"New Wave" Western and one that has an attraction that compels. A noble attempt, probably tampered with by the money men, that nevertheless can be considered because it represents a thoughtful attempt to be more than the fans expect from the genre.
The 1950' had a few contributions to the maturing of the Hollywood Western by Director's like Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher whose films are superb and are apart from the mundane. Here the Director (Robert Aldrich) gives it that same feel of an edgy encounter and delivers a very good film with layers of interest and an a novel try at Native American speech and feeling the pain of a conquered but proud submission of a whole race of people.
The ending is not as satisfying as the rest of the film. The lone wolf Apache tells his wife, about to give birth, and he feels it is a good day to take a stand and die..."sing to my son of his Warrior Father" and she replies..."would you rather me sing of the plow". Some might say that this would be an appropriate place to end the film. But not so. There is more...
The 1950' had a few contributions to the maturing of the Hollywood Western by Director's like Anthony Mann and Budd Boetticher whose films are superb and are apart from the mundane. Here the Director (Robert Aldrich) gives it that same feel of an edgy encounter and delivers a very good film with layers of interest and an a novel try at Native American speech and feeling the pain of a conquered but proud submission of a whole race of people.
The ending is not as satisfying as the rest of the film. The lone wolf Apache tells his wife, about to give birth, and he feels it is a good day to take a stand and die..."sing to my son of his Warrior Father" and she replies..."would you rather me sing of the plow". Some might say that this would be an appropriate place to end the film. But not so. There is more...