Reprisal! (1956)

New ranch owner Frank Madden, half Indian but posing as white, arrives just as an all white jury finds the three white Shipley brothers who lynched three Indians innocent. There is soon ... See full summary »

Director:

George Sherman

Writers:

Arthur Gordon (novel), David P. Harmon (story),

Stars:

Guy Madison, Felicia Farr, Kathryn Grant

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Guy Madison	...	Frank Madden aka Neola
Felicia Farr	...	Catherine Cantrell
Kathryn Grant	...	Taini
Michael Pate	...	Bert Shipley
Edward Platt	...	Neil Shipley
Otto Hulett	...	Sheriff Jim Dixon
Wayne Mallory	...	Tom Shipley
Robert Burton	...	Jeb Cantrell
Ralph Moody	...	Matara
Frank DeKova	...	Charlie Washackle

Storyline

New ranch owner Frank Madden, half Indian but posing as white, arrives just as an all white jury finds the three white Shipley brothers who lynched three Indians innocent. There is soon trouble between Frank and the Shipleys who are using Frank's land to graze their cattle. When the brother of one of the Indian victims kills a Shipley, Frank is accused and put in jail. The Shipleys then organize a lynch mob and head for the jail.

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Plot Keywords:

native american | murder | racism | based on novel

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Taglines:

THE NIGHT THE TOWN WENT HUNTING...WITH A ROPE! (original print ad - all caps)

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

November 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fredlös stad

Filming Locations:

Tucson, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Runtime:

74 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Images of Indians: How Hollywood Stereotyped the Native American (2003)

User Reviews

Based on novel set in the South

The original novel was written by Arthur Gordon, a Southerner who was educated at Yale and Oxford. During WWII, he read about a lynching in his home state of Georgia, and was so incensed by it, he came home and wrote Reprisal. The novel is a black/white story, not Indian/white, but otherwise pretty similar. Gordon's anger was based in the fact he was in Europe fighting Facists and Nazis, and back home there were people killing citizens--just like the Nazis. Plus there were thousands of black troops fighting in Europe against the Nazis as well. The injustice was too much, and so the author fought back using his novel to illuminate the issues of race and hate.