero" to War Heroes...Audie Murphy is and was Virtually Neglected by Movie Archeologists and Never Got Much Respect from the Professional "Critics' '.

Truth be Told...His Obvious "Screen Presence" and Acting was Always a "Work in Progress" for the "Medal of Honor" Recipient and the Most Decorated Soldier of WWII.

Audie Said..."Acting was a battle I never won."

His Movies, for the Most Part were B-Westerns, usually in Glorious Technicolor, and the Humble, but Troubled Man, Gave it His All and Delivered Highly Entertaining Movies,

that Always Made Money for Everyone Involved, and were at Least Average, "Bang for the Buck" to His Faithful Fans.

In this One, at the Start of the 3rd Act in His 50 Movie Career, is Not Flawless, it does Contain Irritating and Grainy Stock Footage, but the Remainder of the Film is "Spot-On" Concerning the On-Going Effort of Reversing the Indian Stereotypes,

Starting with "Broken Arrow" (1950), Ushering in a More Nuanced Portrayal, Showing some Respect for the Native American and Their Dealing with the Invaders and Their Evil Deeds, Stealing Their Land, Culture, and Displacement.

Good Performances All Around the Rousing and Engaging Story.

With Michael Dante as the Apache Warrior and Linda Dawson at the Center of a Mild "Love Triangle", as a Missionary Working and Living with the Apaches. L. Q. Jones (a Sam Peckinpah Friendly) is Feisty as a Nasty Villain.

All Audie Murphy Movies are...

Worth a Watch.

You must watch this. The characters are very good. Thoroughly screened and finalised. The story of the movie is also worth watching. One must watch this. Very interesting movie. It will definitely be one of the best of its kind. The action is also thrilling. The actors and actresses have done their best. All the characters are well defined and doing justice to their role. Superb movie. This can be seen by all age viewers. Well defined and well shooted. The scenes are also superb. Action, emotion, thriller, everything is there to watch. A good time pass for all kind of viewers. Apache Rifles worth watching story.

The first of Whitney and Murphy's "Didactic History Trilogy" whereby they seek to re-educate the viewer on the American West. Probably the closest Hollywood ever got to Rossellini's TV and the polar opposite of the cartoon nihilism of Leone. Best scene: Murphy, always tortured by whiskey, uses whiskey to torture the bad. Audie Murphy gives a good performance in his role as Jeff Stanton, the captain who acts like he is in charge and is determined to stop the Apaches from causing trouble.

Elsewhere, Linda Lawson is respectable in her role as Dawn Gillis, the missionary who Jeff adores, while Michael Dante is decent as Red Hawk, one of the men who is captured, and L.

Apache Rifles (1964)

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In the Arizona Territory in 1879, Captain Jeff Stanton takes command of a cavalry unit tasked with returning the Apaches to their reservation. The Mescaleros Apaches, led by chief Victorio, have left the reservation and openly attacked farmers,gold miners and settlers who trespassed on their lands. During a skirmish, Captain Stanton captures Red Hawk, the son of the chief, and uses him to bargain for a truce. Stanton promises to chief Victorio to see that gold miners and settlers are kept off Indian lands. However, some greedy townsfolk and disfranchised gold miners plot to break the uneasy truce. They murder the Indian agent and blame the Apaches. They complain to Washington D. C. about Captain Stanton's negotiated truce. Stanton is replaced by Colonel Perry who intends to use a heavy hand in subduing the Apaches.

I noticed something unusual tonight. Although I have seen most of the films of most of the most famous American actors of the 1930s-50s, I actually have seen very few of Audie Murphy movies. Because of this, I really have no idea if he was a good actor or not or whether or not I'd enjoy his movies. I have seen a few westerns as well as "The Red Badge of Courage"....but not in many years. So, I searched YouTube and found his film...one of Murphy's later outings.

When the story begins, Captain Stanton (Audie Murphy) is given command of a company of Cavalry soldiers to capture a group of renegade Apache who, for some odd reason, don't want to live on a crappy reservation. However, to capture these men, the Captain orders his men to live much like Indians...eating what they find as they travel, going without sleep and being just as dedicated as the Apache. They eventually catch up with them...but the Apache voice their gripes to him...that gold prospectors were invading their reservation lands (which really did happen in the 1870s)! What's to come of this fragile peace? And, what is to become of the Captain and his less than enlightened views of the natives?

Like too many westerns of the 1950s and 60s, the major Indian characters are all played by white guys in makeup. I don't hate this so much for politically correct reasons as realism reasons....they just don't look like Apaches. I did appreciate, however, how they had the Apache leader speak Spanish instead of English, as the Apache often spent much of their lives in Mexico...not just the US. This is just a nice touch of realism. Plus, throughout the movie, the Mescalero Apache are actually the heroes.

So is the movie any good? Yes, though I was surprised that the story made the Captain a rather stereotypical 'Indian hating' guy. Fortunately, and what made the film so good, is that over time, the Captain did change his views...especially as he saw those in charge cheat the Mescalero AND the local miners did much to stir up the war...something that actually happened in real life, especially in the Dakotas when gold was discovered on Indian territory.

Overall, a most unusual film...and a movie that seemed very ordinary but improved as I watched. It's actually an excellent film and portrays the natives in a much better way than they'd generally been shown before this.