Review of Chuka

Cavalry western, starring Rod Taylor as wandering gunslinger Chuka, who teams up with the largely fort-bound cavalry, based upon a novel by Richard Jessup, who also wrote the screenplay. Directed by Gordon Douglas. We start out with a brief epilogue, in which a cavalry detail arrives at burned-out Fort Clendennon, which they find vacated except by Arapaho chief Hanu. Bodies of cavalrymen are strewn around. The epilogue is briefly finished at the end of the film........Now,, we turn to the past, to chronical what happened. ...........Chuka happens to wander into an encampment of starving Arapaho, led by Chief Hanu and offers them some of his food. They are angry that the fort has not delivered the promised food and other supplies. The company commander, Col. Valois(John Mills) refused to release the supplies until he gets official authorization. As he leaves the Indians, Chuka happens upon a stage carrying Senora Veronica, and niece Senorita Helena. An Arapaho patrol happens upon them, and they are afraid they will all be slaughtered. But Chief Hanu recognizes Chuka, and allows the stage to proceed toward the fort, accompanied by Chuka. Senorita Helena is hoping to find a man who will marry her. I don't know where the widowed Senora Veronica hopes to get to. However, .she once had an affair with Chuka. Unfortunately, her parents wouldn't allow her to marry him, as he was just a handyman. They will renew their passion for each other in the short time they are in the fort. Tragically, Veronica dies from an arrow during the Arapaho attack on the fort. During her time in the fort, she seldom smiles, perhaps still grieving from her husband's death. Instead, Chuka would be fated to be paired with Helena in the aftermath of the Indian attack, as the only apparent survivors............Chuka would gradually come to realize that most of the soldiers, including the Colonel, were sent to this remote fort because they were misfits. This is also true of the fort in Anthony Mann's earlier western "The Last Frontier", suggesting a possible copycat relationship with the present film. Col. Valois had once been in charge of a company fighting in India, which was totally wiped out. He is afraid this might be repeated in the present. There is disagreement among the men about what to do about the present situation. The Col. wants to stay in the fort, while some others think they should attack the Arapaho. There is nearly a mutiny. A patrol sent to scout the Arapaho is slaughtered, except for one returnee. ............Earnest Borgnine plays the Sgt.(Hansbach) of the company. He has a dislike for the cocky Chuka, and they eventually have a brutal fisticuff, reckoned to have been a draw. Thereafter, the Sgt. treats Chuka with some respect. Hansbach fought with Col. Valois in North Africa, where the Col. saved his life, at the cost of being captured and castrated. Ever after, he has followed the Col., doing whatever the Col. requests, and protecting him............. Major Benson(louis Hayward) has a secret Arapaho mistress he keeps in a closet when she is not wanted. Unclear how he obtained her. Serendipitously for her, when Chief Hanu is about to attack the fort, Benson embraces her, and she stabs him in the back with a long sturdy knife(Where did she get this?) She then starts a fire, which will eventually consume nearly the entire fort, and also aids the braves in getting into the fort, where they want to steal the supplies promised them. The soldiers are badly outnumbered and eventually all succumb. Only Chuka and Helena remain. They are hiding in a cubby hole when Chief Hanu spies them. Chuka aims his pistol at the chief ,but doesn't fire., Then,he aims his gun at Helena's head, and the chief withdraws. Just before this incident, a spear goes through Chuka's left abdomen and exits in the front. Somehow?? he gets this out(we don't see the process). This certainly would appear to be a fatal wound. But, afterward, Chuka acts spry. We don't see what happens to Chuka and Helena. They would certainly need a horse or two to go elsewhere. Did the Indians leave any?