40 Guns to Apache Pass

This joke of a movie -- with terrible acting, a thin plot and cheap production values -- at least gave me a laugh once when I badly needed one. For some unaccountable reason, they sent us this movie about the cavalry to see when we were serving in the actual 1st Cavalry (Airmobile) in Vietnam.

These guys couldn't shoot straight, except for the few times when a single shot felled multiple Indians, but they also could not be wounded, even when taking cover behind the flimsiest rail fence.

So little thought went into this movie that it deserves to be ranked among the worst of all time. However, I gave it a second star because of the laughs.

Murphy does all the right things but they are the same heroics and " it's okay I'm just shot in the chest so I ain't gonna flinch" routine as westerns had ten and twenty years before. It's hard to believe this film was made in the era of the American Indian movement and the Beatles etc. This film also reminds me of why the western faded. The Indians here are simple ciphers. They are portrayed as mindless " hostiles" and the western clichés are trotted out. The" whites" are heroics defenders, the Indians are savages. 1967 was far too late for that to play any more. I laughed when the opening line was " there were only a few brave men stopping the whole Territory of Arizona being overrun".they meant of course a few brave settlers from the east. But it struck me as odd that in 67 the line was not in any way used for irony. The few brave men were in fact Indians defending their community and the overrunning was being done by " whites". Overall it's workmanlike effort but nothing really distinguished this film from any production line western from the 50's. Murphy seems tired but competent and remarkably well preserved for a WWII veteran.

Here's the bad news about this film. It has a ridiculous narration that keeps telling us what we don't need to be told. And the music is hit or miss, sometimes appropriate to what's being shown, and sometimes seriously off, sounding like merry go round music when major action is happening.

If those things were corrected, then the rest of the film's flaws are lesser and could have been put up with. The acting is good in some parts and with other actors not quite good enough. The story is OK and has some thrilling bits in the last half.

If you're an Audie Murphy fan, then you may want to watch this, but it's not as good as some of his earlier films.

So sad, why didn't he change over to modern action films.

This is just superficial, weak, clichéd Hollywood crap. There's hardly a western movie cliché that's left out. I should say that I've enjoyed quite a few Audie Murphy movies, but when the movie is otherwise bad, he comes across very unconvincingly. He's such a brave boy isn't he ! What is interesting and museum-worthy is the basic premise of the story, namely that the natives are the bad guys for trying to stop the European settlers taking over their land. I was surprised that this ethos could be on display as late as 1966 when the movie was made. If this was the mainstream attitude at that time then it is no wonder the US felt no reluctance in waging war on Vietnam as punishment for its outrageous behaviour in objecting to the US invasion. Times were of course achangin' : "Little Big Man", one of America's greatest movies,was made only 4 years later in 1970.

A fully-fledged ninety minutes approx action Western, fast moving, tense and excitement throughout its running time. Here Audie Murphy takes on Apaches led by their chief Cochise who are on the warpath in 1868 Arizona. As Murphy as US Army captain Coburn is assigned by his Colonel to a dangerous assignment : to get a shipment of forty rifles through Indian territory . As a group of volunteers (Kenneth Tobey , Michael Burns , Brubaker , Kenneth MacDonald.. ) is formed and all of them face off a lot of risks , assaults , attacks, ambushes, treason ... Along the way, captain Coburn : Murphy gets in trouble with his beautiful girlfriend : Loraine Stephens whose two brothers : Michael Burns, Kenneth MacDonald are volunteers in the perilous adventure. The West ablaze.. courage aflame ! He had to get the guns through the whole Apache nation ! He had to get the guns through ..if had to take on the whole Apache nation to do it ! Guns, guts ... Glory !

Typical Audie Murphy spectacle with usual ingredients as violent fights , go riding, ambushes , betrayals , thrills and cavalry charges. It contains slickness enough and crude vigour, though some scenes are failures. Audie Murphy is nice as the regular hero who struggles Indians as well as baddie soldiers . This so-so though passable Western has action enough with breathtaking attack scenes and riding pursuits across deserts and rocky landscapes . A nail-biting storyline allowed director William Witney to keep thrilling scenes at his own exciting and moving gallop. Resulting to be another usual Hollywood product but B-series. The flick bears remarkable resemblance to another Eddie Murphy/William Witney Cavalry Western titled "Rifles Apaches" 1964 with similar issue about confrontation between Apache Indians and soldiers, equally shot at the same outdoors, Rock Mountains, California, being well photographed by cameraman Jacques Marquette.

The motion picture was middlingly directed by William Witney . This prolific filmmaker Witney was a craftsman who worked a lot for Republic Pictures , the studio where he laboured for many years churching out a series of short budget westerns , many of them starred by singing cowboys as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry . Witney spent his entire career making serials and second-features, one of them this 40 Guns at Apache Pass, as well as Rifles Apaches. After WWII William Witney went on directing western films as Shadows of Tombstone , Heart of Rockies , Bells of Coronado , The painted stallion, The Lone ranger , Home in Oklahoma, On the Old spanish trail, High Time in Nevada , Gay Ranchero, Helldorado , Rex Ryder , Eyes of Texas , among others. In addition , his television work included some quite interesting episodes of successful series, such as : High Chaparral , Bonanza , Laramie , Zorro , The Virginian, Wagon Train and he followed working in cinema and was capable to make passable films in medium budgets as Santa Fe Passage , The Bonnie Parker story , Robur and Escaped from Devil Island . Rating : 5.5/10 . An acceptable and decent , at times, Western that will appeal to Audie Murphy fans.