Jeff Chandler was such a hit as Cochise in Broken Arrow that it's not surprising Universal - who had him under contract - asked him to put on the war paint again in this prequel. Although made for a different studio, this feels like a prequel, with Cochise having a bromance with a white man (here a cavalry officer played colourlessly by John Lund - who ever thought he was a star?), and both of them trying to keep the peace.
There are the usual complications - hot headed Indians (Geronimo) and treacherous whites, an Indian squaw who loves the lead (in this case Cochise) and cops a bullet for her troubles. Actually when you think about it this rips off Broken Arrow a fair bit, although like that this is based on historical events - the Battle of the title and the Bascom Affair.
It is very sympathetic to the Indians, who are really put upon here, and the whites are real bastards - even nasty Geronimo is more sympathetic than them. The action screeches to a halt whenever Lund is involved - at times it's like the filmmakers knew this because they made sure he shares scenes with another heroic nice soldier, Richard Egan. There's a decent support cast, including James Best, Susan Cabot, Hugh O'Brian and Jay Silverheels, plus plenty of action. Chandler is imposing as Cochise - not as effective as when playing off James Stewart, but he does do a charismatic wooden Indian.
No comments:
Post a Comment