The Bravos

George Peppard is the commander of a cavalry regiment out west in Apache territory. His motherless young son has just been sent out to him. Pernell Roberts is a civilian who wants him to do lots of stuff that Peppard resists. And the natives are restless.

It's an episodic TV movie, and shows all the signs of being a pilot for a series that was never picked up. Peppard plays his usual post-60s larger-than-life character, but there's still a blankness to him; earlier in his career it lent a certain juvenile appeal to his roles; now it's just..... impenetrable. Ted Post offers his usual competent but bland direction.

George Peppard stars in The Bravos a cavalry western where Peppard is a captain in charge of a badly located fort some weather beaten troops and a wagon train that has taken refuge in his post out of necessity. It seems as though they have a martinet of a wagon-master in Pernell Roberts who went and shot a Kiowa chief's son and now he wants protection. The Kiowas want Roberts and to insure they get him they take Vincent Van Patten playing Peppard's son who is visiting.

The Bravos is a routine cavalry western to be sure. Some of the themes however could have used a more poetical director. Coming to mind immediately is Rio Grande where John Ford gets the most out of scenes involving Claude Jarman, Jr. with his parents John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. Would that Ford been directing Peppard and Van Patten.

Pernell Roberts between his television series Bonanza and Trapper John, MD. played a lot of villains. His arrogant wagon-master is someone you love to hate and is the highlight of the film.

This one is OK for western fans.

It's movies like this that give westerns a bad name. Yes, it was made for TV, but that's no reason to bore the viewers. But at least the Kiowas were played by Native Americans and not not a bunch of white guys with feathers in their rugs.

Slow and lacks capturing plot. Very little action and lackluster acting.

The Bravos was a failed TV pilot that became an ABC Sunday night movie in early 1972. Despite a first-rate cast and surprisingly high production values, it isn't very interesting. I stuck with it to the end, mostly because I was glad to see LQ Jones in a fairly large role.