Ambush at Cimarron Pass

Before signing as ramrod Rowdy Yates in Rawhide, Clint Eastwood did a variety of films some of them better than others which if it weren't for his presence they would be obscure and forgotten. Ambush At Cimarron Pass falls in that category.

What Eastwood has is star presence, you can absolutely tell this man was going to have a future in the movie business just looking at him. Not that his character was anything special, someone else described him as petulant and I'm inclined to agree.

Sergeant Scott Brady and a small band of cavalry troopers are escorting Indian gun runner Breton Baynes and a lot of those valuable repeating rifles that he was about to sell to the Apaches. They run across a band of former Confederates, one of them being Clint Eastwood. Later on to make things interesting they pick up Margia Dean stranded out on the prairie courtesy of the Indians.

After that it's just one western cliché after another, nothing terribly original, just the same plot situations that have been done a gazillion times before. Along with the Confederates is Irving Bacon who says he's a judge, Scott Brady doubts it, pretty soon everyone else is also. He's trying to save his own skin, but there seems to be no real rhyme or reason to his character at all. When he's killed nobody mourns.

Other than it's listed in the body of work of a cinema legend, Ambush At Cimarron Pass would be lost to history. Clint Eastwood wishes it were.

First, would I recommend this movie to average Joe? No But to a moviebuff I will.

Let's get Clint out of the picture first. Trademark speak between his teeth: CHECK! Grumpy: CHECK! But here is were the fun begins for me as a movie buff, knowing well that he was told that he was going nowhere delivering his lines like that I agree. Line delivery by Clint in this movie is bad, youthful, stiff and over the top. If someone would have told him that in 10 years he would be a rising star and in 50 he would be known all over the world, I belive he would've smacked that person in the face, writing it down to an insult.

He performs better when the characters emotions are toned down which is highly noticable and the star shines through just a brief notice of what's to come.

Regarding the film and script it's stupid. Trained soldiers doing all kinds of stupid stuff that if this was a modern war epic would make people cringe.

The version I was watching had subtitles that were totally of with the dialogue, something that just added another dimension to it.

Not for everyone, will not watch ever again.

4/10.

A partially decimated Army unit teams up with a group of cowboys, who also had been hit by renegade injuns. The cavalry squad was trying to get a gun runner and 3 dozen rifles back to their fort, but had to fight their way through fierce indian raiders intent on getting the weapons. Average soldier vs. redskin shoot-em-up.

This film essentially begins with a squad of cavalry escorting a prisoner known simply as "Corbin" (Baynes Barron) through Apache territory to a fort to stand trial over 100 miles away. However, on the way there, their squad is decimated by an Apache war party which leaves a man named "Sergeant Matt Blake" (Scott Brady) responsible for the delivery of his prisoner. As luck would have it, the cavalry squad comes across a few former confederate soldiers were taking part in a cattle drive but encountered a separate Apache war party on the way. That being said, while none of the former confederates have any great desire to serve with these cavalry soldiers, they realize that their only hope of survival depends on doing just that. It is then revealed that, along with their prisoner, the cavalry squad also has a great number of repeating rifles which Corbin had been planning on selling to the Apache. Needless to say, knowing how badly the Apache want these rifles, everyone now realizes that time is not on their side and that, if they are going to survive, they must make it to the fort as quickly as possible. What they don't realize, however, is that the Apache are equally determined to slow them down--and they have an idea on how to do just that. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was an okay Western which suffered to some degree by its rather low budget. As far as the acting was concerned, everyone played their parts well enough but nobody--to include Clint Eastwood (as the bitter confederate cowboy named "Keith Williams")--really impressed me that much. To be sure, he wasn't necessarily bad, by any means. It just wasn't one of his better performances. Regardless, while certainly not a great Western, it managed to pass the time well enough, and I have rated it accordingly. Average.

Let's face it - the only real reason to catch this pedestrian oater is to get a glimpse of a 27 year old Clinton Eastwood. The future star is still coltish in his acting craft here, and he hasn't fully developed his excellent timing and intensity as in "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" and "Dirty Harry", but the B western does show why this film was a good reason that he pursue acting. His scenes with Margia Dean are the best in showing a charisma which would one day make him box office.

Made in 1958, Eastwood looks very youthful. He holds his own in scenes with a sturdy and sullen Scott Brady, and is somewhat confined by a script that has him cast as the young fool. But Eastwood does well with what he's got, and exhibits a star quality as a young Hollywood actor.