User Reviews

Agreeable movie about the famous Indian leader and set on spectacular landscapes and attempts to adhere to historical facts concerning his life . The picture is well made , with plenty of action sequences as Geronimo and his band battle US forces , later fighting the white Americans , when they in turn, encroached upon Apache land . The film talks upon Geronimo (Chuck Connors , satisfactory in the lead) , chief of Apaches Chiricaguas and his band of rebel Indians . The continuous humiliation in reservoir of San Carlos caused the bursting of riots commanded by Geronimo , Mangus Coloradas (Ross Martin) and his group of Indians . They will confront American cavalry in charge of General Crook (Laurence Dobkin) and his officials (Adam West, Pat Conroy) . The sorrow and despair of finding his tribe starving , the sheer frustration of San Carlos ruled by corrupt Jeremiah (John Anderson) ,the hopelessness of resistance against a foe you know you can't beat originate the rebellion . Meanwhile , Geronimo falls in love with a gorgeous Indian woman (Kamala Devi in a rich characterization) .

In the film there are wonderful outdoors shot on location of Durango(Mexico) territory and displays action , shootouts, violence and though sometimes is slow-moving , isn't tiring neither dreary , sustaining the interest for quite a while . The movie also portrays the sensitive side of the Native American character though is dramatically slack and some moments there's nothing left to maintain viewer involvement . This Indian-on-the-warpath tale is based on historical characters : Geronimo, Mangus , Cochise and general Crook who tries to subjugate the great Apache warrior . The motion picture didn't obtain success and was a real flop in box office , in spite of the extraordinary sets , glimmer cinematography by Alex Phillips and atmospheric Hugo Friedhofer musical score . This version of the "Geronimo Legend" results to be one of the best considering some of the other attempts to portray the Apache war leader . Most of the Apache leaders of the period are also featured as Cochise, Mangus Coloradas, Nana and Juh , all relevant figures at the time and an influence in the struggle against overwhelming forces . If anybody out there is interested in Native American history , this movie is well worth a watch . The motion picture is professionally directed by Arnold Laven . Laven formed a production company along with Jules Levy and Arthur Gardner. The first Levy-Gardner-Laven movie was 1952's "Without Warning"'; in the decades since, they have produced and directed dozens of additional features . He's an expert on Western genre as cinema as television as he produced and directed several TV series including "The Rifleman," "Law of the Plainsman," , "The Big Valley" . And directed acceptable Western films as ¨The glory guys¨, ¨Geronimo¨and ¨Sam Whiskey . ¨Geronimo¨ will appeal to Indian western fans . Rating: good , the result is a pretty fair movie . Well catching , you won't be disappointed .

Other version upon this famous personage are the following : 1939 Geronimo with Preston Foster , Ellen Drew and Chief Thundercloud in the title role ; 1993 TV Geronimo by Roger Young with August Schellemberg , Nick Ramus and Joseph Runningfox ; finally , Walter Hill version titled Geronimo : An American legend (1993) that is the best so far , played by Wes Studi, Matt Damon , Jason Patric and Gene Hackman and utilizing at support cast some pretty heavyweight Native American acting talents.

Possibly because The Rifleman series that Levy-Gardner-Laven produced on television was shot in black and white was the reason that no one apparently noticed that Chuck Connors had blue eyes. In any event when they produced this B film about the last great Indian warrior chief Geronimo since they had Chuck Connors under contract for The Rifleman they figured to get him dirt cheap for this film. I'm sure Connors was also looking towards a big screen career as well.

If you can get over how ridiculous Connors looks as a blue eyed Indian, the film Geronimo is not a bad one given the fact it is a B film. It takes the Indian point of view dispassionately, just letting facts speak for themselves.

Geronimo in fact had surrendered and was sent to live on the San Carlos Reservation, but ill treatment by corrupt politicians and self righteous do-gooders as exemplified by John Anderson in this film, sent Geronimo packing along with some of his best warriors. They bedeviled the Arizona territory and the Mexican authorities for several years.

Geronimo took one thing he liked from San Carlos along with him, beautiful Indian maid Kamala Devi. Ironically enough Kamala Devi is an actual Indian Indian, but she's drop dead gorgeous in any culture. Chuck Connors thought so too because he left his first wife for her during the making of Geronimo.

With certain reservations, no pun intended, Geronimo is not a bad telling of the tale of the last campaign against the American Indians. But I can't believe that the team of Levy-Gardner-Laven couldn't afford some contact lenses for Chuck Connors in the budget.

There's really nothing to distinguish GERONIMO from any standard Hollywood western about outlaws, except that this time it's a lone outlaw against the U.S. cavalry at a time when Indian treaties were being broken and the Indians wanted to fight over territorial rights. Nothing complex here, just a fictionalized account of Geronimo's love for an Indian woman who bears him a son before the fadeout and after the final battle.

Blond and blue-eyed CHUCK CONNORS isn't anyone's idea of an Indian so it's hard to tell what the casting director was thinking, but he does a commendable job of looking like one, thanks to make-up and costumes, except for the blue eyes. He makes no attempt at any sort of native accent but his stoic manner and steely-eyed gaze does help the characterization. KAMALA DEVI is good as the Indian woman who bears his child and ADAM WEST has a pivotal role as a sympathetic officer.

Nicely photographed but short on battle skirmishes, it makes passable entertainment but is hardly an outstanding western by any yardstick, dull in some stretches with a less than inspired script.

You have got to give a compliment to Chuck Connors for making this fine film...he was at the height of his popularity in 1961 when this film was made as "The Rifleman"...a very successful TV western....Connors checked in his rancher duds for an Indian wig and clothes and this is one of the very best westerns made in the 60s... The story concerns the Indian chief Geronimo who outfought, outwitted and outmaneuvered the US army for a few years during the 1880s in the western US and parts of Mexico. Geronimo, a fierce warrior reluctantly accepts a parcel of land for him and his warrior band as part of a peace treaty...Little did he know in this film that a crooked army captain and crooked reservation politician was scheming to sell off his land due to a crooked land deal that paid them a considerable amount of money. Geronimo learns of this crooked deal and escapes with his warrior band and goes on the run....outwitting and out fighting the US army at every turn. Pat Conway, who formerly starred as the "Sheriff of Tombstone Territory" is cast as the crooked and nasty army captain....look for a young Adam West a few years before his Batman days as a young army lieutenant with a conscience, who feels betrayed by his crooked army captain in the treatment of Geronimo and his band. A beautiful young Indian lady, Kahali Devi is the wife and lady love of Geronimo. Look for Ross Martin as the chief friend of Geronimo, Mangus......this film is nearly two hours of good solid western entertainment albeit Chuck Conners does not look the real part of an Indian, despite all the makeup. In the end the US government realizes that the Indians have been done wrong by the government and the army and submits a peace treaty with dignity that Geronimo can accept. You will really marvel at how devious in the film Chuck Connors is in making his warrior band live and learn off of the land to survive. This is a western you will not want to miss.

This movie is insulting on so many levels. Put aside just how white Geronimo is (possibly the worst casting since John Wayne as Genghis Kahn!) as that is more a product of the times than anything else.

However they could have at least tried to give the characters some authenticity, unless anyone else reviewing this movie thinks its perfectly ok to watch Mangus try to offload his 'cousin' on to Geronimo. The way the characters were presented to us they could have cast Abbott and Costello as Mangus and Geronimo.

A nothing story. And don't get sucked in to 'this is how movies were made back then'. 1962 saw the release of Lawrence of Arabia, Dr.No, To Kill a Mockingbird!!

With the actual story providing a considerable amount to work with, these film makers should hang their heads in shame.

Although this movie has stale writing, uninspiring acting, and a cheesy plot, an understanding of the Historical context of the film adds much to one's viewing enjoyment. The movie, by no means, claims to be historically accurate (Geronimo is played by a white guy with make-up!), but it is a socially commentary on a century of unmoral and assimilationist Indian Policy in the United States. During the early 1960s President John F. Kennedy proposed a revision of this policy, calling for the recognition of Native Americans as distinct Nations. Kennedy's proposition was a dramatic diversion from the Indain Policy of administrations before him. This movie highlights, the poor conditions of the reservations, the forced conversion of Aboriginals to Christianity, and the policy's attack on the Aboriginal culture and way of life. This historical context, coupled with Adam West (who rocks my socks!) adds to the enjoyment of this film.

Chuck Connors is an unlikely "Geronimo", depicted here as a deeply principled traditionalist whose cunning and apparent reckless fearlessness leads his people to the brink of oblivion. This version (there are several films on the subject) concentrates on his time both on and at times off the imposed reservation following his surrender, with arrogant cavalry captain Pat Conway goading him into retaliation after repeated mistreatment and degradation of his people.

More temperate types (pre-Batman Adam West as a uniformed pacifier) attempt to cajole Geronimo back to the safety of the reservation, culminating in a tense climax. Larry Dobkin, John Anderson, Ross Martin and Denver Pyle (20 years pre "Dukes of Hazzard", but still recognisable) have supporting roles, but Connors chews the scenery as hero, with Conway firmly painted as the antagonist (a charismatic actor, it's a great shame his career never reached its full potential before his untimely death).

Not especially gripping, the atmosphere is typical clichéd Hollywood gloss and aside from some impressive horse-riding and wrangling stunt-work, there's little else to recommend.

Well meaning but wooden story of how Geronimo, with fifty Apaches, came to stand off the U.S. Army. Chuck Conners gives a creditable performance as a wooden Indian, and his soon-to-be real life wife plays the woman who loves him. Most amusing for Ross Martin as a wise-cracking sidekick and Adam West, four years before he became a wooden Batman, as a sympathetic army officer.

On the Arizona-Mexico border in 1883, Apache warrior Geronimo surrenders himself and his tribe to the US Calvary in exchange for food and shelter on government land; naturally, the villainous, despicable whites sell the ground out from underneath the Indians after a greedy land baron sees they have turned the hard dirt into fertile soil for farming, leading to an unwinnable war between the fading Apaches and the Americans. Mixing "fact and legend", screenwriter Pat Fielder shamefully reduces history to textbook eye-for-an-eye business. Western-adventure from United Artists is further hurt by a TV cast and budget. Chuck Connors' Geronimo wages war on the Cavalrymen, though from what we can see it's really just Pat Conway's smirking Captain who's against him. Conway, decked out with an ostentatious neckerchief, unmercifully struts his way through this thing like a smug peacock...but, at least he wasn't forced to wear a ratty black wig like most of his co-stars. Some good scenes, such as an impromptu chicken dinner at the house of a strict widow, almost makes up for the general lack of story and character development. ** from ****

The film begins with Geronimo (Chuck Connors) "surrendering" by agreeing on a treaty that gives his Apaches land on a reservation in Arizona. However, things quickly go wrong while on the reservation. Geronimo leaves with a band of warriors and declares war on the United States. The majority of the film is the story of this war, told from Geronimo's perspective.

While the script and direction are fairly pedestrian here (with the exception of a few fantastic shots of sunsets and landscapes), Geronimo works because of a number of excellent performances, including Connors, Ross Martin (as Mangus), Kamala Devi (as Teela), Pat Conway (as Captain William Maynard), and Adam West (as Delahay).

The film is also surprisingly complex in terms of sociological subtexts. With one clear exception (having to do with a subversive sale of land), there are no clear "bad guys" and "good guys" here. Rather, the conflicts of the film are portrayed as resulting from cultural dispositions, duty and necessity. Each character or group of characters is responsible for some behavior that is a fairly serious crime (legal or moral) in the eyes of other characters, and each is seeking an improvement of their lot, mostly with a desire that the other parties understand their position better.

However, there's no need to expect heavy-handed intellectualism from the film. On the surface, this is a quality western with a great deal of suspense, although perhaps too lacking in big battle scenes for some western fans. There are a number of smaller battles, but the focus is always on the strategy behind them rather than the battle itself, and in my eyes, that makes them interesting and suspenseful in a way that more clichéd action scenes wouldn't achieve. Geronimo is much more about a clash of cultures, and successfully spends a lot of time on Geronimo's relationships with Mangus and Teela. An 8 out of 10 for me.

Wow - never knew Geronimo had blue eyes...

But Chuck Connors definitely had the face - cheek bones, general hatchet visage and kick-ass stance, to play a tough-guy like Geronimo.

I just find the whole romantiziation (??) of the story hard to stomach. His side-kick Magnus' New York/Catskills one-liners seemed a bit out of place as well, but whatever.

And Batman is in the show! How can you miss it?

I should admit that I have no idea how accurate this biopic is of the legendary Native American called Geronimo. It's probably just loosely based on the real events surrounding him, so I probably should judge the movie on its entertainment level. I thought for the most part it was an okay western. While I would have preferred a real Native American to play the title role, I have to admit Chuck Connors did well, giving his character an intensity and charisma that keeps you watching and interested despite the script problems. The script problems include the movie not really going deep in his character, and ending at a point that will make you wonder what happened in real life to Geronimo afterwards. But despite these and other script problems, I have to admit that I was never bored, so I'll give this movie a pass.

That's what the star Chuck Connors brings to this movie i.e. a respect for his character called Geronimo and he pulls it off quite nicely. You want to see a no nonsense leader who was forged by living off the land and does not fear life or death lead his people with dignity. You get that here. There is also an array of bad guys to hate and they really go all out to get you to do it. The hypocrisy, unfair treatment of Indians and the famous "fork tongue" of the white man all displayed very well here. Burt Lancaster took on a similar role in a movie called Apache just as entertaining too. However white men playing in non-white roles only takes us so far. Rock Hudson even tried it as did Charles Bronson and many others. Hey, it was a paycheck! There is some love relief, lots of horse-back riding, Calvary to make it a decent way to pass the time. Snack away, have a tasty drink and enjoy the Rifleman before he became Lucas McCain as Geronimo

1883: Geronimo and his band of Apache warriors surrender to the US military in return for the promise of land and food. But when cheated of their supplies the Indian chief declares 'war' - 50 men against the US cavalry!

Chuck Connors stars as Apache warrior Geronimo and despite being blue-eyed he cuts a formidable figure with his cheekbones, physique and charisma and is ably supported a great cast. Kamala Devi plays his wife and she comes off best.

Geronimo is solid western entertainment which is actually quite intelligent with some tense moments and fine action. It's a well meaning western where no character is totally good or bad.