Fort Bowie (1958)

At Fort Bowie, Captain Thompson favors peace talks but Major Wharton advocates war with the renegade Apaches led by Chief Victorio.

Director:

Howard W. Koch

Writer:

Maurice Tombragel (screenplay)

Stars:

Ben Johnson, Jan Harrison, Kent Taylor

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Ben Johnson	...	Capt. Thomas Thompson
Jan Harrison	...	Alison Garrett
Kent Taylor	...	Col. James Garrett
Maureen Hingert	...	Chanzana (as Jana Davi)
Peter Mamakos	...	Sgt Kukas
Larry Chance	...	Victorio
J. Ian Douglas	...	Maj. Wharton
Jerry Frank	...	Capt. Maywood
Barbara Parry	...	Mrs. Maywood

Storyline

Fort Bowie commander Colonel Garrett, suspecting that his wife Alison is having an affair with good-looking Captain Thompson, sends him on a dangerous mission to try to persuade renegade Indian leader Victorio to cease his attacks against white settlers and soldiers.

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Plot Keywords:

laundry | apache indian | arizona territory | apache territory | fort bowie arizona | 

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Taglines:

When America's frontier fort became an Apache massacre-ground !

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Genres:

Western

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1958 (USA)

Also Known As:

De röda djävlarna

Filming Locations:

Kayenta, Arizona, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aubrey Schenck Productions, Bel-Air Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At the 32-minute mark, three clipboards are shown hanging on a wall. Clipboards were invented in 1908.

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Quotes

Alison Garrett: Is-is that man dead?
Sgt Kukas: Oh yeah, dead as a doornail. Had his brains cooked over a slow fire. It's a favorite pasttime with the Indians.

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Connections

Featured in Fort Courageous (1965)

User Reviews

Shoot-outs among the Smooching, or is it Smooching among the Shoot-outs

At a cavalry outpost, the colonel (Taylor) dispatches a captain (Johnson) on a suicide mission among the Apaches because of rivalry over his wife's (Harrison) affections.

The colonel loves wife Allison, but she loves the captain, I think. And, the captain loves her, at least some of the time. However, the rest of the time, he loves Chanzana, but Chanzana is half Apache, and I think she loves Apache leader Victorio. Oh well, I may be wrong about all this, but then the script can't seem to make up its mind either. So maybe you can sort it out.

Good thing there's lots of action to interrupt this frontier soap opera. In fact I don't know when I've heard more shooting. Seems like somebody's always wiping out somebody else. Boy, was I surprised when the major shoots all the Indians carrying that white flag of truce. Pretty rotten thing for our guys to do, which sets off all the shooting because now the Apaches want revenge.

But then it seems like the Indians like roasting our guys over an upside-down spit. That's pretty rotten too and not in any multi-cultural handbook I know of. Then too, that part reminds me of another good Apache movie, Ulzana's Raid (1971), where the Apaches also practice some strange culinary arts. Even stranger, however, is when the Indians defend the fort against attacking cavalry (I love that wagon-ramp trick). Now where has any Western fan seen that upside-down world before.

Anyway, it's an okay Western with some interesting sidelights and the great Ben Johnson. I'm just wondering why they went all the way to scenic Kanab, Utah to film, and then didn't didn't do it in Technicolor. Then again, maybe they spent their budget on all the big shoot- outs. But-- bottom line-- if you can untangle the big who-loves-whom puzzle in this movie, I'm sure there's a place for you at People magazine. Otherwise, you might want to catch up with this cowboys-and-Indians on an especially slow night.