Apache Territory (1958)

A cowboy sets out to try to stop an Indian war and rescue a white woman captured by the Apaches.

Director:

Ray Nazarro

Writers:

Charles R. Marion (screenplay), George W. George (screenplay),

Stars:

Rory Calhoun, Barbara Bates, John Dehner

Cast

Cast overview:
Rory Calhoun	...	Logan Cates
Barbara Bates	...	Jennifer Fair
John Dehner	...	Grant Kimbrough
Carolyn Craig	...	Junie Hatchett
Tom Pittman	...	Lonnie Foreman (as Thomas Pittman)
Leo Gordon	...	Zimmerman
Myron Healey	...	Webb
Francis De Sales	...	Sgt. Sheehan (as Francis DeSales)
Frank DeKova	...	Lugo (as Frank deKova)
Regis Parton	...	Conley (as Reg Parton)
Bob Woodward	...	Graves
Fred Krone	...	Styles

Storyline

Logan Cates, a drifter, is traveling through Apache country. He is joined by a few civilians and a small band of soldiers at a water hole when they get pinned down by Apaches. Unable to get away, the small party is killed one by one as the food and water supply dwindles. But then the storm that Cates was waiting for comes up, and using gun powder, he puts his escape plan into action.

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Plot Keywords:

apache | water | drifter | cowboy | escape | 

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Taglines:

A thousand hells at Papago Wells!

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Genres:

Action | Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 September 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

Apachen op het oorlogspad

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures Corporation, Rorvic Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

77 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The music theme from "3:10 To Yuma", was used in the closing scene of this movie.

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Goofs

When the trooper runs at the Apaches to throw the third canteen bomb, its fuse is not lit and the explosion occurs in front of him before he lets go of it. Apparently the script just called for him to be killed off somehow, because the other two just threw theirs from the same close distance, while he had to run right into the middle of the Indians to 'throw' his.

User Reviews

Motley Crew Stands Up Against Apaches

In a very tightly constructed and entertaining B Western that he produced as well as starred in, Rory Calhoun collects a motley crew of people to stand off hostile Apaches in Apache Territory. The title speaks for itself, but it begs the question as to what all these people were doing there?

Circumstance bring Calhoun together with a former flame and her new fiancé, Barbara Bates and John Dehner, a young girl played by Carolyn Craig whom Calhoun rescues on the trail, Tom Pittman an amiable young drifting cowboy, Indian prospector Frank DeKova and a patrol of cavalry who are led by a sergeant from the adjutant general's office with no field experience in Frank DeSales. DeSales gladly cedes leadership to Calhoun who knows far more about Indian fighting than he does.

DeSales has some malcontents among his troops, a homesick Myron Healey and a former sergeant in Leo Gordon who thinks he ought to be running things. I think you can see all the inherent conflicts and in the 70 minute running time they're all brought out.

Actually Calhoun does have a plan to get them all out and it depends on the weather. The trick is to see how many of them survive. What it is you'll have to see Apache Territory for.

If you didn't recognize it, Apache Territory is yet another reworking of John Ford's The Lost Patrol which was remade into Sahara and remade again as Last Of The Comanches. The last stand theme is enduringly popular and Columbia Pictures sure got a lot of use out of it.

Two tragedies were in this cast. Both Tom Pittman and Carolyn Craig died way too young and too violently. Pittman in a car crash after this film was completed and Craig several years later by gunshot. In John Mitchum's book Them Ornery Mitchum Boys about he and brother Bob he became friends with Pittman and described him as a nice kid and promising young actor. Pittman was missing for several days before police found the car he had been driving at the bottom of a ravine with Pittman's body.

Apache Territory is a good classic B western the kind that sadly Hollywood does not turn out any more.