The Stalking Moon

From the same folks who brought you To Kill a Mockingbird, a good western thriller The Stalking Moon blends old west action with Alfred Hitchcock type suspense.

Gregory Peck is an old army scout who helped rescue captive white woman Eva Marie Saint and her son Noland Clay by one of the Apache chiefs. The father isn't about to give up his son and he pursues Peck all the way to his ranch after he quit the cavalry. The last 40% of the film deals with Peck and his ranch guests being stalked by a clever and dangerous Indian opponent.

The film itself touches on themes used in both The Searchers and Two Rode Together by John Ford and the fine Joel McCrea-Barbara Stanwyck western, Trooper Hook. But director Robert J. Mulligan took his style cues from Alfred Hitchcock.

We don't ever see the opponent except in long shot right up to the very end. We only know him from what is said about Nathaniel Narciso from what is said and the death and destruction in his wake. The anticipation is all the more terrifying.

Western and suspense, The Stalking Moon is a nice blend of film genres and fans of Gregory Peck and Eva Marie Saint will be pleased.

Not even listed as one of Gregory Peck's better films, I consider this to be one of the most exciting Westerns I have ever seen. The Stalking Moon, Jeremiah Johnson, High Noon,.. all three are Western Classics.

The movie begins slowly but the sense of foreboding builds throughout the film as Sam and his adopted family wait for the inevitable. Eva Marie Saint portrays an abused woman with spare dignity and understated grace, the little boy is great and Gregory Peck is a formidable presence, growing stronger in character and determination as his feelings for the woman and her son develop. Nathaniel Narsisco, as the Stalker is realistically and excruciatingly frightening as he silently tracks his prey.

Although almost 40 years old the movie holds up well even when compared to films like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven.I have just read Roger Ebert's condemnation of this film and cannot believe that he and I differ so greatly as to its relative merits. How ever this is the man who loved "over the top" Donald Pleasance in "Will Penny" so one should not be surprised.

This is a very exciting, and somewhat unusual western, I suggest. Some have called it a thriller, bit that is a pejorative term for something 'empty", for a too-loud, over-musicked and graphically violent film with comic book level characters--at least most time, an implication of a seeking for sensationalism... This film is unarguably a well-directed "duel" film, whose setting in the U.S. West is justified by two things: first is that the opponent in the film is a powerful Apache warrior with the advantage of surprise and the motivation of trying to steal back his only son; second is that the ethical central character of the film is.a resourceful Westerner himself, a first-rate warrior, one who chooses to risk bringing the Apache warrior down upon him. Veteran author T.V. Olsen's thin-but-serviceable storyline was adapted for the screen by Wendell Mayes and written as a screenplay by Alvin Sargent. If this film's life began, as one might suspect it did, as a vehicle film for usually excellent leading man Gregory Peck, it was certainly made into something more because it was given a first-rate production in every respect. The ecologically minimal Southwest's scenery and the colors and changes of light at different hours of the clock were utilized to bring a sense of immense space to the setting. The director, solid achiever Robert Mulligan, was able to hire Frank Silvera for a small but important role as a Major who advises the star, Gregory Peck; Eva Marie Saint for the near-to-thankless role of a woman rescued from the Apache warrior, "Salvaje" (the Savage in Spanish); and Robert Forster, on the verge of a good little career as the star of TV's ""Banyon" and several films as the man who risks his life to help Peck. Adding Russell Thorson, Lou Frizzell, Richard Bull, long-time supporting actor Henry Beckman, and fine actor Lonny Chapman also helped immensely. The story breaks into four parts, one of the reasons it has such a biting edge, as cold as a wind coming up an arroyo out of the arid land at sunset. The first part is "the set-up", which details the captures of several renegade Apaches by Peck, a veteran scout, thus establishing his coolness, his credentials for the duel to come, and more. The second part I term "the leave-taking"; during this phase as he goes to a lonely post-army life before leaving for his own land, the scout takes along Eva Marie Saint, rescued from Apache hands, along with her son; his reasons are hinted at but not entirely made clear. The third portion of the films I call 'the preparation and waiting", as Peck knows Salvaje, played by Nathaniel Narcisco, is coming after them. And the fourth is the long body of "the duel itself", during which Peck is aided by Forster and proves his own mettle may times over, in strategy, tactics, fighting ability, courage and the stubborn ability that he has learned on the trail for many years to do whatever needs to be done without giving way to fear, doubt or fatigue. Some have commented on the music, supplied by Fred Karlin; it is eerie and lonesome but not in my opinion in any sense overdone. Charles Lang's cinematography is atmospheric everywhere and deserves special mention within this late western. Also, the art direction by Roland Anderson and Jack Poplin,  and the spare but important set decorations by Frank Tuttle add to the authentic feel of the film for me. I have lived in that zone, and I found it to be quite authentic in feel within the narrative. I had seen The Stalking Moon" when it was first released, but this feature I found even better the second time around, because instead of wishing some characters had been given more lines, this time I followed the director's purpose; I do not, as a writer, find this to be a "Cape Fear" type thriller; it is to me more like a number of older adventure films set in many places where the climactic duel is a prolonged one between individuals or groups, usually men fighting for a place of no intrinsic but only of situational or strategic value. In one sense, this film is not about the boy Salvaje wants nor even the mother; it is a film about Peck's accepting the final challenge in a very successful career in order to have what he wants, a sort of victory over the West that will justify his conclusion that he can handle whatever throws against him, natural, human or emotional. This is a powerful film, and one not to be missed in my judgment. This is not noir; there is no law in wilderness territory; and in Sam Varner, the West here serves as the stage for a man worthy of its harsh beauties and of its immense challenges.

Unusual Western deals with a veteran cavalry scout named Sam Varner( a magnificent Gregory Peck) ready to retire to a farm in New Mexico who takes pity and protects a white woman named Sarah Carver (Eva Marie Saint , the unforgettable starring of ¨On the waterfront¨) and her half-breed son (Clay) recently rescued and have been captives from Indians for ten years . He agrees to help them and learn that the woman 's Indian husband nicknamed ¨Savage¨ is hunting them down . The Savage is an avenger and killer Apache and sooner or later a final grisly confrontation is almost inevitable.

This interesting Western contains action , thrills, intrigue , being ravishingly photographed and carefully made . Sensational performance by Gregory Peck plays a mature army scout attempting to save a women rescued and his Indian son from a marauding and feared father . Enjoyable appearance from Robert Foster as scout friend who teaches the little boy to count by means of the rules of poker . Ample support cast in brief acting as Charles Tyner , Joaquin Martinez , James Olson , Frank Silvera , Richard Bull and uncredited Richard Farnsworth , among others . In its initial exhibition the picture had average reviews , accused as racist and failed at the box office ; however , today is best considered with rave critical . It's an offbeat Western/drama/thriller from same tandem , Alan J Pakula-Alvin Sargent-Robert Mulligan who made ¨To kill a mockingbird¨ . Colorful cinematography showing spectacular outdoors by Charles Lang who long time ago won Oscar for his cinematography on ¨A farewell to arms(1933)¨. This motion picture with skeletal plot is well directed by Robert Mulligan , a filmmaker more specialist in human drama and with sure touch in the interior scenes . Mulligan has been out-stripped in reputation by his one time partner/producer Alan J Pacula . Mulligan directed good dramas as ¨A great impostor¨, ¨Love with the proper stranger¨, ¨Inside Daisy Clover¨ and ¨Summer of 42¨ that was extremely successful . His last works as ¨Blood Brothers¨ , ¨Same time next year¨ , ¨Kiss me goodbye¨ , ¨Clara's heart¨ failed to bring the required response from the cinema-goers public . Rating . Above average , worthwhile watching .

A tense, fairly realistic, and mature western from 1968, when the genre was on the way to near oblivion, only to be saved now and then by the likes of Peckinpah and Eastwood. Unfortunately, this film is not so well known and has been unfairly characterized as plodding and slow. It definitely has a degree of introspectiveness to it, but their is a gem of a pursuit story. The film does its best not to sugarcoat the west. The locales and people are pretty impressive for their gritty primitiveness and overall authenticity. The central story about a fierce Apache warrior who's waging his own brutal campaign to kill as many whites as he can, chasing the white woman who was his wife and the mother of his son, while an ageing army scout does his best to protect them is framed by some pretty awesome photography of blinding sandstorms, thick vegetation, and lots of rocky cliffs and a fine score.