classicsoncall The man with a plan here was ex-Confederate Rebel Joe Barlow (Dan Duryea), who had a well thought out strategy for retrieving a shipment of gold stolen from the Union Army during the closing weeks of the Civil War. The story relates how he pitted his Southern cronies against each other and hijacked the only watering holes in the Staked Plains section of Comanche Territory. Which left the coast clear for him to do the same with Army Captain Matt Martin (Robert Fuller) and his band of volunteers as they tried to find the gold at the request of Union General Hood. This Barlow was a pretty sharp cookie.There's a minor hitch in the works for all concerned with the appearance of Miss No Last Name Memphis (Jocelyn Lane), run out of Hays City by her former beau and sheriff Carter Drum (Don Collier) when he found a better catch. I don't know, Memphis looked pretty good to me and we never got to see who Drum threw her over for. Only thing is in Westerns like this, I could never figure how good looking gals, or any kind for that matter, managed to maintain their makeup in perfect condition throughout their entire trek through the desert. Lipstick, eye shadow, rouge, and never a smudge from wiping the sweat and grime off one's face - unbelievable! Well this one proceeds along at a pretty standard pace with a band of Cheyennes trailing the gold hunters as their group gets whittled down through various means, mostly at the hands of bad guy Barlow. I couldn't help thinking Duryea borrowed his manic cackling bit from Richard Widmark for this picture, but Claude Akins' character proved even more of a nut case in his determination to get three more Indian scalps. I guess he couldn't foresee the consequences of attacking a half dozen Cheyenne all by himself. If Bugs Bunny were in this picture, he would have said, "Gee, what a maroon."With a cool sounding title this was an okay Western, but that's about as far as I'll go. I thought the story might have been based on a real historical incident, but an internet search on the location brought up a bunch of hits for this picture and a place called Fort Phantom Hill in Texas. It was actually used by both Union and Confederate Armies during the Civil War, about the only connection this picture had with historical accuracy. No mention of stolen gold or any such incident as shown in the story.

chipe I just saw this on an Encore channel. The other reviews here are nice and useful. I want to make a few points.I was hoping for a good Western. The early parts gave hope, and there were many well written lines.The second half disappointed me with the implausible tactics against the Indians, and other implausible situations. One good example is when the hero and a few stragglers are left without guns and horses in the wastelands, and are surrounded by Indians. Their solution: create a barn fire and surround the fire with the dead white bodies. Thinking they are live whites, the Indians rush to the fire and shoot the dead bodies with arrows. Meanwhile the few live whites happened to be situated where they can jump down on and overpower (silently!) the few Indians guarding the Indian horses. The whites flee on some Indian horses and stampede away the other horses! Everyone in the other reviews seems to be wondering why Fuller never reached anywhere near the top of his acting profession. To me it is very clear: his face and personality seemed very bland, ordinary. During the movie, it was not so easy to distinguish him from some other actors.

ncole-11 Incident at Phantom Hill was an awesome western movie starring Robert Fuller. Mr. Fuller is an actor that knows how to ride a horse and shoot a gun. Therefore playing the role of a cowboy comes easy for him and in turn the audience is in for a big surprise of watching this man act the role of a cowboy back in the West in the 1880's. He makes it look easy doing these cowboy things but we really know how hard it is. It is just as hard to play a cowboy as it is acting the role of Shakespeare or MacBeth in a play or movie. It is certainly is ashame that Mr Fuller did not get more movie leading roles back in the 1960's and 1970's but this movie shows us that he was and is still is a classic western hero! Thank you Mr. Fuller for keeping the western cowboy hero alive! And Five ***** Stars for Best Actor!

zebulonguy Incident at Phantom Hill was released in 1966 as the western fad was fading- more's the pity as it's a cracking good western film. A great cast of western stalwarts lead by Robert Fuller from TV's Laramie as the hero and Dan Dureya as the ultimate villain. Any film featuring Dureya has class and here he chews up the scenery. Also along, the beautiful Joycelyn Lane and western heavies Claude Akins and Noah Beery jr. The plot involving a search for a lost horde of gold in remote Indian country moves along at a good pace.Directed by old hand Earl Bellamy , we are treated to some great location work and excellent character studies.I wish that all the actors had more time to display their talents but really it's a three way show with Fuller, Dureya and Lane to the fore.However Tom Simcox manages to register well as a survivor of the opening massacre of union soldiers . Dureya leads the confederacy on this attack and he has plans for this gold, just for himself. It is surprising that Fuller did not get more movie leading roles, he should have as he is the classic western hero.This film with it's excellent colour photography merits a DVD release and it has just received one in France, of course it's Pal but there is an English track. About time it was released in USA and U.K.