New Mexico

Plot synopsis:
Abraham Lincoln himself comes to New Mexico to discuss living together in peace with Acoma, a feared and respective Indian chief. He presents the chief with a cane as a gift and symbol of their friendship.
Lt. Hunt is promoted due to his personal assistance to Lincoln in arranging the truce. Unhappily, a bigoted superior officer, Col. McComb, and the dastardly Judge Wilcox are opposed to any such treaty, and when Hunt states his objection, McComb has him placed under arrest alongside Acoma and a number of Indian braves, also breaking the cane.
Other members of the tribe break them out of jail, killing McComb and others in the process. Hunt takes command and cancels all travel in the region, angering a woman named Cherry who is planning a trip to Nevada. She arrogantly elects to leave anyway, as does Judge Wilcox, so a company of men led by Hunt goes along as escorts.
Indians attack, frightening the woman and burying the judge in the sand. Hunt is disgusted with Cherry's selfish attitude and tells her so. She comes to know one of Acoma's sons, and when another uprising has fatal consequence for Indian warriors as well as Hunt, she and Acoma's son are lucky to have their lives spared.

Tags: violence, murder

Review:
Fair Western with Unrealized Potential.
"New Mexico" is a fair cavalry-versus-Indians movie that could have been better.
It has a good cast and provides a couple good moments, but a routine script and a rather stereotyped set of characters keep it from realizing its potential.Lew Ayres, a fine actor, has the lead role of the cavalry's Captain Hunt, and the rest of a good cast is highlighted by Andy Devine, Raymond Burr, Marilyn Maxwell, and Ted De Corsia.
Unfortunately, most of their characters are not given much depth, and they do not have much dialogue to work with either.The lack of depth of Captain Hunt is the most important, as the other characters are primarily defined in terms of their relationship with him.
At the beginning, he seems to be developing as an interesting character.
He is present at a meeting between President Lincoln and Chief Acoma (De Corsia), and seems to be sympathetic with the problems that Acoma's people face after Lincoln's untimely death, even defying for a while his insensitive and boorish military superiors.
But when the inevitable conflict breaks out, Ayres is just given some stereotyped lines about how the Indians ought not to resort to violence.
Likewise, Acoma, as the leader of the uprising, is a thoroughly conventional character, although at least portrayed with some degree of sympathy.There are some decent action sequences, and a couple of creative touches in the battle scenes, but it is likely that "New Mexico" will be of interest mainly to those who enjoy any and all Westerns..
As a young boy in 1952, I went to visit Acoma, a Native American village, near Albuquerque, New Mexico together with my parents and uncle.
The scenery was so impressive that it remains alive in my mind , and I remember the houses where to reach the upper floor you had to go through an external ladder.
So it was a deception to see this film where such a beautiful scenery is wasted.
The DVD I purchased is in black and white, but I read in the IMDb it was made in Ansco Color.
The story is interesting, about a truce made with the Chief Acoma, which is broken .
Lew Ayres is an army captain on a mission to capture Acoma.
Marylin Maxwell is Cherry, who joins them against all logic and even provides some musical numbers!!!
She is not a bad actress, but here her character does not work.
The script is good, but could have been brought to the screen in a much better way.
An old-school cavalry-Indian western.
Cavalry-Indian skirmishes highlight this film that somehow has been forgotten and seems to have passed from western movie memory.
President Abraham Lincoln's death sets in motion the corrupt practices of a territory commissioner whose abusive policies destroy peace initiatives and the Indians go on the warpath.
Lew Ayres, an army captain, leads a cavalry troop to track down his erstwhile friend, a chief who becomes an implacable enemy.
The fighting between the soldiers and the Indians is intense and quite violent for its time.
The cast is good and the color captures the dry, dusty mesas and deserts of New Mexico..
Lincoln's Trip To New Mexico?.
Although this film is entitled New Mexico, it certainly might have taken place in any part of our Southwest.
It begins with the totally ridiculous premise that Abraham Lincoln took time out in the middle of the Civil War to visit New Mexico territory and make promises to Indian chief Ted DeCorsia that the US government would be feeding the Indians.
That was really too much to swallow, anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of American history knows that Lincoln never got beyond 50 miles of the White House during his term of office.
So when the film began with Hans Conreid as Lincoln getting out of that stagecoach I figured this one would be one ridiculous film.It turned out to be a film that was not half bad, but could have used a lot of improvement including cutting those first six or seven minutes and some other premise used to show the disappointment of the Indians in the white man's failed promises.
In that meeting with Conreid and DeCorsia is Captain Lew Ayres who wants peaceful relations and is a man of some honor.
But an ambitious colonel played by Walter Greaza and a corrupt judge played by Lloyd Corrigan turn the promises of Lincoln into dust.
When Greaza is murdered by the Indians, Ayres has to go in pursuit of DeCorsia.Circumstance places Ayres and his men along with saloon entertainer Marilyn Maxwell and Corrigan at an old mission built on a hillside where they hold off the attacking Indians.
One of the troops, Raymond Burr, shoots down a young child who is DeCorsia's son giving him and additional reason to hate the army.Jeff Corey who was having blacklist troubles got to appear in this film as a cavalry Indian scout.
That this was an independent film is significant because Corey could not get work at a major studio.
New Mexico which was an independent film released by United Artists is too low budget and its characters not sufficiently developed which would have made a much better film.
It was a sincere effort and no one in the cast need be ashamed of their work here..
It's the New Mexico landmark, not the film.
"New Mexico" is a cavalry and Indians Western that is just so-so as far as the story goes.
A number of films have been made about the exploitation of Indians, illegal sales of weapons to Native Americans, and their mistreatment at the hands of dishonest and unscrupulous people.
This one starts with that premise, and with some promise, but then slips into a battle between the Indians and cavalry.
This was an independent film produced by one of the poverty row studios and released through United Artists.
The quality of the film is poor.
The good include Andy Devine as Sgt. Garrity, Marilyn Maxwell as Cherry, and Lloyd Corrigan as the corrupt Judge Wilcox.
The bad is Ted de Corsia as Indian chief Acoma, Jeff Corey as Coyote, and Lew Ayres as Captain Hunt.
Raymond Burr is in this film and is a real despicable character.
He already has his huge physical frame in this film.
He's such a delegable character that I can't tell if he's guilty or not of bad acting as well.
We may have loved Burr as Perry Mason in his long-running TV series by that name (1957-66, and revival series from 1985 until his death in 1993).
But in this and a couple other early films I've seen him in, he wasn't very good.
What is of interest to me in this film, though, is the shooting location.
This was mostly outdoors and on location in New Mexico.
I thought I recognized the Acoma Indian Pueblo with its village built atop the 365-foot mesa.
It's located about 60 miles West of Albuquerque, off I-40 at Exit 108.
Today it's also called "Sky City." I visited there a few years ago, and took a tour from the Acoma Reservation Visitor's Center.
In the 1950s – after this film was made, the Acoma tribe blasted a road through the rock to get to the top.
From the film, it appears that the views of the mesa and the church were from the South side, and possibly SE and SW.
That would avoid any developed roads and facilities to the north.
Today about 300 adobe buildings are on top of the mesa.
These are mostly two-story and three-story residences, with exterior ladders to go from one level to another.
About 30 people now live permanently atop the mesa.
It has no modern conveniences, no running water, electricity or sewage.
The residents truck their supplies up, and haul their garbage out.
Since this movie was made, the tribe has built a very nice Visitor's Center near the base of the mesa.
The Acoma Pueblo is one of the oldest continuously occupied places in North America.
I went back and checked the shooting locations for this movie.
The IMDb credits list Albuquerque, Santa Fe and Gallup, New Mexico, and California.
But the credits don't specify the pueblo.
While there are other pueblos to be sure, I don't think there's another located so distinctly as this one.
And, there's a clue in the film tells me my guess is right.
The Indian chief's name is Acoma.
Now, how coincidental might that be, if it's not also the name of the tribe, reservation and pueblo where much of this movie was filmed?My six stars for this film are for the action and the interesting location.
Movie buffs who find themselves in that area in the future would enjoy a stop off at the Acoma Visitor Center and a tour of the pueblo's "Sky City.".
Good cast cannot save this routine Western.
The great cast here, including Ayers, Maxwell, Divine, and Conried cannot save this predictable and routine Western effort.
All the stereo-types are here, the fallen woman, the honor-bound Cavalry Captain and comic relief, but none of it seems to work well.
The ending attempts to be different, but by that time the viewer could not care less..
Profound Acting.
The movie centers on a strong clear plot structure strongly defined in the beginning.
The story progresses to a seige, where pure character takes over the plot as the main element that defines the fine quality of this movie.
For some reason I did not know at the time, I loved this movie as a child.
Later in theater I learned the quality aspects that New Mexico writers and actors used.
Road to hell is paved with good intentions....and a low budget!.
Good concept and execution overall - my DVD (Alpha Home Video) ran 77 minutes in B & W.
Still, the characterizations of the lead characters were good for most, and the general plot execution held together well.The filming locations around Gallup and Acoma NM echo Monument Valley.
The focus on the legendary Acoma Pueblo (aka Sky City) in western New Mexico seemed to be accurate; the mesa-top village (in miniature long shots) was pretty well done as were the cliffside scenes of attack and desperate defense.
Unclear how much fighting was actually filmed at Acoma proper, as it is a sacred site.Normally it was the Acomas defending the mesa and village, rather than trying to assault troops on the mesa from below.
*The Spanish had laid siege to Acoma Pueblo as far back as the 16th Century.A note on the mysterious "Lincoln Canes." These were indeed provided to a number of tribes and pueblos, engraved "1863" and "A.
Clearly the film is correctly alluding to an act of great significance to the Native tribes, while taking some license with the actual event.
"We'll let you think a while, then we fight"..
I doubt whether the opening scene could have possibly taken place in history.
The Civil War ended on April 9th, 1865, and President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated five days later on the 14th.
That wouldn't have given him any time at all to head out to New Mexico and back, and it's not likely he would have done so with the war on.
I guess we're not supposed to think about things like that.Following Lincoln's assassination, the peace treaty offered War Chief Acoma by the President is abrogated, and Territorial Judge Verne Wilcox (Lloyd Corrigan) is only too happy to enforce a seizure of Indian land under the direction of Colonel McComb.
If you notice the sign indicating the Foreclosure Sale on Indian property, it was ordered for September 11th, so the Indians in a way had their own 9/11.I don't believe I've seen Lew Ayres in a Western before; he was generally competent here in his role as Captain Hunt, attempting to balance his military duty with a personal conviction toward treating the Indian fairly.
He had a few resolute confrontations with Acoma (Ted de Corsia), then followed his orders to bring Acoma to justice following an uprising by the tribes.
Curiously, there was no mention of the specific Indian tribes involved in the conflict, though my judgment says it was probably Apache.There were some interesting cast choices for this picture, with Marilyn Maxwell in a non-romantic lead, (unusual for this type of picture), heading West to promote her singing career with her manager (Verna Felton).
She does a lively tune around the campfire later in the story.
Andy Devine's on hand as Sergeant Garrity, and Jeff Corey appears virtually unrecognizable as cavalry scout Coyote.
The most unusual appearance in the picture is that of Richard Burr, he's the skunk that killed Acoma's older son as the boys were attempting to run away from the cavalry party.
Oh yes, can't forget Hans Conreid (also unrecognizable) as Lincoln in the opening sequence.Andy Devine's role isn't played for the comic relief he usually provides, though he did have a funny line while on the trail for Acoma - "I wonder if it's too late to join the Navy".
As clever as that might have been, he later delivered that terrible clunker calling little Charley an Indian giver.
Half is better than none..
ALWAYS check inherited VHS tapes with no specific labels to make sure that the whole film is there BEFORE starting to watch the movie.That being said ...
I did enjoy the part of "New Mexico" that I got to see.Sure it was hokey and impossibly historically inaccurate ...
Lincoln in New Mexico Territory just before the end of the Civil War and just before his assassination...
There were problems with the costuming of the Native-Americans as well as their casting BUT was a very low budget film and western makers were not known for being detail oriented in B-westerns.I did get to see Raymond Burr being dastardly and Andy Devine wise cracking much less than usual.
Missed the singing in the 2nd half but did recognize Verna Felton so all was not all lost.
Surprised to find out who was playing Lincoln.
Lew Ayres very good despite being out of his usual element.The scenery = fantastic.
Plot = better than some.Wish I'd seen how they managed to get down off'n that mesa though..
good run of the mill western.
Old school western has peace with an Indian tribe collapsing after the death of President Lincoln.
An evil colonel and inspector run roughshod over the native population.
A captain, who was decorated by Lincoln for keeping the peace tries to keep things calm however war flares which put everyone in danger.Okay western is very much run of the mill.
certainly its done well but at the same time the sense of having been here before makes everything seem less than it is.
I liked it but at the same time I don't think I'll ever see it again, or really even remember it..
Whether factual or not, this is an interesting view of white man's evil to those who were there first..
Recently, I saw an Off Broadway production of the 1969 Tony nominated play "Indians", an analogy of what was going on at the time in the Vietnam War and the white man's involvement in the displacement of natives and the unkept promises by the government in protecting them.
It is ironic that a week later that I pulled out this film from a box set of public domain westerns and found a plot line similar, although this incident took place some 30 years ago.
But the basic story is still the same, one culture's inhumanity towards another, and one decent white man's efforts to right the wrong perpetuated by his own people.
While the natives are presented fairly for a change for the most part, there's still the nagging feeling that the writers had to include a few savage references simply for shock value, and some of those moments are cringe worthy.This film starts off with President Abraham Lincoln creating a treaty with the Acoma tribe and the betrayal of that treaty after Lincoln's assassination.
Chief Ted de Corsia vows vengeance, and Lew Ayres, an army officer who witnessed the treaty being agreed upon, decides to fight for the rights of the natives, even after de Corsia murders the colonel who stopped them from rightfully claiming what was theirs.
But first, he must bring de Corsia and the others to justice, along with prejudiced judge Lloyd Corrigan.
Walter Greaza and Raymond Burr represent the cruel white men whose ambition it seems was not only settling the land but destroying human beings they cruelly treated like savages.
Certainly, the natives seek revenge, but it's not difficult to understand why they did what they felt they had to do.
When they do, you can guarantee that those who feel their wrath won't get a painless death.It's nice to see a western where more than just one side is presented, even if much of it seems fictional.
Hans Conreid, of all people, is Abraham Lincoln here, and is completely unrecognizable, no traces of Dr. T or his vast array of oddball characters.
There are moments that will make you cringe at the cruelties of the white men, particularly when one of Ayres' men takes it upon himself to kill a young native boy right in front of his brother.
This leads the surviving son of chief de Corsia to discover early in life the meantime if true hatred, intending to venge his brother's death just like his father would There's little unnecessary comedy relief here (even with the presence of Andy Devine who has one rather offensive quip), and the presence of Marilyn Maxwell as a traveling actress seems superfluous, even if she is accompanied by the lovable character actress Verna Felton.
This is a nice attempt to present natives beyond the usual stereotypes even though it's obvious that important facts have been altered or changed to make this cinematic.