zardoz-13 Robert Taylor's second western, director Sam Wood's final film "Ambush," finds him on the right side of the law after playing the eponymous outlaw in "Billy the Kid" (1941). Taylor is cast as rugged, left-handed, Army scout Ward Kinsman in this black & white MGM horse opera about the desperate search for a woman captured by the Apaches. "Ambush" is a stark looking oater with some good visual effects for its day. Scenarist Marguerite Roberts' adaptation of Luke Short's short story is frankly adult for its day. The primary plot concerns the Army's search for Mary Carlyle and the pursuit of a dangerous Apache chieftain Diablito (Charles Stevens of "The Black Pirate") who took Mary hostage.The daring opening gambit finds Kinsman and another Army Scout Frank Holly (John McIntire of "Backlash") trying to escape from a band of Apaches. They stampede their horses and hide among the rocks while the mounted warriors swarm in pursuit of their horses. The main party of braves vanishes into a narrow pass, and our heroes challenge three warriors, blow all of them off their horses, and steal those horses. Our heroes not only escape with their scalps but also their lives. Wood does a good job of staging this fracas. The next day they arrive at the cavalry fort. The fort turns out to be a hotbed of adultery as an cruel enlisted man Tom Conovan (Bruce Cowling of "Battleground") likes to beat his wife, Martha Conovan (Jean Hagen of "The Asphalt Jungle"), while she has an affair with Lieutenant Linus Delaney (Don Taylor of Stalag 17") who knows he is in trouble. Later, Conovan assaults Fort Commandant Major C.E. Breverly (Leon Ames of The Postman Always Rings Twice") with a pitchfork and punctures his lungs. As a result, Breverly turns over command of the fort to Captain Ben Lorrison (John Hodiak of "Lifeboat") who has warned Delaney of his adulterous ways. Somehow, Lorrison persuades Kinsman to scout for him as he sets out to capture Diablito and recover Mary Carlyle (Marta Mitrovich). Lorrison recruits an Apache prisoner to help him find Diablito, but Kinsman doesn't trust the brave. Predictably, the treacherous brave sneaks out of Lorrison's camp to warn Diablito, but Kinsman manages to kill him before he can alert the elusive Apache chieftain. Throughout this 89 minute western, Ann Duverall (Arlene Dahl of "Land Raiders"), is stuck at the army post where Lorrison romances her and later suggests a proposal of marriage. Kinsman takes a similar interest in Ann, but nothing happens between them. Tragically, Lorrison dies during a clever Apache ambush, which is no doubt the source of the film's title. The wily savages leave an obvious trail for Lorrison and his men to follow into the open flatlands, and these sagacious brave bury themselves just beneath the surface of the earth so that the troopers enter this crescent of warriors who burst from the ground and mow them down. Delaney and his men ride to the rescue, but they are too late to help Lorrison. The sneaky Diablito plays possum in the hope of catching Kinsman with his guard down, but our hero drills him three times, ultimately killing the chieftain."Ambush" is no great shakes, but it is an efficiently helmed oater with a strong cast and good performances.

Martha Wilcox It's good to see John Hodiak face off against Robert Taylor and winning, although I would have thought that Taylor being the bigger star would have won. Although Hodiak is a good actor he wouldn't go on to anything significant except a premature death. He's probably most remembered for his part in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat', but that was in the early part of his career. You don't have that much time at the top.As for the film itself it's a bit pedestrian. It lacks a good script and storyline. The characters are one-dimensional, but the performances by both Taylor and Hodiak are good. The direction is not that good, but if you haven't got a good script then there isn't much you can do.

bkoganbing Ambush was the second western Robert Taylor made in his career. The first was Billy the Kid eight years earlier. At the time a critic said that Robert Taylor looked like a kid in his new cowboy suit as Billy. Truth be told that was in Taylor's heartthrob days and he did look somewhat callow in the part.No one would ever say that about Ambush. When we first meet Taylor he's with sidekick scout John McIntire with several days growth, dirty and unkempt, and on the dodge from Apaches. Of course he and McIntire escape and return to the fort they're assigned to and find a new spit and polish second in command in John Hodiak.Even after a shave and a bath Taylor looks gritty and tough and starts to get interested in Arlene Dahl who is the daughter of a general and who's getting the army to go after her sister who's been captured by the same band of Apaches that Taylor just escaped from. Even though he knows it will cost lives Taylor scouts for the mission. He also wants to tweak Hodiak a bit who also is interested in Dahl.There's another romantic triangle going at the post. Young lieutenant Don Taylor is interested in Jean Hagen the post laundress who's married to a wife beating enlisted man, Bruce Cowling. This was the last film of director Sam Wood who possibly because of his right wing political views is not as well remembered today as a lot of his contemporaries. He received three nominations for Best Director for Kitty Foyle, Goodbye Mr. Chips, and King's Row. He did such other classics as Pride of the Yankees, A Day At the Races, A Night at the Opera and Our Town. That's a pretty good resume.This maybe a cavalry picture, but it's not like one that John Ford would have directed. It's got some lean and mean characters and I don't mean just the standard villains. Ford would never have had anything as frank as out and out adultery in one of his films.Ambush is a great western for fans of the genre and others. And after this no one was going to give Robert Taylor a review like the one he got for Billy the Kid.

ccmiller1492 Standard western fare, "Ambush" is a well-acted oater but it has its stars eclipsed by the supporting players, notably Don Taylor as likable Lt. Delaney and Jean Hagen as the abused Mrs.Conovan, wife to a brutal enlisted man and the company's laundress. These two players make the most lasting impression by their very adroit portrayals of two kindred spirits irrevocably drawn to each other under impossible circumstances. Oddly, everyone else on the base (including the other Mr. Taylor-Robert, the star) seem to fade into the background, not evoking anywhere near the empathy that Don Taylor and Ms. Hagen manage. Thanks to them, this film rises above the average level it otherwise would have sustained.