This film opens with an intriguing premise with a veteran army scout (Gregory Peck) retiring and then acting as protector to a Caucasian woman (Eva Marie Saint) and her native son after she is freed from 10 years of captivity with a renegade Indian band.
We later discover the trio is being tracked by the band's leader, a legendary killer and raider, and that Saint's child is his son.
Director Robert Mulligan does an adequate job of cranking up the tension as Peck and his surrogate family await the almost-mythic renegade. But the film disappoints in the characterizations and the confrontation when the killer arrives.
Peck's Sam Varner is a certainly courageous man but he shows none of the savvy or cunning of a widely respected scout. He simply waits in his log cabin without a real plan - and then rushes blindly outside where his nemesis waits in cover.
The mother-son relationship between Saint and Nolan Clay isn't convincing or satisfying either.
The always reliable Robert Forster does bring some life to events as Nick Tana, Varner's long-time friend and protege, but he is also under-used.
Finally, Peck gives a very watchable performance given the shortcomings but Alvin Sargent's screenplay isn't smart enough to give us the duel the story had been building up.
Review of The Stalking Moon
