You might be tempted to watch this movie when you see that Gloria Graham is the female lead and that Lloyd Bridges costars. Don't make that mistake.
This thing looks like a high school play. It's a "civil rights" Western, where the Indians are a metaphor for blacks in the South.
OK message, but there is no art to this movie. Graham's part is nothing. Bridges has just a little more to work with, playing a sleazy, cowardly cavalry captain.
This is a good opportunity though to categorize three types of Westerns:
The "Cold War" Western, where the cowboys represent freedom and individuality, while the Indians are a foreign menace trying to take their freedom away. All that stands between freedom and destruction is the bravery of the U.S. cavalry.
The "Civil Rights" Western, where the whites are the bad guys oppressing a racial minority.
The "Vietnam" western, where the oppression of the Indians becomes a much wider metaphor for global Western imperialism and colonization.
This thing looks like a high school play. It's a "civil rights" Western, where the Indians are a metaphor for blacks in the South.
OK message, but there is no art to this movie. Graham's part is nothing. Bridges has just a little more to work with, playing a sleazy, cowardly cavalry captain.
This is a good opportunity though to categorize three types of Westerns:
The "Cold War" Western, where the cowboys represent freedom and individuality, while the Indians are a foreign menace trying to take their freedom away. All that stands between freedom and destruction is the bravery of the U.S. cavalry.
The "Civil Rights" Western, where the whites are the bad guys oppressing a racial minority.
The "Vietnam" western, where the oppression of the Indians becomes a much wider metaphor for global Western imperialism and colonization.