TankGuy
A few years after the Civil war, veteran Miles Archer(GUY MADISON)is summoned to Fort Bellows by lieutenant Colonel Kilrain(FAY ROOPE)where he is asked to go on a mission to rescue two white women taken captive by a tribe of Cheyenne Indians years before. Miles reluctantly agrees, but as the Colonel cannot spare soldiers, Miles must take a group of misfits, troublemakers and drunks along on his mission. Once the men have been trained and armed, Miles leads them on their mission, days later the men reach the Cheyenne village and rescue the women without attracting any attention and begin their journey back to the fort.However,one of the women ,Jennie(VERA MILES),has been brainwashed and was going to marry the Cheyenne chief Thunderhawk,so tries to thwart the group's efforts any way she can and this is the last thing they need after Thunderhawk finds out that the women have gone and sets out after the group in hot pursuit with every warrior he has got...Throughout the 1950s,all the prominent and most successful film studios jumped on the 3D bandwagon in order to cash in on a craze, that in it's day, was highly revolutionary and way ahead of it's time.Westerns were especially popular in 3D and THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER is one such example, I can only say that audiences must have loved this film when they saw it in the cinema all those years ago because even watching it in 2D it looks extremely impressive. The action sequences are both magnificent and highly exhilarating, the first shootout among the rocky crags of a brutal, blistering desert in which a small force of Indians come charging at the group was brilliant, this sequence was shot amazingly and the gunshots were ear shattering, just how they should be. The second shootout in which Sergeant Baker and Ryan shoot it out with a smaller group of Indians was just as exciting. The climatic battle at Feather river was certainty riveting, it was fantastic and tremendously intense, again it was briskly shot in the most nail biting way and the stunts the Indians performed as they were shot off their Horses sent adrenaline charging through my body,look out for one excellent shot of an Indian getting killed and falling to the ground with his face falling right in front of the camera,i was also awestruck by the shots of hoards upon hoards of arrows and spears flying right into the middle of the screen. I was completely blown away by the realism of the action scenes, for example men screaming in agony as they are stabbed and hit by arrows and spears and also shots of bloody wounds. Two factors which made the film stand out compared to other westerns. An incredible scene which I will forever remember this film for is the scene in which Sergeant Baker and Ryan are menaced by a Rattlesnake whilst hiding from the Indians and baker, not wanting to jeopardise their position, spits Tobacco at the Rattlesnake to get rid of it.I can't imagine what audiences watching this film in 3D back in 1953 must have thought of this scene but I thought it was both terrific and impressive. The scene in which Jennie shoots Johnny, her brother, in the arm but then falls over a cliff to her death was quite chilling and powerful and shot in a strong, taut way. The sequence in which the men are lowered down the cliff face was absolutely superb and really tense and the shots of the charging Indians in the final battle were absolutely rollicking.I thought the script was great and I loved the storyline as it's the typical "Guys on a mission" premise which I love and really appeals to me.Guy Madison was great as Miles Archer, I thought he was really cool in a way, a giant compared with today's leading men, he's just as awesome in American westerns like this as he is in Spaghetti westerns.As said the script was great but there are a few minor plot holes,however,nothing that ruined the film. It's also brilliantly directed and paced and never really drags or gets boring, one other very small gripe I had was that the comic relief scenes between the two guys bickering over the alcohol canteen got a little monotonous, but again didn't in the way of the film.The two studios who made the greatest and most entertaining westerns in the 1950s Hollywood were Universal and Warner brothers, who made this film.Yes,THE CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER is a wholly satisfying, enjoyable and spectacular western adventure made all the more impressive by the State-Of-The-Art 3D camera-work and thrilling action scenes. This excellent film hasn't been on British TV in a long time(today was the first time I saw it in the listings, apart from TCM),for this, I owe my gratitude to 5USA for showing it this afternoon.9/10.
weezeralfalfa
First thing I would like to know is: Why the Feather River? The only Feather River I could find reference to is in northern CA, hardly Cheyenne country. At one point, Guy Madison mentions a place called Three Forks. The Feather River famously has 3 main tributaries(forks) that come together at one point! I could find no reference to a Fort Darby: the main featured fort. From other info I have read, it's clear that this is a renaming of historic Fort Wallace: the western-most army fort in Kansas during the post-Civil War era...Chief Thunderhawk is a historically relevant name in this approximate era, but he was a Lakota chief, not Cheyenne! I'm sure these probably unnoticed tamperings with historical and geographic reality make no difference to 99% of audiences and don't materially impact my assessment of the film, as this was standard Hollywood shenanigans of this era.Apparently, the screen-play is somewhat based upon the historic Beecher Island conflict between Lakota/Cheyenne and frontiersmen, hired as army scouts, rather than inmates of the fort guardhouse, as depicted in the film. As in the film, they were issued Spencer repeating rifles instead of the standard single shot Springfield rifles of the era. Also, as in the film, when they were surrounded by Indians, they did send 2 scouts to distant Fort Wallace for relief, and cavalry did successfully relieve their dire situation. Their forced subsistence on the rotting bodies of their former horses, which also served as their ramparts on this river island, is deleted from the film. As in the film, the real Indian chief was killed, although hardly in the dramatic fashion in the film. His name was Roman Nose, not the seemingly more likely Thunderhawk in the film. This historical incident was motivated by continuing raids by several Indian tribes on frontier settlers and the new railway, not specifically to rescue two young women.The rescue/abduction of the two sisters was way too easy. Historically, successful rescues by stealth were extremely rare. If not discovered in a village massacre, the usual procedure was to barter for captives(as in the later Ford "Two Rode Together"). According to the dialogue , the sisters had been abducted 5 years ago, when their parents were murdered in a raid. One had been a late teen, while the other was around 10 when captured. As was customary among Great Plains tribes, the older teen(Anne, played by Helen Westcott) apparently had been gang raped during or after the raid. In most cases, they were then killed or perhaps held for ransom(as in the later "The Searchers"), presumably considered likely too difficult to assimilate as potential tribal members. The younger girl(Jennie, played by Vera Miles)had not been treated badly. In fact, she claimed she had been treated like a princess and was shortly to marry Chief Thunderhawk. It was clear that she considered herself a Cheyenne forever, and had to be forcefully abducted and kept foot and hands bound. Historical records indicate that it usually took less than a year in captivity before most children considered themselves members of their Indian village, resisted being 'rescued ' by Europeans, and had a difficult time readjusting to European culture, if rescued. Thus the apparently happy ending in "The Searchers", where the rescued young woman is ultimately happy in being returned to European culture was quite atypical. Unlike in this film, as well as in the subsequent "The Searchers", captive children usually forgot most of their natal language in a remarkably short time.Anne presented a quandary to the rescuers, as clearly inassimilable. At one point, they were considering trading her for their freedom from the surrounding Indians. But she died by accident, just after trying to kill her brother, who was one of the scouts.It's very unclear what was Anne's status in her Indian Village. She was found in the same tent as Jennie, when abducted. Her dress and hair styling were less squaw-like than those of Jennie, reflecting her lesser self identification as a Cheyenne. Was she a slave? a sex slave? Both? Initially, she had mixed feelings about being rescued/abducted. Clearly, she didn't like her situation in the Indian village. Yet, she was afraid her degradation by the Indians would negate any chance of having a normal life as a repatriated European: a problem initially experienced by Linda Crystal's character in the later "Two Rode Together". Fortunately, gallant Miles Archer(Guy Madison) partly put to rest this fear by offering to marry her and defend her against the prejudices of Europeans.Guy Madison certainly made a handsome and likable lead, whether as Miles Archer, or in his TV series "Wild Bill Hickok". Here, he depends as much on his knife as his rifle to defend himself. Dick Wesson and Henry Kulky try, not overly successfully, to add a bit of diversionary humor, as part of the scout party of mostly somewhat tarnished soldiers, disguised as an apparent party of bison hunters. Lingering Civil War animosities and woman jealousies among the scouts provide occasional cause for conflict.Filmed in Warnercolor in several places in the greater L.A. area. Warnercolor was cheaper, but inferior in quality and color preservation, to Technicolor, and was used for only a few years by Warner.
