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War Arrow

  • 1953
  • Approved
  • 1h 18m
IMDb RATING
5.9/10
991
YOUR RATING
Maureen O'Hara and Jeff Chandler in War Arrow (1953)
Major Howell Brady arrives in Indian Territory in hopes of recruiting peaceful, relocated Seminoles to help the army fight rampaging Kiowas.
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Classical WesternActionAdventureRomanceWarWestern

Major Howell Brady arrives in Indian Territory in hopes of recruiting peaceful, relocated Seminoles to help the army fight rampaging Kiowas.Major Howell Brady arrives in Indian Territory in hopes of recruiting peaceful, relocated Seminoles to help the army fight rampaging Kiowas.Major Howell Brady arrives in Indian Territory in hopes of recruiting peaceful, relocated Seminoles to help the army fight rampaging Kiowas.

  • Director
    • George Sherman
  • Writer
    • John Michael Hayes
  • Stars
    • Maureen O'Hara
    • Jeff Chandler
    • John McIntire
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    5.9/10
    991
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • George Sherman
    • Writer
      • John Michael Hayes
    • Stars
      • Maureen O'Hara
      • Jeff Chandler
      • John McIntire
    • 24User reviews
    • 9Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

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    Top cast25

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    Maureen O'Hara
    Maureen O'Hara
    • Elaine Corwin
    Jeff Chandler
    Jeff Chandler
    • Major Howell Brady
    John McIntire
    John McIntire
    • Col. Jackson Meade
    Suzan Ball
    Suzan Ball
    • Avis
    Noah Beery Jr.
    Noah Beery Jr.
    • Sgt. Augustus Wilks
    • (as Noah Beery)
    Charles Drake
    Charles Drake
    • Sgt. Luke Schermerhorn
    Henry Brandon
    Henry Brandon
    • Maygro
    Dennis Weaver
    Dennis Weaver
    • Pino
    Jay Silverheels
    Jay Silverheels
    • Satanta
    Jim Bannon
    Jim Bannon
    • Capt. Roger Corwin
    • (as James Bannon)
    Stephen Wyman
    • Captain Neil
    • (as Steve Wyman)
    Bradford Jackson
    Bradford Jackson
    • Lieutenant
    • (as Brad Jackson)
    John Albright
    • Trooper
    • (uncredited)
    Emile Avery
    • Sentry
    • (uncredited)
    Dee Carroll
    Dee Carroll
    • Hysterical Mother
    • (uncredited)
    Dick Fortune
    • Lieutenant
    • (uncredited)
    Lance Fuller
    Lance Fuller
    • Trooper
    • (uncredited)
    Whitey Hughes
    Whitey Hughes
    • Indian
    • (uncredited)
    • Director
      • George Sherman
    • Writer
      • John Michael Hayes
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews24

    5.9991
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    Featured reviews

    4bkoganbing

    Getting the Seminoles To Do The White Man's Work

    In War Arrow, Major Jeff Chandler is sent west with two trusty sergeant sidekicks, Charles Drake and Noah Beery, Jr., to implement some ideas of his own about fighting the Kiowas. His answer is to recruit some reservation Seminoles as a fighting force against the Kiowa. Seems as though the Kiowas like to raid their villages as a warm up before attacking whites and the Seminoles have no weapons to resist.

    These Kiowas led by Henry Brandon are devilishly tricky lot, almost as if they are led by someone who studied army military tactics. Turns out they are.

    In her memoirs Maureen O'Hara dismisses both of her films with Jeff Chandler, this film and Flame of Araby which makes this one look good. She said he was a nice man, but they had no chemistry together at all. Chandler probably was not terribly interested in the project, he was just beginning to fight for better roles than the action programmers he was doing under his Universal contract.

    Chandler is operating independently out of the fort commanded by John McIntire. Of course McIntire is obtuse and jealous because Chandler is romancing O'Hara who he has eyes for. Forgetting the jealousy angle, McIntire has every right to be put out about Chandler operating independently. The army chain of command is a sacred thing and any commander worth his salt wouldn't put up with it.

    Of course why the Seminoles would possibly want to go to war on behalf of the white man against other Indians is not satisfactorily explained, even with the Kiowas. It certainly would seem far more likely to team up with the Kiowas.

    On the plus side, War Arrow has some nice battle scenes, especially the climatic battle when the Kiowas come real close to capturing McIntire's fort. It also has some nice performances by Dennis Weaver and Suzan Ball playing Seminole lovers.

    But it sure won't be ranked as one of the great cinema westerns.
    7stechilton

    An excellent Western

    Surely the best line of the film is when Jeff Chandler "forcibly" kisses Maureen O' Hara (after she tells him she doesn't love him) and she responds by telling him: "I'm genuinely impressed."

    Very interesting Western, possibly overstating the lead character's sympathy for the native American, but this is ahead of its time for a 1953 movie. Note the scene in the fort commander's office, where he says "It's difficult to prove how many raiders you've killed." The implication here is that the lead character refuses to collect scalps - i.e. the "proof". There are lots of other little not so obvious details in this film which kept me hooked!
    7NewEnglandPat

    U.S. cavalry and Seminoles vs. Kiowas

    This picture has the novel approach of the U.S. cavalry enlisting peaceful Seminoles to help them fight warring Kiowas on the southern plains. The Seminoles, now farmers instead of fierce warriors, are trained by Jeff Chandler's troopers in military tactics to stand up to the Kiowa raiders. Problems abound during the experiment, mainly distrust among the army brass who scoff at the fighting ability of the Seminoles and tensions at the outpost escalate to the point of mutiny. Chandler is solid throughout the picture and is well paired with Maureen O'Hara as he romances the pretty widow. The supporting cast is good, especially John McIntire and Hanry Brandon. Suzan Ball does well as an Indian maiden and seemed to do her best work in this type of role. The film takes its time with character development and is rather uneven, with the main action taking place near the end of the film.
    6militarymuseu-88399

    Low-intensity Indian conflict - the drama, that is

    Major Howell Brady (Jeff Chandler) is sent to the Indian Territory (present Oklahoma) to get a handle on Kiowa raiders. His solution is to recruit a corps of fighting scouts from the now-domesticated reservation Seminoles, exiled to Oklahoma after their stand against U. S. authority in 1840's Florida.

    Chandler took on many Western roles; here, a few years after WW II service as an officer, he might have been a convincing frontier soldier. But, his well-groomed and urbane persona makes him am imperfect fit for a plainsman's role. Likewise with Maureen O'Hara's Irish spitfire; she is best when playing against A-list leading men, and comes off as extravagant ornamentation for this Universal B-picture. She does get to join the boys' fun later on when she picks up a Henry rifle. More use should have been made of John McIntire as the fort's C. O. McIntire grew up in rural Montana at the tail end of the homestead era and always gives the vibe of having just walked out of a daguerreotype. Suzan Ball fills in as the envious and unobtainable Native American woman, and Dennis Weaver, a few years prior to his Chester years on "Gunsmoke," takes a mercifully brief and hopefully one-time turn as a Seminole scout.

    As is the case with many Universal Westerns, authenticity efforts are an afterthought. The Kiowas were largely defeated as a side action of Col. Ranald Mackenzie's reduction of the Comanche prior to 1875, and not particularly noted for pitched battles on the plains; in "War Arrow" they are making full-fledged assaults on a stockade armed with artillery. (The Corps of Engineers must have outsourced this post - the gate is breached by pushing a runway wagon through it.)

    There would have been little practicality in using Seminoles for plains warfare; by the mid-1870's the Oklahoma exiles were firmly ensconced in reservation lfe, and memories of swamp fighting skills acquired 30 years prior would prove of no real use in the Panhandle region. The story of an unreconstructed Confederate directing the tribal adversaries (occasionally trotted out in the 19th century by the popular press to explain Army setbacks) receives little development, and the filming location in Nogales, Arizona does little to evoke North Texas and Oklahoma. A better tale about the frontier army's Native auxiliaries would have depicted Frank North's Pawnee scout detachment.

    McIntire gets the film's best line - "Here's to Brady's bunch!."

    A nice action crescendo, but most of the film is pure stock-company filler.
    4frankfob

    Interesting premise poorly handled

    The premise of this film is based on fact. During the Indian Wars of the late 1800s, the U.S. government hired Seminole Indians from Florida to help fight the Kiowa Indians of the Southwest. Using one group of Indians to fight another wasn't new even back then--it was, after all, how the Army finally managed to subdue the Apaches--and it would make a good film, but this one isn't it. Director George Sherman was an old hand at making westerns, having churned out dozens of them during his days at Republic, and Jeff Chandler and Maureen O'Hara had done more than their share of them. They all had an off-day here. Whatever failings Sherman's westerns may have had, he at least knew how to keep them moving. This one just pretty much sits there and nothing really happens. There are a few action scenes spread throughout the picture, and a fairly big one--an attack on a fort--at the end, but they are for the most part pretty listless affairs, lacking the energy that Sherman usually brought to them. O'Hara for some reason looks out of place here, and I can't quite put my finger on why she does, but she does. On the other hand, Suzan Ball is smokin' as a sexy Indian girl, so maybe that's why O'Hara looks uncomfortable. In any event, this is pretty much a below-average effort from all concerned. Henry Brandon, who did such a good job later on playing the evil Scar in "The Searchers," doesn't acquit himself nearly as well here--not that he's given all that much to work with--as a Seminole warrior, and Dennis Weaver is about the most un-Seminole-looking Seminole there is, with his bony frame, prominent nose and Missouri accent. Everyone involved with this had done better work previously, and would do better work later. You'd be better off watching any of those efforts than this one.

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    Related interests

    Gary Cooper in High Noon (1952)
    Classical Western
    Bruce Willis in Die Hard (1988)
    Action
    Still frame
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    Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca (1942)
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    Western

    Storyline

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    Did you know

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    • Trivia
      The film's working title was "Brady's Bunch". John Michael Hayes wrote the original story and there was reported interest from the studios about turning it into a vehicle for Burt Lancaster, Errol Flynn and Tyrone Power before it was bought by Universal-International for Jeff Chandler.
    • Goofs
      When Sgt. Wilks (Noah Beery) picks up the arrow it has no arrowhead. When he hands it to Sgt. Schermerhorn it suddenly has an arrowhead attached.
    • Quotes

      Sgt. Augustus Wilks: I'm beginning to feel a little foolish.

      Sgt. Luke Schermerhorn: You got the face to go with it.

    • Connections
      Referenced in Take Me Home Tonight (2011)

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    Details

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    • Release date
      • January 6, 1954 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Palabra cumplida
    • Filming locations
      • Nogales, Arizona, USA(Vaca Ranch)
    • Production company
      • Universal International Pictures (UI)
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Gross US & Canada
      • $1,400,000
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Tech specs

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    • Runtime
      • 1h 18m(78 min)
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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