Distraught over finding his wife brutally tortured and left for dead by a roaming group of Apaches, a cavalry officer by the name of "Captain Victor Kaleb" (Bekim Fehmiu) blames his superior officer for not protecting her and, after shooting him during an argument, deserts his post and escapes into the desert. From that point on, he becomes a one-man army as he proceeds to hunt down and kill scores of Apaches in his thirst for revenge. Not surprisingly, this information is welcome news to the commander in charge of that particular area of the Southwest as his forces have had very limited success in stemming the Apache onslaught thus far. That being said, as the most senior commander in that area, "General Miles" (John Huston) takes it upon himself to offer Captain Kaleb a full pardon if he will help him defeat a large force of Apaches just south of the Rio Grande in Mexico. The problem is that Captain Kaleb will have to work with "Major Wade Brown" (Richard Crenna) in the process--and this is the same officer that he shot just prior to deserting. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film started off well enough but slowed down after the 30-minute mark before eventually picking up steam again in the last 20 minutes or so. On that note, while Bekim Fehmiu certainly performed well enough, I would have preferred to have seen more of Chuck Connors (as "Reynolds") and Ricardo Montalban ("Natchai") as they have clearly demonstrated their acting abilities in the past. But that's just me. Be that as it may, while I don't consider this to be a great Western by any means, it still managed to pass the time fairly well, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.
Review of The Devil's Backbone
