ma-cortes The flick gets noisy action , crossfire , spectacular raids , a love story , and intrigue is slowly but surely built up , being quite entertaining . This Cavalry vs. Indians Western , set in 1866 , deals with hostilities emerging when US government builds a road and a fort in territory ceded by previous treaty to the Sioux led by Red Cloud (John War Eagle) who refuses to surrender himself , as a spark to bring a violent war . It stars Jim Bridger (Van Heflin) serving as a guide and adviser , and whose Cheyenne killed spouse led him to watch the conflict from both sides . Bridger is sent by Col. Carrington (Preston Foster) to aid the army in bitter fighting the savage and hated Sioux and to end the uprisings in Indian territory . As Jim Bridger -though initially hostile due to wrenching personal issues and old sinister conflicts- , along with his colleague Sol Beckworth (Jackie Oakie) another mountain man, fur trapper, army scout and explorer , both of whom join army , fighting side-by-side for the glory of the West . Nevertheless , nasty bigot lieutenant Dancy (Alex Nicol) is reluctant to this unusual alliance and distrusts having the famous scout as ally . Then , Dancy leads his regiment on a wild chase across the plains and hills in this saga of the old west . Dancy and his US cavalry squares off rampaging Sioux . Dancy participated at the massacre at Sand Creek in 1864 , -killing a lot of Indians , majority of whom were women and children- along with John Chivington who led a bloody militia in Colorado Territory with his heinous Volunteers who were responsible for several deaths . Along the way Bridger tries to win the heart of a beautiful woman named Julie Madden (Yvonne De Carlo) . This moving movie is an epic portrait of the historic story about the celebrated Indian Sioux battles against the USA cavalry , being inaccurate historically , though at the final re-enacts the 'Fetterman Massacre' , an actual event that took place in 1866 . The picture gets Western action , shootouts , romance , breathtaking raids on wagons as well as fort , colorful outdoors with big skies wonderfully photographed by Charles Boyle and turns out to be fun . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians, production values and pleasing results . At the ending , when takes place the Indian assault , possesses all the sweep , grandeur and noisy action of the greatest Westerns of an age long past . Nice acting from a great cast . As Van Heflin is good as the known scout who attempts to keep the peace between US cavalry and Indians . Heflin gives stature to the role , providing sincerity and bravura . And two beautiful starlets : Yvonne De Carlo as gorgeous and pleasant woman , and other wonderful girl , Susan Cabot as Indian Monahseetah . Support cast is frankly excellent , such as : Alex Nicol , Preston Foster , Jack Oakie , John War Eagle , Ann Doran , Stuart Randall , brief appearance by Rock Hudson and special mention for the veteran Tom Tully .The film is freely based on James Felix Bridger's (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) life who was among the foremost mountain men, trappers, scouts and guides who explored and trapped the Western United States during the decades of 1820–1850, as well as mediating between native tribes and encroaching whites . He was of English ancestry , and his family had been in North America since the early colonial period . He would come to know many of the major European American explorers of the early west, including Kit Carson, George Armstrong Custer, Hugh Glass, John Frémont, Joseph Meek, and John Sutter. Bridger was part of the second generation of mountain men and pathfinders who explored the American West that followed the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1804. In fact , while exploring in order to find an alternative overland route to the South Pass, Bridger found what would eventually be known as Bridger's Pass , it would later be the chosen route for both the Union Pacific Railroad and later Interstate 80.The motion picture was professionally directed by George Sherman in B-style , though has some flaws . Sherman made reliable low-budget fare for Columbia between 1945-48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another eight years , where he directed this ¨Tomahawk¨ . Sherman specialized almost exclusively in "B" westerns there , including the "Three Musketeers" series, which featured a young John Wayne. George directed lots of Westerns as ¨The Last of the Fast Guns¨ , ¨The Lone Hand¨, ¨Santa Fe stampede¨ , ¨Red skin¨ , ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ ¨Calamity Jane¨, ¨Relentless¨ , ¨Comanche Territory¨ , ¨Dawn at Socorro¨, ¨Border River¨ , ¨war arrow¨, and many others . He also made occasional forays into action and horror themes, often achieving a sense of style over substance . The only "A"-grade films to his credit were two westerns starring John Wayne: ¨Comancheros¨ (1961) (as producer) and ¨The big Jack¨ (1971) . His last films were realized in Spain as "Find That Girl" , ¨The new Cinderella¨ and ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨. ¨Tomahawk¨ Rating : 6.5/10 . Well worth watching

a-caplan The film is an entertainment not a history lesson but the broad picture of the advance into Indian territory from Wyoming into Montana along the Bozeman is not misleading - nor is Chivington's complicity in his incitement of the Cheyenne, Carrington's qualities as an officer, or Fetterman's fool-hardiness historically wrong or misplaced. Lastly, this was made in the cinema era of Indians as bloodthirsty savages - well before 'Cheyenne Autumn' and the sixties' discovery of revisionist Western history. Bridger's parting comment that it wasn't anything in the innate qualities of the American fighting man that won them the battle but the introduction of a superior arms technology is an astute assessment of the situation in 1868. For the rest, the opening commentary that the Americans would keep on coming regardless is the unavoidable truth of the matter.

weezeralfalfa Having seen and reviewed several films dealing with various aspects of the Powder River Bozeman Trail(Red Cloud)War of 1866-8, whether or not acknowledged as such, it was refreshing to find a Hollywood cavalry western that was much more of a documentary treatment than these later films. Directed by George Sherman, who specialized in short "B" westerns and other films for Universal, it was mostly shot in the Black Hills of SD, which rather resemble the neighboring Powder River region of WY. Later films that incorporated much more fiction and only dealt with parts of the story include: "The Last Frontier", "The Gun That Won the West" and "The Tall Men".It's true that veteran trapper, explorer, trader and scout Jim Bridger's role in this affair is grossly magnified. The two featured women: Julie(Yvonne De Carlo) and Indian princess Monahseetah(Susan Cabot) are included to soften the otherwise war drama, which lacks any substantial humor or musical interludes. Even veteran comedic character actor Jack Oakie fails to provide much lightening of the drama. Monahseetah, although often in the background as Bridger's girlfriend, hardly says anything in the film. She seems to serve mainly as an impediment to Julie's gradual increasing romantic interest in Bridger. Since Bridger admits to Julie that he doesn't consider Monahseetah his wife, Julie maintains hope that she can nudge Monahseetah aside. But, eventually, it becomes clear that Bridger doesn't ever want a white woman, even with Julie's assets, as a wife. Thus, there is minimal romantic element in the film, with no parting kiss. The women vanish from the last part of the film. This mirrors the real Bridger, who had 3 successive squaws for wives, with no white women. The real Bridger was not a Heflin, in the prime of life, bur rather an old man who would soon retire to his Missouri farm. Unlike some of her films("Frontier Gal", "Buccaneer's Girl") where Yvonne plays a spitfire as well as singer/dancer, she's pretty tame in this flick, although gorgeous, in one of her few color films. Like Shirley Temple, in "Fort Apache", she gets into trouble taking a horse ride out from the fort, against advice.The Fetterman Massacre, considered the greatest defeat suffered by the US army from an Indian encounter before Custer's Last Stand, is included. Lt. Dancy, who participated in this disaster, is cast as Bridger's chief adversary: all around badman, who relishes killing Indians, who tries to rape Julie, and who participated in the previous historical Sand Creek Massacre of a Cheyenne village, including Bridger's wife(not historically true). The screenplay continues with greater success against the Indians in the subsequent historical Hayfield and Wagon Box Canyon fights, after receipt of 1866 issue Springfield single shot breech-loading rifles to replace their obsolete Springfield muskets. These rifles were much quicker to load and more accurate than the muskets, thus negating the Indian's accustomed attack strategy with their mostly short range bows and arrows. This is historically true, and the main point of the subsequent Hollywood film "The Gun That won the West"As Col. Carrington articulates, despite their increasing success against the Indians, the army brass back east decided to abandon the campaign, including the several forts so recently built. However, he doesn't tell the reason for this decision, which was to use the forces involved in this struggle to help protect the transcontinental railroad, recently built across southern Wyoming, from attacks.With Bridger's dominating role in the screenplay and pro-Indian sympathies, It's not surprising that the Indians emerge the ultimate strategic, if not tactical, victors. As Heflin articulates, the Indians were being defeated near the end by the new, far better, army firearms, not by better war tactics. Unlike chiefs such as Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, Red Cloud eventually went on to lead the inevitable transformation of his people into reservation Indians, and lived into the 20th century, famous among both whites and his people for both his military skills and his leadership in this necessary transformation.My limited experience with Heflin films suggest that he was, as in this one, often cast as a humorless determined loner, who goes against the grain of the groups he was associated with. Examples include:"Santa Fe Trail", and "Tennessee Johnson".John War Eagle, who played Red Cloud, was a Lakota, and played an Indian, often a chief, in quite a few Hollywood and TV westerns.Preston Foster made a believable Col. Carrington, commander of this military operation, although an engineer by background. Although never a big star, his film career stretched back to the dawn of talkies, and would continue.Susan Cabot tried to forget her miserable childhood, spent being shuffled from one foster home to another, by an early marriage and budding careers in music, art and drama. Unfortunately, she disliked her Universal assignments, but eventually found a kindred director in Roger Corman, who provided her with some meaty roles. Unfortunately, she became mentally unstable later in life, and was murdered by her avenging son.I give this film high marks for being a solidly-based western, though not the most entertaining one.

zardoz-13 Veteran western director George Sherman's "Tomahawk" qualifies as a predictable but entertaining, Blue coats versus the Redskins horse opera. Van Heflin toplines this Technicolor tale as a savvy cavalry scout, Jim Bridger, who aligns himself with the U.S. Calvary but argues on behalf of the Indians. Bridger has young Native American daughter, but his wife is dead. Universal Pictures forged his 1951 oater in the mold of Delmar Daves' landmark epic "Broken Arrow." The Native Americans aren't just bloodthirsty savages howling for scalps. The Sioux Indians have suffered bitterly at the hands of treacherous whites, and "Tomahawk" presents them from a sympathetic perspective. The Black Hills of South Dakota scenery is rugged but beautiful, and Sherman paces the action so it doesn't wear out its welcome. Despite its lofty sentiments toward the Indians, "Tomahawk" is still a conventional dust raiser. Yvonne De Carlo plays the love interest that hates the heroic scout initially and hangs around a despicable cavalry officer played with villainous verve by Alex Nicol. Look closely and you'll spot a young Rock Hudson as a cavalry corporeal. "Rancho Notorious" scenarist Silvia Richards and "Love Me Tender" scribe Maurice Geraghty incorporate the historically infamous Fetterman massacre where the cavalry are lured into an ambush. Aside from its pro-Indian stance, "Tomahawk" observes all the conventions of the genre, but its chief virtue is the offbeat casting of Heflin as the hero. Jack Okie is squandered in a supporting role as a cavalry scout who tags along with Jim Bridger. The love interest between Bridger and Yvonne De Carlo's character is never resolved. In a sense, the Indians win because a new treaty is negotiated and the cavalry are ordered to abandon their fort which the Sioux promptly burn. The characters are all one-dimensional. Although this western packs no surprises, Sherman has done an efficient job of making it.