The Bravos

"The Bravos" is a made for TV movie which stars George Peppard. It's set in the American west just after the US Civil War.

The story begins with a group of settlers passing through Navajo country. What the settlers don't realize is that the man leading them (Pernell Roberts) is an irresponsible idiot. His actions end up nearly killing all of them, as he thought it was prudent to shoot some natives he saw near their camp....and not surprisingly the dead men's friends and family want vengeance.

This incident with the natives came at a very bad time. It seems that the nearby cavalry unit (led by Peppard) is overextended and can barely take care of themselves...let alone the settlers. Soon both groups are under attack and to top things off, the angry natives kidnap the commander's son!

This is a good film...no doubt about it. The only negative is that so many westerns were made for TV in the 1950s, 60s and into the 70s that I am sure this one kind of got lost among them. But it is well written, well acted and tense. Not a great movie...but a very good one.

I like Westerns and was hopeful for this one, which I had never seen before. Didn't like it. It seems like a failed pilot for a Western series on TV. And it happens to be a TV movie. It's long, filled with a lot of characters and plot (young lovers' quarrel, convict on the run, insubordinate officers, etc.), and is -- boring, still... .... On second viewing, it seems better. Well acted, interesting, moves a long.

***lots of spoilers****

The movie is unique to its detriment. There is no love interest for the star, Peppard. And Peppard is the commanding office of this little military post 500 miles from civilization. It would have been more interesting if he had a middle rank and bucked the system to achieve final success. Those are clichés but would have made for a more interesting movie.

I didn't like the soap opera little disputes among the characters. I didn't like the way Peppard's trusty scout L.Q. Jones was constantly going out alone into barren hostile Indian territory finding all sorts of things and information and returning quickly and safely, as though he had strolled through his own backyard.

One example of the flatness of the movie is that the little wagon train that gets to the fort for safety, at the end of the movie decides to return to St Louis for safety. The other main plot of the movie is this trite and incredible happening: the fort is attacked by Indians, and Peppard's young antagonistic son, who was just kicked out of boarding school in the East, is kidnapped by one of the Indians! So Peppard and L.Q. Jones go off alone into the wilds to rescue him.

The Bravos was a failed TV pilot that became an ABC Sunday night movie in early 1972. Despite a first-rate cast and surprisingly high production values, it isn't very interesting. I stuck with it to the end, mostly because I was glad to see LQ Jones in a fairly large role.

Slow and lacks capturing plot. Very little action and lackluster acting.

George Peppard is the commander of a cavalry regiment out west in Apache territory. His motherless young son has just been sent out to him. Pernell Roberts is a civilian who wants him to do lots of stuff that Peppard resists. And the natives are restless.

It's an episodic TV movie, and shows all the signs of being a pilot for a series that was never picked up. Peppard plays his usual post-60s larger-than-life character, but there's still a blankness to him; earlier in his career it lent a certain juvenile appeal to his roles; now it's just..... impenetrable. Ted Post offers his usual competent but bland direction.