Le fort de la dernière chance

Opposing his commanding officer's decision to attack a group of innocent Indians and wipe them out , Lt. Frank Hewitt (Audie Murphy) leaves his post , while the commandant carries out a brutal slaughter , the famous ¨Sand Creek massacre¨. Then Frank heads home to Texas , there he gets a chilly reception back home however . With most of the folkmen away having drafted in the Confederate army , Frank, the Union officer, is seen by the local women as a traitor . Hewitt knows an impending Indian attack , as they will send all of the tribes on the warpath and subsequently Frank wants to forewarn everyone. He meets some homesteaders , all women (Kathryn Grant , Hope Emerson, Jeff Donnell , Jeanette Nolan, Patricia Tiernan , among others) whose men are away fighting in the Confederate Army to take refuge in an abandoned mission and old fort . He overcomes initial distrust and eventually convinces them . They have to defend a cavalry fort while their men are away, enlisted at army . Problems emerge when other women arrive at the besieged mission and their different relation among them . Hewitt trains them to fight and shoot in anticipation of the attack. The only other man at the fort runs away o save his scalp and ends up leading the Indians back to the mission. As they defend against violent furies , Indian attacks , a thousand of perils and hardships . Some were hussies in silk who became heroines in calico . Surrounded and outnumbered, the defenders prepare for the final assault .As the Indians threaten to overwhelm . Of all frontier annals .. Here's the heroic stand that stands alone¡ The thundering story that challenges all filmdom to match its excitement¡ GOOD WOMEN...BAD WOMEN...BRAWLING WOMEN...BRAVE WOMEN! They were all soldiers in skirts!

This fresh , genial picture gets Western action , shootouts , agreeable outdoors , a lot of attractive roles and turns to be quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . A good Western by the professional and craftsman filmmaker George Marshall who brought ¨When the Dalton rode¨and ¨Destry rides again¨. Excitement and entertainment mount in the closing stages as the brave women begin to fall little by little , one by one , while defending a cavalry fort . The main and enjoyable plot line results to be the Union Army deserter, Lt. Hewitt, trains a rag-tag band of all-female homesteaders to defend themselves against a Comanche tribe on the warpath , as he convinces them of the perils that lie ahead and trains them to repel the attack that will eventually come. Gritty and decently written Western with interesting screenplay by Walter Doniger , based on a story by William Harrison , exploring the anguish of women , the hard relationship among them and including jarring bursts of action and emotion . This is a thrilling tale of a valiant and a hard-bitten lieutenant assembling a detail of misfit women to hold-off rampaging Indians . This is a moving story about a surrounded mission/fort and director takes a fine penned script creating a women-cavalry-Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the distresses and desperation of some fainthearted women . This Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining . It is an uneven Western with a plot that several times reminds ¨Beau Geste¨in female style and following an typical American style , such as ¨Chuka¨ and ¨Only the valiant¨ by Gordon Douglas , ¨Mutiny at Fort Sharpe¨ by Fernando Cerchio with Broderick Crawford , all of them dealing with forts also besieged by Indians , as well as taking parts here and there of ¨Westward the woman¨by William A Wellman with Robert Taylor , Denise Darcel . It's the regular plot concerning a motley team stranded by hostile Indians , unfortunately, despite a few good elements like these , I didn't overall care for this movie that results to be decent one , but including some flaws . The movie is sometimes slow-moving , and the characters mostly act alike . As the picture contains nice moments but partially unsatisfying , that's why of the excessive scenes shot at the claustrophobic environment of the mission interior . Audie Murphy gives a nice acting as Lt. Frank Hewitt who deserts the Union Army to warn former Texas neighbors of impending Indian attacks triggered by Army massacre. The WWII hero Murphy won more than 10 medals , being the most decorated American soldier , including Congressional Medal of Honor and he was prized by 5 decorative medals by France and Belgium , post-WWII . Murphy starred a great number of Westerns as The kid from Texas , Cimarron kid , Gun point , Night passage , The gunrunners , Posse from hell , Gunfight at Comanche , Rifles Apaches , The unforgiven, Legend of Sam Ward , Whispering Smith , 40 guns at Apache pass , Texas Kid . Support cast is pretty well , as Audie Murphy being well accompanied by a fine -mostly women- cast , such as : Kathryn Grant , Hope Emerson , Jeanette Nolan , Jeff Donnell , Patricia Tiernan , Peggy Maley , Isobel Elsom . And the bad guys and good guys include a whole crop of familar faces you love to see , such as : Sean McClory , Ray Teal , Francis McDonald , John Dierkes, Nestor Paiva , the usual nasty James Griffith and Charles Horvath who usually plays Indian roles , here as Yellow Horse .

It provides a rousing and stirring musical score by Mischa Bakaleinikoff , Columbia Pictures's regular , though uncredited. It contains brilliant and colorful cinematography in Technicolor by Ray Rennahan . Being shot on location in Old Tucson , Arizona, Amado, Arizona,Sierrita Mountains, Ironwood Forest National Monument, Tucson Mountains, Sonoran Desert, Picacho Peak State Park, Sedona , San Xavier, Flagstaff, Arizona . The motion picture well produced by Harry Joe Brown and Audie Murphy himself , though uncredited , being directed in sure visual eye by George Marshall . Pretty good serious and acceptable Western with George Marshall's inspired direction and a sensational cast . Marshall realized a variety films of all kind of genres , though especially Western , the best are starred by James Stewart and Glenn Ford . Marshall directed Western along half century , his first Western was ¨Wild gold¨(1934) and he subsequently made his masterpiece ¨Destry rides again¨(1939) in which combines action , charmingly natural story , humor and drama ; in 1951 directed a new version under title ¨ Frenchie ¨ with Eddie Murphy and Marie Blanchard in similar characters to James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich . As Marshall introduces comicalness in realist Western , including a little genre satire on the conventional Western thrown in for good measure . As he directed Western with funniness such as ¨Texas¨ also starred by Glenn Ford and Edgar Buchanan . He went on filming parody/western such as ¨Fancy pants¨(1950) , ¨Advance to the rear¨(1964), and musical Western as ¨Red Garters¨and ¨The second greatest sex¨. Other Westerns he directed are the following ones : ¨When Dalton rode¨, ¨Valley of the sun¨, ¨The savage¨, ¨Pillars of sky¨, ¨the guns of Fort Petticoat¨ and the episode titled ¨The railway¨ from ¨How the West was won¨ . Rating 6.5/10. Better -than -average. Well worth seeing . The picture will appeal to Eddie Murphy fans .

The Guns Of Fort Petticoat is a nice little western flick. Telling the story of Lt. Frank Hewitt, a man who deserts the Union when his colonel decides to attack friendly Indians returning to Sand Creek, resulting in the Sand Creek massacre, he has to prepare a townstead of women to defend themselves as Indians commit attacks in the state in retaliation to the massacre.

This is a neat movie. The idea of women defending their homestead is a bold move, but it works out. The story has everything to expect in a western: action, romance, suspense. If you never saw this, I recommend doing so.

When I first saw the movie title as a boy, I thought it might be something almost ridiculous, but now that I've seen it my thoughts have been somewhat amended. The storyline is brief: during the Civil War an army officer (played well by the veteran western actor Audie Murphy) leads a group of women from Texas against hostile, attacking Indians who want to destroy the old fort where the women are found. Again, I was ready to laugh when I saw the title, but I do not think that in real life I would have wanted to tangle with any of these women who, led by Murphy, became practically sharpshooters. They held off Indians and outlaws well. This cinematic piece was exciting and the action good, which is shown through the fact that the women were very emotional. In one point the matter of killing is addressed, so in one place the movie is controversial. Because of the beautiful scenery, exciting western action, and good story, this has become a favorite western of mine.

As every Audie Murphy buff knows, his best western was the near-classic No Name On the Bullet, with perhaps Destry a close second. But in the top three (setting the short but brilliant Red Badge of Courage and the autobiographical To Hell and Back, an A movie, aside), Guns of Fort Petticoat is at the top of the list, owing to splendid outdoor action sequences, a smart sense of humor that doesn't allow anyone to take this all too seriously, and . . . to put it bluntly . . . sex appeal. Also, a political consciousness, with Murphy a) going north, despite his being a southwesterner, to fight in the civil war because he's against slavery, and b) his attempt to try and stop the Sand Creek Massacre and save Native American lives. (One historical error: The massacre was not perpetrated by 'regular U.S. army,' as the film suggests, but by a self-styled civilian-soldier group called a 'militia outfit' though really noting more than racist vigilantes.) Knowing that an Indian war is impending, Murphy returns to the war torn southwest and, with men absent, trains women to fight and defend themselves. Something of a feminist western, way ahead of its time, but (thankfully) no polemics, only action, romance, and surprisingly effective comedy. Kathryn Grant makes an adorable female lead for Audie.

On the sacred ground where were shot El Dorado, Walk the Proud Land, The Badlanders, the Deadly Companions, just named a few, also served to Guns of Fort Petticoat, plainly an unusual western in every sense, when a bold southern Texan Lt. Frank Hewitt (Murphy) joined in the Union Army during the Civil war, sounds contradictory, however when a Indians uprising took place, he willfully defects to return to Texas at Sand Creek to warning all settlers in time, which have only women, due their husband still fight on the war.

Notwithstanding he was treated overtly as renegade, all these inhabitants avoiding his degrading presence, although after farm's woman has been killed by the Comanche, they finally are convinced that have to join under orders of the Lt. Frank at small Church, also added and strengthened by passing through prostitutes, together they are strong to face the Comanche attack.

Meanwhile each one has to stare your own matters, as the missing husband, the pregnant and unwanted single woman, the religious woman who refuse to kill anyone and the brave woman the Sergeant Hanna Lacey (Hope Emerson) in outstanding performance, finally Lt. Frank having side by side with the boy Bax Leatham working as cupid between he and the pretty girl Anne Martin (Kathryn Grant), awesome and charming Columbia production!!!

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First watch: 1999 / How many: 3 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 7.75.