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While the plot of DRUM BEAT is based on a true incident during frontier days on the plains, nothing about the film suggests that it's any more than a standard Cavalry vs. Indians western seen hundreds of times since the movies were born.

However, credit director Delmer Daves for finding some gorgeous locations for his story and casting Charles Bronson and Anthony Caruso as Indians who look marvelously authentic in their make-up. Not so fortunate are Marisa Pavan and Audrey Dalton in the weak female roles that could have been played by any young ingénue on the Warner lot.

Alan Ladd is the Indian expert hired by President Grant to make peaceful overtures to the Modocs, headed by Bronson. Elisha Cook, Jr. is interesting as a corrupt Indian trader and most of the supporting roles get good results, especially in the action scenes, all of which are well-staged by director Daves. Especially good is a climactic fight between Ladd and Bronson as they tumble down a rushing stream and fall over the rocky terrain. Ladd seems to be doing most of his stunts in this action-packed scene.

But otherwise, he delivers a rather stoic performance, showing barely any expression even in his brief love scenes with Audrey Dalton. Hard to tell if he was bored or just impatient with the routine script.

All in all, worth watching for the action scenes and the handsome landscapes filmed in beautiful WideScreen Technicolor.

The only reason I saw this film is because is starred Alan Ladd. Other than that, it really has nothing special to add to the 134427923459329 other westerns made during this era (don't believe me? I counted!). Sure, it has nice scenery and decent acting, but the plot is quite ordinary.

The film begins with Alan Ladd being summoned to the White House to talk with President Grant. It seems that Ladd was called because he is a famed 'Indian fighter' and knows a lot about the recent uprisings among the Modoc Indians in the Washington/Oregon area (though the film sure didn't look that that part of the country to me). Ladd is given a commission as a Peace Commissioner--to pacify the problems, not just go in and kill everyone!

As Peace Commissioner, Ladd is in a bind. Some settlers and a cavalry officer and his wife have been murdered. The settlers are calling for action, but Ladd can't just start killing Indians without knowing exactly who was at fault. Ladd's job sure looks like a tough one.

When you see Captain Jack (not the pirate but the leader of these Indians), you will not be surprised that he's not played by a real American-Indian--this was very typical for the time period. Heck, the 1950s saw the likes of Rock Hudson(!), Jeff Chandler and other non-natives playing Indians. In this film, Charles Bronson (!!) plays the renegade Indian warrior--the same man of Lithuanian ancestry who was born Charles Buchinsky! Well, at least he WAS able to carry off the role, as despite his very white ancestry his chiseled looks were a reasonable approximation for a Modoc Indian--though his nose is clearly not correct (you can't win 'em all). Anthony Caruso, an Italian-American, also plays a Modoc tribesman but frankly, he WAS able to carry off playing an Indian very well and you'd swear he was one himself. And, Mexican-born Rodolfo Acosta also plays one of the tribesmen. IMDb did not indicate he had Indian blood, either, but he, too, at least looked like a very good approximation of a Modoc Indian.

This is a well-polished and decent western with good production values. However, aside from discussing the Modocs (hardly a tribe mentioned in a typical western), there really is nothing new here. The Indians are, generally, shown as unreasonable savages and the day is saved by a combination of macho-Ladd and the US Cavalry. I am quite sure that the Modocs would have a different interpretations of these hostilities! Watchable and well made but also quite ordinary.

By the way, although the dates are wrong and several important omissions occur, the general facts of the film were essentially correct (there WAS a Captain Jack, for instance as well as a hold-out in the mountains by the warriors). There was a lot of friction between the Modoc tribe and settlers--with quite a few 'massacres'. However, by 1876 (when the film is set), the Modocs had been forcibly moved to Oklahoma and their leader hanged following the killing of a US Major. It makes for interesting reading and is actually a lot more interesting than this movie.

Catch the two great bookend sequences. They may be the most memorable part of this nicely produced Western purportedly based on fact. That opening sequence with McKay (Ladd) walking in unchallenged to meet President Grant is based on the historical fact that presidents have only been removed from the public in later times. Citizens back then could essentially walk in and talk to the president without a dozen pre-screens.

Also, for this Bronson fan, that jail cell ending may well be the high point of his acting career. He shows more unforced good humor and naturalness there than any scene I've seen him in. In fact, he easily steals the movie from the rest of the cast, positioning himself as a real Hollywood comer.

This is an A-production from Warner Bros. For example, scope out the well stocked cavalry troop. No corner-cutting there. Then too, lavish use is made of Sedona's familiar red rock locations adding real scenic value. Also, there's a much larger than usual supporting cast of familiar faces, even down to bit parts. Producers Daves and Ladd (uncredited) do a bang-up job assembling the many components.

Surprisingly, for plot developments, the Indians actually get to win a battle and rejoice on- screen. However, the film's impact is damaged by being over-long, probably to accommodate a romantic interest to broaden audience appeal. Then too, Ladd, the actor, appears not nearly as interested in the film as Ladd, the co-producer. Frankly, he looks glum throughout the nearly two-hour running time, and I don't think it's from under-playing the part. Plus having him over-power the muscular, extremely fit looking Bronson is quite a stretch.

Despite these several drawbacks, it's still a good scenic, action flick, the first of director Daves' series of superior Westerns.

One of Alan Ladd's better post Paramount films was Drum Beat, based on a little known incident from the Indian wars.

For the first time an American general was killed during the wars against the Indian tribes. The little known Modoc war was another of those lesser known conflicts as action against the Sioux on the Great Plains and the Apache in the Arizona desert got far more attention.

The Modocs were moved from a reservation in northern California to one in Oregon to share with the Klamath, a tribe that had a long feuding history with the Modoc. That was the immediate cause of the war. It was kept going by one of the Modoc's more charismatic leaders, a chief named Captain Jack.

On April 11, 1873, General E.R.S. Canby among other peace commissioners who were sitting in council with Captain Jack and the other chiefs were suddenly shot and killed, in fact Captain Jack personally did shoot General Canby. Charles Bronson in his very first film with that name having dropped his real birth last name of Buckinsky plays Captain Jack. Warner Anderson plays the feckless and luckless Canby.

The horror of that incident aroused some bad public opinion against the Modocs, not to dissimilar against to what was aroused against the Japanese after Pearl Harbor and Islamist extremists after the World Trade Center attack albeit on a much smaller scale. It certainly shifted priorities for a while in the War Department from the Sioux and the Apache.

Alan Ladd plays a real frontier figure named Johnny MacKay who as the film has him was a civilian scout employed by the army to find Captain Jack. His role in real life was not at the center stage of the film, but he did play a part in the Modoc Wars. And he was not among the surviving peace commissioners he wasn't at the meeting when the assassinations happened.

For all its inaccuracies Drum Beat is the only film I know to deal with this incident that shocked a nation during The Gilded Age.

This is based on true facts, but since the Modocs were never in Arizona, i found the scenery comical. If you do a search for, 'Canby's Cross', it takes you to the north end of California, about 12 miles south of the Oregon border. In the 'Lava Beds National Monument.'

Canby's Cross is a monument erected on the site of the killings, to honor the men lost. On the cross, is inscribed, "Gen Canby USA was murdered here by the Modocs April 11, 1873"

The real Canby was shot in the face. In the movie, it appeared they kept that detail, as you see him clutch his face after the second shot.