This film begins with a wagon train carrying several young ladies through a barren part of land that is regularly patrolled by hostile Apaches. Recognizing the danger, a cavalry escort has been provided, but even so, once the wagon train is spotted, the Apaches immediately launch a massive attack upon it. To their credit, the cavalry repels the first attack. However, upon realizing that they cannot resist for much longer, the commander orders the women to secretly take shelter inside a nearby cave just before the next attack. Sure enough, although the cavalry troop is indeed overwhelmed and all of the men are killed, this desperate measure pays off and seven of the women survive. Unfortunately, once the Apaches ride off, the women soon realize that their only hope of survival is to somehow navigate the next 100 miles through the desert with no food and very little water. Not only that, but their presence doesn't go unnoticed for long and the Apaches soon become an even worse problem from that point on. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this movie turned out to be somewhat better than I expected due in large part to the suspenseful plot and a decent performance by Anne Baxter as the leader named "Mary Ann". Likewise, having several attractive women like Maria Perschy ("Ursula"), Christa Linder ("Bridget") and Maria Mahor ("Dorothy") certainly didn't hurt either. Be that as it may, while certainly not a great Western by any means, I still enjoyed it for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
