"Run of the Arrow" is an interesting movie despite some significant flaws. What makes it most worth a look is its complex take on its various peoples: Southern rebels, Sioux (Lakota) Indians, and the U.S. Cavalry are all treated with complexity, neither the Southerners, the Sioux, nor the Americans rendered entirely good or evil. Indeed, the story is seen through the eyes of former Confederate States infantryman Private O'Meara (Rod Steiger), who leaves the defeated (and what he sees as the prostrate) South for the far West--where he chooses to live among the Sioux after an especially evocative and brutal "initiation." He marries a Sioux woman and then is recruited as the Sioux liaison to scout for the U.S. Army a new location for a fort that is acceptable to both parties. Suffice it to say, things don't go entirely as planned: individual men on both sides have their own ideas which they put into action, and O'Meara and the others are caught in the middle.
Where "Run of the Arrow" tends to miss is in its rather rushed screenplay - and in Steiger's choppy performance. Steiger looks the part of Southern Reb, but his performance leaves something to be desired, especially given his shaky Irish accent--which, like much of the dialogue, is also obviously, and rather painfully dubbed. (Dubbed dialogue is most often a big stumbling block for me, so readily does it take me out of the movie, and it does so here.) The screenplay also has O'Meara learn the Sioux language awful fast (though all the dialogue is in English), and doesn't even bother with any kind of a courtship between O'Meara and his Sioux bride, Yellow Moccasin. The pacing never quite gels, and a couple of very good actors (Ralph Meeker and Brian Keith), if not exactly wasted, are underserved by the somewhat tepid drama, while the direction and cinematography are above average in some places, merely competent in others.
Overall, not as good as it might have been, but still worth a look for Western fans. (The Movie Czar 8/19/19)
Where "Run of the Arrow" tends to miss is in its rather rushed screenplay - and in Steiger's choppy performance. Steiger looks the part of Southern Reb, but his performance leaves something to be desired, especially given his shaky Irish accent--which, like much of the dialogue, is also obviously, and rather painfully dubbed. (Dubbed dialogue is most often a big stumbling block for me, so readily does it take me out of the movie, and it does so here.) The screenplay also has O'Meara learn the Sioux language awful fast (though all the dialogue is in English), and doesn't even bother with any kind of a courtship between O'Meara and his Sioux bride, Yellow Moccasin. The pacing never quite gels, and a couple of very good actors (Ralph Meeker and Brian Keith), if not exactly wasted, are underserved by the somewhat tepid drama, while the direction and cinematography are above average in some places, merely competent in others.
Overall, not as good as it might have been, but still worth a look for Western fans. (The Movie Czar 8/19/19)