The Stalking Moon (1968)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Robert Mulligan

Writers:

Alvin Sargent (screenplay)
Wendell Mayes (adaptation)

Release Date:

15 February 1969 (Sweden)

Genre:

Romance | Western

Plot:

When an army scout retires to a farm in New Mexico he takes pity on a white woman and her half-breed son recently rescued from indians...

Plot Keywords:

Half Breed | Son | Apache Indian | Male Female Relationship | One Man Army

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Gregory Peck	...	Sam Varner
Eva Marie Saint	...	Sarah Carver
Robert Forster	...	Nick Tana
Noland Clay	...	Boy
Russell Thorson	...	Ned
Frank Silvera	...	Major
Lonny Chapman	...	Purdue
Lou Frizzell	...	Stationmaster
Henry Beckman	...	Sgt. Rudabaugh
Charles Tyner	...	Dace
Richard Bull	...	Doctor
Sandy Brown Wyeth	...	Rachel (as Sandy Wyeth)
Joaquín Martínez	...	Julio
Boyd 'Red' Morgan	...	Stage Driver Shelby (as Red Morgan)
Nathaniel Narcisco	...	Salvaje

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:G | Iceland:16 | Australia:PG

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, USA

Company:

National General Production Inc.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: The movie was set and filmed in the Mojave Desert, yet in an early scene at an Army camp, the still night air is filled with the sound of crickets and frogs. This would be fine had the camp been in or near an oasis, but it clearly was not. With no wind, there should have been no sound at all from outside the camp.

Quotes:

Sarah Carver: I didn't have the courage to die. I knew what I had to do to stay alive.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Reflections of Evil (2002)

Dark shadows and unseen danger

This western was released when Hollywood was about finished with the genre and the film went largely unnoticed. However, the movie is well photographed, with good work by Gregory Peck, although Eva Marie Saint doesn't have much to do in the way of dialogue. Peck is a cavalry scout who quits the military to ranch in New Mexico and takes Saint and her half-breed son with him. Peck and Saint eventually turn up the romantic flames, but her boy is the object of a deadly game of search and destroy. The lad's father, a murderous Apache warrior, wants to reclaim him, and perhaps kill the woman for deserting him. The film has plenty of suspense, creepy shadows, and eerie noises in the dark and at times seems more like a mystery than a western. Most of the action occurs at picture's end, and Fred Karlin's plaintive yet thrilling score builds up the tension as Peck and Salvaje edge towards their showdown.