Sur la piste des Apaches

I've a real affection for the A.C. Lyles westerns which gave employment to a lot of old time players who were finding work increasingly hard to get because of the decline of the studio system and in some cases a refusal to work in television. But Apache Uprising took elements from Stagecoach, Rawhide, Broken Arrow, Coroner Creek, with a little bit of English Gothic thrown in the mix and it didn't come out well.

The English Gothic gets into it when the passengers of a stagecoach get held hostage in a relay station by three outlaws, with thunder and lightning flashing outside together with Apaches on the warpath. It comes right out of innumerable old English murder mysteries.

Funny thing that with all the old stars like Rory Calhoun, Corinne Calvet, John Russell, Lon Chaney, Jr., Johnny Mack Brown, the one you will remember from this film is DeForest Kelley. The original Star Trek was debuting this year and I'm willing to bet this was Kelley's final work prior to becoming wise old Dr. Leonard McCoy. Toby Jack Saunders is as far from McCoy as you can get. He's reminiscent of the outlaw that Kelley played in The Law and Jake Wade. He's one hateful punk with some serious self esteem issues.

I've seen every member of this cast do better work, even better work for A.C. Lyles and it's too bad the film was beneath the talents of all of them.