Mohawk

"Jonathan Adams" (Scott Brady) is a young man from Boston who has his heart set on painting. But rather than paint portraits in that city he has chosen to live in the American wilderness near a fort in the Mohawk Valley of New York. Because of his youth and charm he has attracted the attention of the lovely barmaid by the name of "Greta Jones" (Allison Hayes) who has willingly agreed to pose for him as a model. However, things begin to get a bit difficult for him when his fiancé named "Cynthia Stanhope" (Lori Nelson) arrives unexpectedly from Boston. Likewise, his chance encounter with an Iroquois maiden by the name of "Onida" (Rita Gam) really complicates things. Now rather than reveal any more of the movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that, all things considered, this turned out to be a decent grade-B western. Admittedly, there were some parts which were a bit corny and it didn't have an all-star cast or a superior script. But I enjoyed it and the three actresses just mentioned certainly didn't hurt the scenery in any way. Accordingly, I rate it as about average.

The results he achieved recycling scenes from 'Drums Along the Mohawk' obviously satisfied director Kurt Neumann since he repeated the exercise four years later with footage from 'King Solomon's Mines' in a film called 'Watusi!'. The result is enjoyable rough & tumble hokum with Scott Brady painting incredibly advanced work for the late 1780s (I wonder what become of them after filming?) and obvious native American types Ted De Corsia and Neville Brand (the former wearing what looks like a flower pot on his head) on the warpath. Heading a strong female contingent are brittle blonde Lori Nelson, sultry redhead Allison Hayes, acidulous maiden aunt Vera Vague and mother & daughter squaws Mae Clarke and Rita Gam; the latter tall and athletic in pigtails and a trouser suit.

Yes, when I saw that western, I thought I was in a drive in, in my Corvette Stingray with my girl. I was focused on the 3 delicious pin ups, Lori Nelson, Allison Hayes and Rita Gam (as the Indian chief's mohawh daughter, a must see), all three in love with the Casanova painter, fond of nature... shot in studio !!! I forgot all the ridiculous Indian scenes wearing unrealistic costumes, even Neville Brand is badly directed, Neumann was more concentrated on directing his delicious starlettes. And what about the chief's son, definitively not acting like an Indian but rather like a 1956 teenager from Blackboard Jungle. That parody of western would have exasperated late Mr Tavernier. On the French DVD, there is in the bonus a specialist of western and Indians who comments brilliantly this film and the true story of Mohawks, don't miss him.

That's so you can tell the two tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy apart in this colonial travesty. And that line of explanation is actually in the film Mohawk.

The Tuscaroras are currently house guests of the Mohawks having moved up from the south do to white settlement on their hunting grounds. They've got an understandable attitude as expressed by their chief Neville Brand who wants war with the whites and the Mohawks as allies. But the Mohawk Chief Ted DeCorsia hasn't had any problems with them and he's reluctant to join.

But DeCorsia might not have a choice because a man named Butler played by John Hoyt wants to start a nice little war. It seems as though his family once was the only white folks in the whole Mohawk Valley and he wants it that way again. He stirs up the Indians by first giving them weapons and then shooting Tommy Cook who is DeCorsia's son. That way when everybody kills everybody off, this dill-weed will have the whole valley to himself once again.

Our hero in this piece is a painter, Scott Brady who is romancing three different women of differing hair color, probably deliberate cast that way by the producer. There's his blond fiancé from Boston Lori Nelson, the blacksmith Rhys Williams's daughter Allison Hayes, and a fiery brunette Indian princess Rita Gam. If you care to see the film, you'll find out who he winds up with.

By the way John Hoyt's character is not in any way the same as Walter Butler who was a Tory in the American Revolution and responsible for leading the Indians in the famous Cherry Valley Massacre. He was one of the jury in The Devil and Daniel Webster and he's also portrayed in D.W. Griffith's film, Revolution by Lionel Barrymore. I thought when I heard Hoyt's name in the film that I would see some of that story in this film, but it was a tease.

The only thing really to recommend Mohawk is a nicely staged battle scene when the Indians attack the stockade. The same one used by John Ford for Drums Along the Mohawk, an infinitely better film.

The cast can barely keep straight faces throughout this film. When Mohawk wrapped they should have burned the film and roasted a turkey over it in the true spirit of Thanksgiving.

I remember as a teenager passing a theater poster of a scantily clad Rita Gam and wishing I had the money to go in. I know now what I didn't then-- it was my lucky day. Even a longer look at that shapely leg wouldn't have made up for all the bad acting (deCorsia's wooden Indian should be planted in front of a cigar store), the stupefied poetic dialogue ("You shine like a moon above the stars,"), the ridiculous Hollywood casting (malt-shop teen Tommy Cook as Indian warrior), and the ultra-cheap production values (backgrounds painted by art class dropouts). Heck, they couldn't even stage minimal outdoor battle scenes, using stock shots from 1939's Drums Along the Mohawk instead. Note too, how artificially the Indians emerge from the forest as though they're expecting a parade to pass by. At least the producers knew enough to play up the sex angle with a bevy of Indian maidens apparently recruited from a Las Vegas stage show. I'm just sorry that director Kurt Neumann's name is attached to this misfire. He did manage a number of quality low-budget sci-fi flicks like The Fly (1958), Kronos (1957), and the ground-breaking Rocketship X-M (1950). Maybe there's a lesson here, like it's easier to direct bug-eyed monsters than a bunch of phony Indians.