Only the Valiant (1951)

Capt. Richard Lance is unjustly held responsible, by his men and girlfriend, for an Indian massacre death of beloved Lt. Holloway. Holloway is killed while escorting a dangerous Indian ... See full summary »

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writers:

Edmund H. North (screenplay), Harry Brown (screenplay),

Stars:

Gregory Peck, Barbara Payton, Ward Bond

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Gregory Peck	...	Capt. Richard Lance
Barbara Payton	...	Cathy Eversham
Ward Bond	...	Cpl. Timothy Gilchrist
Gig Young	...	Lt. William Holloway
Lon Chaney Jr.	...	Trooper Kebussyan (as Lon Chaney)
Neville Brand	...	Sgt. Ben Murdock
Jeff Corey	...	Joe Harmony
Warner Anderson	...	Trooper Rutledge
Steve Brodie	...	Trooper Onstot
Dan Riss	...	Lt. Jerry Winters
Terry Kilburn	...	Trooper Saxton
Herbert Heyes	...	Col. Drumm
Art Baker	...	Capt. Jennings
Hugh Sanders	...	Capt. Eversham
Michael Ansara	...	Tucsos

Storyline

Capt. Richard Lance is unjustly held responsible, by his men and girlfriend, for an Indian massacre death of beloved Lt. Holloway. Holloway is killed while escorting a dangerous Indian chief to another fort's prison. The chief escapes. Knowing their fort is in danger of Indian attack, Lance takes a small group of army misfits to an abandoned nearby army fort to defend a mountain pass against the oncoming Indian assault. Their mission is to stall for time until reinforcements from another fort arrive. The men in this small group of malcontents, deserters, psychopaths and cowards all hate Capt. Lance and wish him dead. Much to their chagrin, the men recognize that Lance's survival instincts, military knowledge and leadership are the only chance the group has of staying alive.

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Plot Keywords:

military | massacre | public domain | based on novel

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Taglines:

THEY WERE SIX AND THEY FOUGHT LIKE SIX HUNDRED! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Adventure | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 April 1951 (USA)

Also Known As:

Bis zum letzten Atemzug

Filming Locations:

Gallup, New Mexico, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros, William Cagney Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

105 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to a biography Gregory Peck himself authorized, during filming he had an affair with Barbara Payton.

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Goofs

When Cpl. Gilchrist tells Trooper Saxton to go get him a new pick, Saxton places his shovel against the stone wall and leaves, you can plainly see the shovel start to fall. The next shot shows Saxton (below) and Gilchrist (above), but no shovel on the ground.

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Connections

Referenced in That Most Important Thing: Love (1975)

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Soundtracks

"Little Brown Jug"
(uncredited)
Written by Joseph Winner
Played by a harmonica player in the barracks

User Reviews

Powerful and Memorable; Very-Well Acted western Drama With a Large Cast

This is a luminously photographed and unusually well-written western by veteran creator of "Rawhide" Charles Marquis Warren. Direcxtor Gordon Douglas is its chief help in this regard. Its strong plot line can be told in a few sentences. A hard-nosed by-the- book, Cavalry officer, Captain Richard Lance, captures a leader of the Indian enemy after a massacre at a fort. He insists on bringing the man back for trial, to be sent toTucson; his commander sends another man to try to take the prisoner for trial and the patrol is wiped out. This means the leader has escaped, and Lance must now lead a second patrol--and he picks the men the fort can most spare, a company of problems-- to defend the advance fort that had been wiped out and save the command from another attack by stopping up the bottleneck pass in that sector. As Lance, young Gregory Peck is quite strong. Other in the large cast of this film which really shows life at a cavalry outpost looking like an army establishment of heterogeneous and quarreling types includes War Bond powerful as a hard-drinking sergeant, Neville Brand and Steve Brodie as troublemakers, Warner Anderson and Lon Chaney Jr. as psychological troublemakers and Gig Young, Art Baker, Herbert Heyes as fellow officers with Nana Bryant as the Colonel's wife. Even Barbara Payton as the love interest gets by in a difficult role; Michael Ansara is the captured war chief, and Jeff Corey plays the Fort's scout. There are really two great scenes in this very-well-made western--the long section at the fort before the last patrol is sent out, and that long patrol to the doomed Ft. Defiant itself. Once at that fort, Peck gets to deliver a grand speech in which at the demand of the men he has lined up for orders, he tells them each why he took them along. reading them their shortcomings one by one; they then tell them why they think he sent his best friend to die in his place take the Indian in instead of going himself-- and he proves them wrong for the remainder of the film by winning his lonely battle through intelligence and courage. The music by Franz Waxman is good, the production qualities admirable; the argument about what would happen if Lance takes the war chief in happens to be true; other than this unsolvable mistake by the central character, this is is great western. it has been a favorite of mine for fifty years.