Run of the Arrow (1957)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller (writer)

Release Date:

5 September 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

A Rebel vet, O'Meara has refused to surrender when Lee does at Appomatox. O'Meara travels west and after escaping from...

Plot Keywords:

American Civil War | Beautiful Woman | Confederate | Shot In The Forehead | Native American

Cast

Rod Steiger	...	Pvt. O'Meara
Sara Montiel	...	Yellow Moccasin (as Sarita Montiel)
Brian Keith	...	Capt. Clark
Ralph Meeker	...	Lt. Driscoll
Jay C. Flippen	...	Walking Coyote
Charles Bronson	...	Blue Buffalo
Olive Carey	...	Mrs. O'Meara
H.M. Wynant	...	Crazy Wolf
Neyle Morrow	...	Lt. Stockwell
Frank DeKova	...	Red Cloud
Tim McCoy	...	Gen. Allen (as Colonel Tim McCoy)
Stuart Randall	...	Col. Taylor
Frank Warner	...	Banjo Playing Singer
Billy Miller	...	Silent Tongue
Chuck Hayward	...	Corporal with Saddle

Also Known As:

Hot Lead (USA) (video title)
The Last Bullet (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

St. George, Utah, USA

Company:

Globe Enterprises

Trivia:

The film was originally produced by RKO Pictures, but the studio went bankrupt before it was released. Universal bought it from RKO and distributed it as a Universal picture.

Quotes:

Walking Coyote: I coulda been a chief.
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter: Oh yeah? How come you're not a chief now?
Walking Coyote: Eh, I got no stomach for politics.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Dances with Wolves (1990)

Soundtrack:

Purple Hills

Solid Sam Fuller entry

No one ever accused Sam Fuller of being a run-of-the-mill Hollywood dream merchant. Run of the Arrow is fairly typical of the noted director-writer's work, applying his thinking man's approach to a well-established genre; in this case, the western. Touching on the moral conflicts of the Civil War as well as the uneasy truce between the white man and the Native American, the movie centers on a disillusioned Confederate (Rod Steiger)trying to find his place in a world in which he has cast himself as an outsider.

Fuller handles the visuals and the action sequences with as much confidence as the more intimate sequences of Steiger trying to immerse himself into the culture of the Sioux after what he feels is the humiliating defeat of the Confederate forces to the Union. While he lacks is the poetic sweep of a John Ford, Fuller is refreshingly unsentimental and takes pains to establish the subtlety of the characters and their conflicts.

Still, it is by no means a perfect movie, undermined by the dreadful miscasting of Rod Steiger in the starring role. Although a highly skilled actor who has often excelled at portraying multi-dimensional, morally ambiguous characters, Steiger seems out-of-place as a Confederate renegade and his Irish brogue only calls attention to his uneasiness. Fuller barely shows any interest in fleshing out the relationship between Steiger and the Indian squaw he marries, casting a nondescript and unappealing actress for the love interest. But Brian Keith and Ralph Meeker are excellent as the Union officers, one kindly, the other oozing villainy from every pore.

The movie is a natural for fans of adult, upper-scale westerns (a la The Gunfighter, Shane, etc.) while the more action-oriented buffs won't feel entirely left out either.