Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)

Director:

John Sturges

Writers:

Phillip Rock (story) and
Michael Pate (story) ...

Release Date:

4 December 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

A ruthless Union captain is renowned throughout his prison fort as the toughest soldier in the business...

Plot Keywords:

Escape | Confederate | American Civil War | Cavalry | Officer

Cast

William Holden	...	Capt. Roper
Eleanor Parker	...	Carla Forester
John Forsythe	...	Capt. John Marsh
William Demarest	...	Campbell
William Campbell	...	Cabot Young
Polly Bergen	...	Alice Owens
Richard Anderson	...	Lt. Beecher
Carl Benton Reid	...	Col. Owens
John Lupton	...	Bailey

Also Known As:

Fort Bravo (USA) (closing credits title)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Anscocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.75 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The ladies' dresses had zippers, which were not invented until 1913.

Quotes:

Capt. Roper: When you're in the grave, Beecher, it doesn't matter too much how you got there.
Lt. Beecher: Well, I think it matters. I think it does.
Capt. Roper: Write the War Department.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Major Dundee (1965)

Soundtrack:

Yellow Stripes

Grey against Blue and Indians against everybody!

William Holden is Captain Roper, a strict commanding officer in charge of a large group of Confederate prisoners in a dry heat stockade at Fort Bravo, Arizona, in 1863...

He is disliked by his captors as well by his captives because of his displeasing behavior toward the escapees whom he invariably recaptures... A main example, dragging back to the fort John Lupton with a rope around his waist...

To Fort Bravo arrived, one morning, the talented, and beautiful Eleanor Parker (Carla) apparently for the wedding of a friend (Polly Bergen)... In fact she is scheming the escape of a rebel, Captain John Forsythe...

Carla - a confederate agent - knows how to charm and handle beautifully Holden in her sojourn in the fort... Holden is the only danger to her plan, as he is the man who finds everybody...

One night, she escapes in a horse-drawn cart with three men, and a coward storekeeper, her Confederate ally... A deceived Holden receives with shock the striking notice that Carla, the woman he loves, is the one who planned the escape... He sets out in their pursuit, ignoring that outside, and around him, in the wilderness, common enemy is watching, the deadly Mescalero Indians...

Holden is stern, enigmatic and firm as the brusque young officer, who keeps the restless prisoners in Fort Bravo while trying to keep out marauding Indians... However Holden is an ideal human officer with integrity beneath his inflexible rules that discipline is fundamental in and around Fort Bravo...

The film carries cautiously, continuous tense action sequences as it incorporates into the exciting climax... The state of expectation and the quality of hopefulness are extremely controlled... The cast gives force and pressure to the nature of the drama keeping the actions spontaneous... The dynamic climactic redskin ambush, with brutal arrow-artillery, express great tension... The rain of the Indians arrows is vigorously presented by John Sturges who directed many fine Westerns like "Backlash," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," and "The Law and Jake Wade."

"Escape from Fort Bravo" is a great Western and a good suspense drama with a sweet romance and spectacular action... The scenery is overwhelming: the jagged rocks, the dirt and the sage as well as the play of light and shade, all fulfilling, in Technicolor, one purpose, Grey against Blue and Indians against everybody...