Apparently at one stage John Ford was going to direct this, and you can definitely see Fordian themes: it looks at a cavalry regiment, there's Ward Bond in the cast (as a preacher), the Indians' troubles are sympathetically depicted (you have a mixture of them - old die hards and uncle Toms) yet they are also clearly a scary threat, the cavalry is led by a pompous officer, there's comic Irish soldiers (Lee Marvin!). It doesn't take much to picture John Wayne in the lead either - instead we have Jeff Chandler, who actually isn't too bad (he was a much more relaxed actor by now) even if he is no Duke.
The film also explores religion in a way few Hollywood westerns did: Bond is converting the Indians to Christians (not that it helps turn them into peace loving); Chandler was brought up with the Bible and although he's gone off it since when Bond goes "I'd love you to take over my work one day" you can guess that (a) Bond's going to die and (b) Chandler will take over; the human drama is about Chandler being in love with a married woman (sexy Dorothy Malone) and Bond tsk tsks over this and eventually Malone goes back to her husband (because you know adultery is the most evil thing in the world); Bond sacrifices his life at the end in a Christ like gesture. It's got to be one of the most Catholic westerns I've never seen. (It also gets novelty points for being set in Oregon.)
It badly lacks Ford touches in the direction however; the acting is mostly uninspired, the action not particularly interesting (when the cavalry are in grave danger you never feel it), the love story feels poorly done, the Christian propaganda is irritating, Lee Marvin's death scene goes on forever, Chandler's drinking feels like an after thought character note. Not a run of the mill Western by any means, though.
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