A cavalry detachment must trek across desert badlands because their arrogantly incompetent lieutenant lets the Apaches get their horses. Led now by their sergeant, they eventually hole up in an abandoned fort, only to face another Apache onslaught.
Bel-Air was a budget movie outfit, while director Selander was a budget director. So why did this little programmer turn out as well as it did. No, the 60-minutes is nothing memorable, but still there's a good script, okay acting, and generally well-staged action. Add location shooting in Utah, without a single studio set, and I credit producer Howard W. Koch for the generally superior result. (Check his list of later credits that includes The Manchurian Candidate {1962}, and Airplane! {1980}, among others.)
Connors is excellent as the stalwart sergeant, commanding but without swagger. Of course, the girls are a slice of eye candy amidst all the men, but are woven pretty well into the plot. And catch those two near-rape scenes, cutting edge for the late 1950's. For a minute, I was afraid the philosophical exchange between the sergeant and Ellen (Cummings) might get heavy-handed. But wisely the scripter raises the pragmatic issue of war-- which is relevant to the cavalry's predicament—without letting it dominate an action movie.
Anyway, the parts are shrewdly assembled, not least of which is the towering Connors only a year away from becoming Lucas Mc Cain with a rifle. And, oh yes, the movie made me realize what a superior weapon the pistol, not the rifle, is for close-in fighting, unusual for the usually rifle-bound cavalry.
