For it's time, a remarkably grim and violent Hollywood western. It almost seems to sense the impending arrival of Leone and Peckinpah in it's blurring of the boundaries between good and evil and presenting the audience with conflicting characters beset by dubious motivations. In fact, it seems to bridge the gap in a transitional way between the old style of western and the newer, harsher, more explicit breed that was just around the corner.
Richard Boone gives a powerhouse performance as an alcoholic ex-Confederate major on a personal mission to kill as many Apache as possible. The film opens with him clinically and precisely taking out an Indian burial party with a rifle. Sort of sets the tone. Boone ends up sidetracked into guiding Whitman's disgraced cavalry officer in pursuit of a rogue Confederate general supplying the Indians with rifles. It's an uneasy alliance played out in a doom-laden atmosphere of distrust and danger. There are some moments that still have the power to shock - Boone putting the ravaged white woman out of her misery at point blank range, the death of the rescued baby, etc.
An overlooked classic, also featuring Jim Brown in his debut and Anthony Franciosa. Plenty of action and chewing of scenery, but it's really Boone's show all the way. He was a character actor par excellence and dominates every scene he appears in.
Richard Boone gives a powerhouse performance as an alcoholic ex-Confederate major on a personal mission to kill as many Apache as possible. The film opens with him clinically and precisely taking out an Indian burial party with a rifle. Sort of sets the tone. Boone ends up sidetracked into guiding Whitman's disgraced cavalry officer in pursuit of a rogue Confederate general supplying the Indians with rifles. It's an uneasy alliance played out in a doom-laden atmosphere of distrust and danger. There are some moments that still have the power to shock - Boone putting the ravaged white woman out of her misery at point blank range, the death of the rescued baby, etc.
An overlooked classic, also featuring Jim Brown in his debut and Anthony Franciosa. Plenty of action and chewing of scenery, but it's really Boone's show all the way. He was a character actor par excellence and dominates every scene he appears in.