Le sentier de la guerre

Led by an incompetent lieutenant, a force of soldiers are on the Tomahawk Trail in Apache Territory. When he lets the Indians steal their horses and is lightly wounded in a skirmish, Sergeant McCoy takes command. McCoy successfully takes them to the fort to find all the soldiers who have been murdered by the Apaches. He prepares the troops for an attack knowing if they want to outlive the lieutenant to bring him to justice.

A nice and brisk western, which has has enough drama, suspense, great scenery and well-staged action to keep you hooked throughout its 62 mins running time. The Apache comes across as human as well as wraith-like, slowly reducing the cavalry numbers, and that due to a moronic knucklehead of a lieutenant, but Chuck Connors, before he became the Rifleman, eventually takes command.

A cavalry detachment must trek across desert badlands because their arrogantly incompetent lieutenant lets the Apaches get their horses. Led now by their sergeant, they eventually hole up in an abandoned fort, only to face another Apache onslaught.

Bel-Air was a budget movie outfit, while director Selander was a budget director. So why did this little programmer turn out as well as it did. No, the 60-minutes is nothing memorable, but still there's a good script, okay acting, and generally well-staged action. Add location shooting in Utah, without a single studio set, and I credit producer Howard W. Koch for the generally superior result. (Check his list of later credits that includes The Manchurian Candidate {1962}, and Airplane! {1980}, among others.)

Connors is excellent as the stalwart sergeant, commanding but without swagger. Of course, the girls are a slice of eye candy amidst all the men, but are woven pretty well into the plot. And catch those two near-rape scenes, cutting edge for the late 1950's. For a minute, I was afraid the philosophical exchange between the sergeant and Ellen (Cummings) might get heavy-handed. But wisely the scripter raises the pragmatic issue of war-- which is relevant to the cavalry's predicament—without letting it dominate an action movie.

Anyway, the parts are shrewdly assembled, not least of which is the towering Connors only a year away from becoming Lucas Mc Cain with a rifle. And, oh yes, the movie made me realize what a superior weapon the pistol, not the rifle, is for close-in fighting, unusual for the usually rifle-bound cavalry.

A couple of guys who later became stars in small screen westerns, Chuck Connors and John Smith star in Tomahawk Trail about a sergeant who takes over from an inexperienced lieutenant and gets the patrol they were on back to the fort on foot.

Where they find the place massacred and the Mescelero Apaches ready to come back finish them off. The only hold card they have is that they managed to capture Lisa Martell who is Chief Vittorio's daughter along with a white female companion Susan Cummings. At least one of the cavalry soldiers has his mind distracted by the women just another headache that Connors has as he awaits a court martial even if they're rescued.

Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny was positively docile as Captain Queeg next to George Neise playing the lieutenant who is truly a hateful person. In fact he should have toned it down a notch, his performance was a bit too jarring. Harry Dean Stanton playing Neise's orderly makes one of his early appearances in a film. He also has to see that his lieutenant is going off the deep end, but he remains doggedly loyal.

Tomahawk Trail is decent enough for western fans, but below average altogether.

This movie captures one's attention from the start with Chuck Connors' opening line of narration: "Lt. Merriman was dead; the brains cooked out of his skull over an Apache torture fire." From this point on the movie proceeds in a taut, terse fashion which is a model of economical story-telling. True, it doesn't add up to much but it knows its limitations and works within them with commendable assurance. "Tomahawk Trail" would be a good movie to study in Film-Making 101.

Its faults are obvious but not fatal. The soldiers' US Cavalry uniforms should be soiled and sweaty and yet, too often, they seem to have just come from the Costume Shop. Also, the two female characters are unconvincing. Susan Cummings has been dropped into the plot simply to give Chuck Connors a pretty girl to kiss at the fade-out, and Lisa Montell makes a very unpersuasive Indian.

Chuck Connors, playing yet another of his "Mc" characters, is in his physical prime here and one regrets he's given no chance to do a "beefcake" scene.

The location work around Kanab, Utah, (using black-and-white photography), adds an air of authenticity. There's not a studio-bound shot in the whole movie.

Assuming your expectations aren't unrealistically high, you may well be pleasantly surprised by "Tomahawk Trail."

With Lesley Selander as director, I knew in advance that I would not lose my time, especially for a western made during the late fifties. Because during the early forties, and even later, Selander provided lousy and chain made movies, not that interesting, believe me. For this one, a very short one, you have the feeling to watch a longer length film, really. It is even strange that such a 1957 western from Lesley Selander is so short. I was really happy to have wached this western starring Chuck Connors. Not a masterpiece though, only a rare and worth the watch gem from Bel Air production, not the worst in Hollywood.