When the Blue Coats of the US Army arrive in Oregon Red Cloud, the local Indian chief declares all white people persona non grata. Three trappers, Jed Cooper, Gus and Mungo find themselves relieved of their rifles and the skins they spent a year collecting; debate whether to head north to find work in Canada or head to the nearest army camp to demand compensation. They choose the latter option but end up getting work as scouts. At the fort Cooper meets Corinna Marston, a woman whose husband is the colonel in command of another fort in Indian territory; he believes the man is bound to be dead by now but still heads out to find him. That fort had been attacked but the colonel and some of his men had survived; Cooper brings them back to the fort but soon begins to regret it. Col. Marston immediately takes command and sets about planning a counter attack despite the fort only having a hundred raw recruits. The level headed captain who had commanded the post believes it is unwise but the Colonel is determined to win a great victory to restore his honour after losing fifteen hundred men at Shiloh.
This was an enjoyable western with an unconventional protagonist; Victor Mature's did a fine job as Cooper; a crude illiterate man who gets drunk and pursues the colonel's wife... hardly the upstanding hero one expects in such films. Robert Preston's Col. Marston has the heroic look but he is the one who could get everybody killed through his desire for glory. When the fighting comes it is far from glorious; instead it is dirty and brutal, although not graphic, director Anthony Mann did a fine job there. In some ways the romantic storyline seems a bit tacked on but it does serve to show Cooper's lack of concern for 'civilised ways'. The film was shot in stunning scenery; although the slopes of Mt. Popocatépetl in Mexico stand in for Oregon!
This was an enjoyable western with an unconventional protagonist; Victor Mature's did a fine job as Cooper; a crude illiterate man who gets drunk and pursues the colonel's wife... hardly the upstanding hero one expects in such films. Robert Preston's Col. Marston has the heroic look but he is the one who could get everybody killed through his desire for glory. When the fighting comes it is far from glorious; instead it is dirty and brutal, although not graphic, director Anthony Mann did a fine job there. In some ways the romantic storyline seems a bit tacked on but it does serve to show Cooper's lack of concern for 'civilised ways'. The film was shot in stunning scenery; although the slopes of Mt. Popocatépetl in Mexico stand in for Oregon!