paleachriverdale
The film is loosely based on the exploits of a Chiricahua Apache better known as Josanie. In November, 1885, with about ten men, he entered New Mexico from Mexico and ranged north through New Mexico and Eastern Arizona, killing and stealing horses. On the Fort Apache Reservation they killed twenty White Mountain Apaches, men, women and children. By the end of December he was back in Mexico, having killed 38 and losing only one of his men. He had traveled 1200 miles. He surrendered to General Crook in March, 1886 and was sent to Florida. He lived to attend the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo with Geronimo ( unfortunately, President McKinley also attended) . He died at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma in 1909, less than a year after Geronimo died at Ft. Sill. The film has some of the western cliches; the savvy veteran and the green officer; the white woman driven mad by abuse in the hands of the Apaches, but Lancaster is fine in the role of McIntosh, the experienced scout (the real Archie McIntosh served as a scout in Arizona, but apparently did not chase Josanie. The film is generally realistic-at one point Apaches are seen jogging along with horse guts full of water around their necks-but the ending, with McIntosh being sent as bait to lure an Apache attack, is ludicrous. Part of the film seems to have been filmed in the San Rafael Valley, a beautiful spot on the Arizona-Mexico border.
sol-
An idealistic young officer teams up with an experienced scout to track down a group of murderous Apaches in this popular western drama written by 'Night Moves' screenwriter Alan Sharp and directed by Robert Aldrich. Burt Lancaster has the lead role of the old scout, Richard Jaeckel can be found among the supporting cast and the film is shot by Oscar winning DOP Joseph F. Biroc. With such strong talent both behind and in front of the camera, 'Ulzana's Raid' is a classy production and refreshingly grisly and graphically violent for a western of its era. The crux of the story though is the young officer's growing disillusionment with his quest and gradual realisation that some people out there are simply sadistic and evil - a character arc a little too trite and formulaic to click. Bruce Davison is a solid actor in general (very effective in 'Last Summer' and 'The Strawberry Statement' only a few years earlier) but he is simply grating as the young officer here, constantly preaching his religious beliefs and constantly asking rhetorical questions in a non-rhetorical way. He seems like a child at times with his apparent oblivion to evil existing in the world and frequent claims of good existing in everyone. The film almost makes up for this with a nice subplot involving Jorge Luke as an Apache helping Lancaster and Davison in their quest with some very pronounced internal dilemmas. Some apparently regard the film as a Vietnam War allegory, but it can be appreciated allegorical connections aside, even if it is hardly a flawless production.
LeonLouisRicci
Above average western with some brutal violence and some talky exploration of the Whiteman vs Indian philosophy and behavior. The then trend of social commentary started making its way into the movie western. There had been a long film history, with a few notable exceptions, of portraying Native Americans as mad dog, heathen horribles that were destroying the White Man's manifest destiny and needed extermination or at the very least interment. They were less than human.That ethnocentric egotism is here but at least it is articulated and a skeptical scope is put on both sides. Make no mistake, the Indians are the villains here, but the invading, trespassing intruders will pay a heavy price, as do they. The lesson here is not politically correct, it is an inconvenient consistency, White is right and the Darkman is at best a Noble Savage who wears feathers instead of hats.
elcoat
... the other being The Searchers, of course.Bruce Davison's Lt. DeBuin could have as easily been a new lieutenant fresh out of West Point in Viet Nam. The film educates the viewer on the reality of those times and responsibilities and human responses to them.Lancaster is perfectly cast as the aging scout who has come to respect and like one of the fiercest and at that time least likable Native American peoples. (There were two other Lancaster Westerns at about the time of this one: The Lawman, and Valdez Is Coming.) But the most fascinating and illuminating character is Apache Scout Ke-Ni-Tay, thanks to Jorge Luke's restrained acting.Indeed, it is the young Apache Scout's and young Army lieutenant's meeting, exchanges, and ultimate mutual understanding and respect - enabled and encouraged by the wise, fatherly scout, and shared by the audience - which is the crux of this film.This little-known film everyone should see, before they pass judgment on those times and places and how people there handled them.Lou Coatney
AD
