Set much earlier and further east than most films of the genre this film sees both British and United States trying to gain the support of the Shawnee Indians in the territory of Indiana. As the film opens a US raft loaded with salt to pay the Shawnee for land sold for settlement is ambushed and destroyed by British forces; when the payment doesn't arrive Chief Tecumseh wants to go to Vincennes to talk to the governor but his hot-headed brother 'The Prophet' wants to attack the Americans for their failure to pay. While Tecumseh is seeing the Governor his brother raids the town, burning one house and raiding the stores for the payment he believes was being withheld. We soon learn that 'The Prophet' is getting information from one of the people in the town, Shayne MacGregor, who is also working with a British general. Shortly after this happens Steve Ruddell turns up, he is the hero of the story and a friend of both Tecumseh and MacGregor's daughter Laura. Steve identifies the general but can't believe that Shayne is involved with him. In order to get the Shawnee back on side Steve gets the governor to build them a 'proper' town but as soon as Tecumseh leave to tell the other tribes his brother takes over and it is only a matter of time before war starts; a war that will be lost by the Americans if they can't find the cannon the British general had brought south from Canada.
Having recently enjoyed several westerns I'd not heard of until I'd seen them listed in the TV guide I had reasonable hopes that this one would be similarly entertaining; alas it was not to be. Much of the acting was fairly wooden although given the dialogue I'm not sure how much was the fault of the actors and how much the writers. I didn't know anything about this conflict, or even know if any of the protagonists were real before watching this... a quick check on line suggested that there were such people and events but it would appear that reality and the film were very different! The scenery looks pretty good although once again this is false as it was filmed in the arid areas of Southern California where so many westerns were shot rather than in Indiana. On the plus side there were some decent action scenes and as they were bloodless the film is not unsuitable for younger viewers.
Having recently enjoyed several westerns I'd not heard of until I'd seen them listed in the TV guide I had reasonable hopes that this one would be similarly entertaining; alas it was not to be. Much of the acting was fairly wooden although given the dialogue I'm not sure how much was the fault of the actors and how much the writers. I didn't know anything about this conflict, or even know if any of the protagonists were real before watching this... a quick check on line suggested that there were such people and events but it would appear that reality and the film were very different! The scenery looks pretty good although once again this is false as it was filmed in the arid areas of Southern California where so many westerns were shot rather than in Indiana. On the plus side there were some decent action scenes and as they were bloodless the film is not unsuitable for younger viewers.