Apache Blood

I absolutely do not understand why anyone would post a comment to a movie they hadn't bothered watching all the way through. Thank God for the internet, keeping these folks off the streets! I have not seen Apache Blood in years, but my recollection of it should be more useful than the "didn't watch it...fast-forwarded...made snide remarks" review that appeared previously. I saw it on the late, late movie, with commercials, several years before my area was even wired for cable! Apache Blood is a low-budget, independent effort, with only one "name" in the cast. It's a western concerning a soldier's efforts to get back to his fort while being pursued by an Apache, played by Ray Danton. I don't recall a great deal of dialog, but the movie managed to hold my attention to the end. The tone established in the first 99% of the movie abruptly changes at the end; I was never sure how I felt about that, but it was definitely a surprise! If you enjoy cheap little indies, you should like this one.

This is basically the story of mountain man Hugh Glass worked over and placed later in the later Old West with him becoming a Cavalry scout and the other mountain men becoming cavalry troopers. Watch "Man In The Wilderness" and see the resemblance. Mr. Danton was the only actor in the whole movie while the rest were more than likely hired off the streets. Pass this one by! Low Budget? Yeah. This one must of been made with $1.98! I feel sorry for Mr. Danton as he was a terrific actor and this film was below his standards. The two scriptwriters were actors in this film. One played the scout and the other was the Agarn-looking trooper in the fort at the end of the flick who shot at the scout and Mr. Danton.

After a cavalry man is killed at the beginning, there is some stock footage with sloppily credits that must have been added at the last minute narrated by Ray Danton that explains that there was a treaty and Yellow Shirt (Danton) is fighting all by himself his personal war. The movie simply consists of Yellow Shirt that stalks these Cavalry men and takes them down one by one.

In every single aspect, this movie is horrible. Apart from the narration, there is barely any talking in the movie. And they almost all mumble incomprehensibly throughout. And when it comes to the cinematography it's even worse. From time to time some scenes jump illogically. In particular when the movie focuses on the last surviving man, there is some footage of desert animals (a owl, a group of pecaris and a rattlesnake that is thrown away) that simply doesn't make sense whatsoever.

All in all, a truly sad and wretched movie only of interest to bad movie fans or if you want to see once-respected actors in career suicide mode.

Ultra low budget, and not particularly good, western from the 70s. The vastly underrated Ray Danton shows what ruined his acting career... although he had been on the slide for some time. This was his third last film - he went on to direct, mainly in TV.

Still for those who enjoy watching films (as I do) made on Hollywood's fringe with former stars this is for you.

The reality is these types of films kept former leading actors (albeit some of them were second string leading men) working when they grew older and had been forgotten by the major studios. ( great actor stars like Rory Calhoun, Guy Madison, Cameron Mitchell, John Carradine and many more). It's would be quite a experience to go ( like Ray here) from "under contract to ...." to small B pictures and drive-in fair, but an actor has to pay the bills. And this fringe Hollywood can produce minor classics ( although this is not one of them) and must be an interesting place to work in. The only film to capture a bit of this fringe low budget Hollywood cinema successfully is Frank Oz and Steve Martin's comedy "Bowfinger".

As for the film itself, the direction is basic, the editing is rotten, and the acting is passable... just.( better direction could have helped). But still through it all Ray Danton shines, you can tell he is a breed apart from everyone else involved in the film.

This is truly one of the worst films I have had the misfortunate of seeing. It was my dad's turn to rent a film, and for some reason he came home 'Pursuit' a.k.a 'Apache Blood.' The fact that it is a western, piqued his interest. As we began to watch it, we recognized that the acting (what little there was) was horrid, and the plot, insipid. Upon this discovery, we realized that our evenings entertainment was ruined. But maybe not. My dad ingeniously decided to run the tape on fast forward while in play function. With a few added silly sound effects, what was drivel, turned into a hilarious father/daughter evening.