Massacre Canyon (1954) User Reviews

Not bad western

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 30 January 2022]

A group of soldiers undertake the treacherous mission of escorting a wagon train carrying rifles through dangerous Apache territory.

Not a bad western programmer, actually it gets better as the minutes rolls on, and enough conflict, drama and action is fitted in 70mins. Of course, it would have benefitted more from a longer running time and less than pedestrian direction, however, it's quite watchable and has a quite noirish feel in its lensing and has interesting characters. It's also well-acted by all, especially by Phil Carey, who had a potential to be a bigger matinee star; he had a presence about him. Quite an exciting finale involving rampaging Apaches, dynamite and a tunnel, though its little too contrived with the heroes getting Scot-free, but it's a movie after all, and the heroes win.

Cheap & Bleak

[richardchatten · 5/10 · 27 June 2021]

Dashed off with some aplomb by Fred F. Sears. It has the production values of a forties quickie or a couple of tv episodes but a much bleaker ambiance; the exteriors shot by Lester White in bleached sunlight but frequently noirishly angled.

A blonde Audrey Totter and Jeff Donnell are wasted as tarts with hearts; the most interesting female character being an actress calling herself 'Charita', playing the sort of scheming, double-crossing squaw in pigtails Myrna Loy would have played a quarter of a century earlier.

Good enough until the final battle

[Marlburian · 6/10 · 29 January 2021]

I came across "Massacre Canyon" on Youtube and two-thirds of the way through watching it was thinking of giving it seven points, but then came the finale. As the other two reviews have remarked, that was one of the dumbest attacks by Native Americans that's ever been screened, with dozens of them cavorting around and allowing themselves to be killed off in dozens by just two men, albeit armed with 16-shot repeating rifles. Wasn't that tunnel a fine piece of engineering for the locale! And the obligatory instant romance ....

Budget Undercuts Results

[dougdoepke · 7 August 2014]

An undercover cavalry detachment must deliver a shipment of rifles across Apache land. It doesn't help that the lieutenant is closer to a whiskey bottle than to his men.

Some good ideas in the screenplay—the quarreling two male leads (Carey & Kennedy), the "wounded" Indian infiltrator, the treacherous parson (Dumke). Trouble is the cheap budget restricts filming to cramped LA area, when a much larger landscape is needed. Then too, I agree with reviewer aimless-46: the shootout at the end is the most clumsily staged I've seen. And I've seen a ton. But then they're in Bronson Canyon (familiar from dozens of sci- fi's), which doesn't provide much room to maneuver. Note also how the Parson (Dumke) provides wives, and not hookers, even though the latter makes more sense for the footloose men. That distinction, however, makes the service acceptable to the Production Code of the time. Too bad the fine noir actress Audrey Totter is wasted in an apparently tacked-on role, likely for marquee value. Anyway, the screenplay is not without imaginative ideas, along with a commanding performance from the always reliable Douglas Kennedy. Nevertheless, the lowly budget, plus uneven acting (Carey and Donnell) undercuts too much of that potential, resulting in a highly erratic oater.

Only if you Like to Count Dead Indians

[aimless-46 · 4/10 · 18 January 2006]

Often confused with the better Johnny Mack Brown western "Canyon Ambush", "Massacre Canyon" is a standard mid-50's "B" western with a better than average cast.

The cast deserves a better screenplay or at least a screenplay with a more convincing ending. The story has a good basis, a small detail (of soldiers) dress as civilians to get a couple wagon loads of Henry repeating rifles through hostile Indian territory and deliver them to their fort. The rifles are hidden in the wagon beds and the idea is to fool the local Apaches into thinking they are just civilians transporting food. Along the way they are joined by a couple of mail order brides (including film's all-time best bad girl Andrey Totter) and a replacement officer (Phillip Carey) who is being exiled to this remote fort.

This sets up two romances, Totter and Carey pair off as do the remaining bride and one of the soldiers. It also sets up a conflict between Carey and the NCO in charge of the detail (Douglas Kennedy), whose expected promotion will be delayed because of the arrival of a new officer. Finally, it blows their cover because the guy driving the girls discovers the guns and sells the group out to the Indians.

The sets look authentic, the filming is good, the acting is decent, and the story is complex enough to be fairly interesting. But "Massacre Canyon's" claim to fame is the spectacular way the movie crashes and burns during the final 15 minutes, as it features what is undeniably the most moronic Indian attack in cinema history. Not until "Saving Private Ryan" would a director show this much disrespect for the intelligence and basic survival skills of what are supposed to be the "enemy" forces.

The title "Massacre Canyon" apparently refers to the canyon in which at least 60 Apaches attempt to "ambush" Carey and Kennedy (the rest of the cast has left the area) but end up being massacred instead. By now the two have settled their differences and team up to kill the entire war party. Rather than making a strong case for the effectiveness of the Henry rifle, it makes a strong case for the Indians being evolution's missing link. Wave after wave of mounted savages ride up within a few feet of Carey and Kennedy's position, rather than overrun them they stop and begin riding back and forth like targets in a shooting gallery. After most are dropped those who remain ride back into the hills only to return a minute later with their original numbers mysteriously replenished. During the brief intervals when Cary and Kennedy have no Indians close at hand they trade quips as they relentlessly pick off the Indian marksmen firing down on them from the hills overlooking their position.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Great Movie

[PlasticActor · 9/10 · 5 August 2021]

"Indians" were not afraid to charge the enemy - even if out numbered. Something to be admired believing in a higher Spirit and being willing to die for your land. The opposite of the Soy Boy Binary Alpha Male hiding behind his sofa from a virus.