Apache Warrior

Keith Larsen recently graduated from the Brave Eagle series is the lead in this low budget film about a man trying most unsuccessfully to live in both the white and Apache worlds.

Jim Davis plays white army scout who is Larsen's only friend and later has to hunt him. Apache law allows for honor killing, but that doesn't fly in the world. You won't blame Larsen when you see the reason.

The film is a no frills B film. But the players are fine and so is their direction. The last scene is a shoot out with bounty hunters and his well staged.

Western fans should give this one a look.

Regal Films, released by 20th Century-Fox, August 1957 (U.S.A.), October 1957 (U.K.), 12th December 1957 (Australia). 6,595 feet. 73 minutes.

SYNOPSIS: After helping the U.S. army round up his Indian "brothers" after the defeat of Geronimo, the Apache Kid turns renegade when an actual brother is murdered.

COMMENT: Dreary, slow-moving western, its banal, cliché-ridden script directed with disappointing spiritlessness by Elmo Williams. Maybe if this thing had been directed by some hack like Edward L. Cahn it would have received a slightly higher rating — though even by Mr. Cahn's humble standards it is way below average — but we expect much more from a talent of Mr. Williams' caliber. What little action there is in the film is tame in the extreme. For the rest of the time we are forced to listen to one of the least interesting casts on record talking their fool heads off. Miss Paul is a charmless heroine and Mr. Miljan a particularly corny Indian, while the one capable player in the cast, Mr. Acosta, has but a minuscule role.

Loosely based on the legend of the Apache Kid, this is a fine low budget entry. Larson(he was Brave Eagle in the TV series) is great as the warrior that is double crossed by the army he aided in bringing in Geronimo. "Big' Jim Davis does well in a role obviously patterned after scout Al Seiber. Considering the cast and crew, this one bears the mark of something Robert L. Lippert had his hand in, as an executive at Fox.

The basic plot excited me so much before watching it, a renegade Indian in charge to capture another Indian, a big chief, Geronimo himself. So exciting, very unusual. It offered many opportunities to bring something never seen before, especially for a fifties western. But, first, the main "uncomfortable" element here is that this movie seems available ONLY in f...pan and scan, which is absolutely unbearable, and second, the ending is so lousy, so unsatisfactory. I was literally smashed by this finale. For the rest, it is good, never boring, with an excellent and convincing Keith Larsen. No, such a waste this western, I prefer forget it.