Seminole Uprising

Don't tune into this one expecting to see alligators, Everglades and colorfully garbed Indians. Here, for some reason, the Seminoles are in TEXAS, riding the plains, living in Teepees and wrecking havoc. This is another of the cheapies, made in the 50s using much stock footage, much of the footage here came from "New Mexico"(1951). The story of the Seminole Indians has been done quite well in other pictures, most notably, "Seminole"(1953), "Distant Drums"(1951 and "Naked in the Sun"(1955). This is an easy one to pass up.

Yes, as already said, it's a low-budget film and certainly not the best western made, but I still found it entertaining. Like many westerns, there are a lot of inaccuracies and things that were inconsistent with historical facts. It did motivate me, as did some of the comments made by other reviewers to do a little research and I found that historically, there were Seminole Indians that were originally from Florida that went to Texas. They were originally led by the Seminole Chief "Wild Cat" (Coacoochee)- not "Black Cat". Just do a search on him to learn more about it. I believe the story and the acting are adequate enough to give this movie a watch.

As previous reviewers have noted the most original feature of this Columbia western potboiler in colour is using narration by the hero's scruffy sidekick as a chorus; but that's largely sidelined when the Cavalry as usual get down to the serious business of devoting most of their energies to infighting than to fighting the Indians.

Glamour is supplied by platinum blonde Karin Booth who's obviously not joking when she declares "Getting men into trouble is not the only thing I can do!", and you know the Indian's are making a serious mistake when they hold her captive instead of just killing her.

Seminole Uprising is directed by Earl Bellamy and is adapted by Robert E. Kent from Curt Brandon's novel, Bugle's Wake. It stars George Montgomery, Karin Booth, William Fawcett, Steven Ritch, Ed Hinton and John Pickard.

The cavalry, led by Lieutenant Cam Elliott (Montgomery), are tasked with bringing in Seminole Indian chief Black Cat (Ritch), who is leading his tribe with ferocious force. But there are some family ties causing problems to the mission...

The problems with the pic are front and centre, the use of stock footage, dummies and cheap model work show it to be a low grade Western that needed a more astute production team at the control desks. However, narrative has some intelligence as per the half-breed issues, there's a simmering love rival shenanigan, while there's good "B" movie quality action sequences to hold the attention - the finale is particularly exciting with the rocks and fire tactics. It's no Western fan's idea of a must see movie, but the brisk pacing, some thought in the screenplay and a likable cast at least make it a decent enough "once only" time waster. 5/10

There's nothing too original about this, but George Montgomery does manage to bring it to the boil towards the end. He's "Cam", an army lieutenant who is posted to a fort where his ex-girlfriend "Susan" (Karin Booth) just happens to be not only the colonel's daughter but also engaged to his rival "Capt. Dudley" (Ed Hinton). The purpose of his posting is to track down the marauding Seminole chief "Black Cat" (Steven Ritch). Why him? Well he is half Seminole himself and is quite respectfully called "Grey Eagle" by those he is trying to return to the reservation. Someone is providing the Indians with modern rifles though and when a local woman and her child are taken, the locals are soon up in arms determined to find them. What now ensues is a fairly predictable revenge western, but there are a few action scenes towards the end that inject a little life into the proceedings and give the visual effects folks something to do. It's a decently produced adventure that keeps the romance to a minimum and does rather emphasise the sense of loss, disgrace even, that is felt by once proud peoples now reduced to living where they are told.