Apache Rifles (1964)

A young cavalry officer is assigned the job of bringing in a band of Apaches who have been terrorizing the countryside.

Director:

William Witney

Writers:

Charles B. Smith, Kenneth Gamet (story),

Stars:

Audie Murphy, Michael Dante, Linda Lawson

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Audie Murphy	...	Capt. Jeff Stanton
Michael Dante	...	Red Hawk
Linda Lawson	...	Dawn Gillis
L.Q. Jones	...	Mike Greer
Ken Lynch	...	Hodges
Joseph Vitale	...	Victorio (as Joseph A. Vitale)
Robert Brubaker	...	Sgt. Cobb
Eugene Iglesias	...	Cpl. Ramirez
John Archer	...	Col. Perry
Charles Watts	...	Crawford Owens
Howard Wright	...	Thompson
Peter Hansen	...	Capt. Green
Robert Karnes	...	George - Sheriff
Hugh Sanders	...	Arizona Delegate
Sydney Smith	...	General of the Army

Storyline

A young cavalry officer is assigned the job of bringing in a band of Apaches who have been terrorizing the countryside.

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Plot Keywords:

cavalry | punched in the face | part narrated | rifle | truce | 

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Taglines:

The Cry Was Revenge - And One Man Vowed to Stop the Bloodshed of Two Warring Nations!

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Genres:

Western

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 February 1965 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Aufstand in Arizona

Filming Locations:

Bronson Canyon, Griffith Park - 4730 Crystal Springs Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Robert E. Kent Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Indian Uprising (1952)

User Reviews

Exciting B-Western about confrontation between cavalry and Indians , crammed with action and thrills

This is a fully-fledged 90 minutes approximately action Western film , fast moving , tense , rousing scenes and excitement throughout its running time . A young cavalry officer called (Audie Murphy) is assigned the job of bringing in a band of Apaches Miscalero led by Vitorio (Vitale) and his son Red Hawk (Michael Dante) who have been terrorizing the countryside . They have escaped from San Carlos reserve , illustrating the callous disregard with which the government treated the Apaches as the US agency fails to deliver even the meager provisions without proper supplies for survival . But the captain Stanton is caught in the crossfire of passions and greed . There arrives a new Colonel (John Archer) and Stanton turns into second-in-command and he subsequently is dismissed .

The picture packs whirlwinds of manic action , thrills , fights , sustained energy and often commendable results . The film has a slickness and crude vigour , though some scenes are failures . The Indian attacks , shootouts , pyrotechnics , battles , riding pursuits , all of them are spectacular and the film is another passable Hollywood product but of B-series . It contains some vigorous and ingeniously done action scenes , but others no-nonsense . The highlights of the movie are the overlong fighting between Stanton and Red Hawk and the final Indian attack to cavalry . Gorgeous outdoors filmed on location in Bronson Canyon , Mojave, California and Red Rock Canyon State Park Cantil, California . It was professionally directed by William Witney who spent his entire career making serials and second-features , one of them is this ¨Apache rifles¨ , providing the screenplay allowed him to keep them thrilling at his own moving and relentless gallop . It has a rigour look , hard-edged scenes , action-packed , wild energy , exciting images that , in the eyes of connoisseurs makes one of the most acceptable of his kind .

This traditional Western was regularly directed by William Witney , though contains some vigorous scenes . Witney was a craftsman who directed 140 titles from the 30s . Oklahoma-born William Witney began his long screen career as a studio messenger in silent days joining Republic Pictures shortly after . By 1936 , he was already script supervisor on serials and his own directorial career started the following year . Witney graduated to director at 21, he was Hollywood's youngest , and he teamed with director John English on many of the period's best serials . He realized many of the era's best serials , most of them highlighted by kinetic fight and chase scenes that helped change the face of action movie-making and from 1956 , he transferred these stirring energies to TV Westerns with prolific and enjoyable results . The favorite shooting was the 1939 serial ¨Zorro's fighting legion¨ . As his pictures were mainly serials , after WWII service with US Marines , he moved on to Roy Rogers Westerns , inserting into them a new tough backbone that offended some Rogers purists . In 1954 he made one of the best films ¨The outcast¨ with John Derek , besides his television work which includes some quite exciting episodes of such series as ¨High Chaparral¨, ¨Bonanza¨, ¨Laramie¨, ¨Zorro¨, ¨The Virginian¨ and ¨Wagon train¨ and he followed to work for cinema and was capable of making large-scale movies as ¨Santa Fe Passage¨ involving a wagon train against Indians , ¨The Bonnie Parker story¨about the famous gun-moll , and specially ¨Master of the world¨ an amusing Jules Verne adventure with Vincent Price and Charles Bronson . The motion picture will appeal to Western buffs ; it's an agreeable popcorn story plenty of shots with Indians , soldiers and gunfighters .