Escape from Fort Bravo

Plot synopsis:
The year is 1863. The Civil War still rages. Far off in the Arizona desert, vanquished Confederate soldiers are being held at Fort Bravo by their Union captors. Surrounding them all is the monumental, inhospitable terrain and the implacably hostile Mescalero Apaches.Captain Roper (William Holden) of the US Army drags an escaped Confederate prisoner named Bailey back to the fort behind his horse. As they enter the grounds, the prisoners in the stockade resentfully glare at Roper. Roper tells his commanding officer that the man had ridden his horse until it gave out, then fled on foot before being ridden down. Roper soon finds that his brutal tactics are also unpopular with his commanding officer, his second-in-command Lieutenant Beecher (Richard Anderson), and the post doctor. The post commander pointedly reminds Roper that the prisoners nearly outnumber the garrison. Roper admits that his actions are designed to intimidate the restless prisoners and keep them in check.Confederate Captain Marsh (John Forsythe) asks Roper for permission to see the captured prisoner, which Roper grants. The young man is in a bad way, exhausted and dehydrated. He apologizes for his foolhardy escape attempt. Some of the more aggressive prisoners question Marsh's reluctance to order a mass escape.Roper leads a mounted patrol into the desert to escort an overdue supply convoy carrying rifles to the fort. They find the wagons overturned and burned, the drivers tortured to death on ant mounds. As the slain men are being laid to rest, Roper notices smoke and mirror signals in the distance. An attack is imminent. Beecher takes an arrow to the shoulder as the surprise attack commences. The Mescaleros wheel around the surrounded troopers, inflicting and incurring several casualties. The Apaches soon retreat into the distance.As night falls, the soldiers make camp and almost immediately hear gunfire. The same band of Apaches is pursuing a stagecoach through the desert, with both the shotgun guard and passengers returning fire. Roper's men intervene and drive off the attackers. The stagecoach is escorted to the camp, where the beautiful Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker) alights and introduces herself to Roper. She explains that she was on her way to Fort Bravo to see the colonel and his engaged daughter. Carla dresses Beecher's wound and explains that she went to school with the colonel's daughter, Alice (Polly Bergen), who is soon to marry Lt. Beecher.The next evening, sparks seemingly fly between the aggressively flirtatious Carla and an amused Captain Roper as he escorts her to her quarters. He agrees to accompany her to the post dance the next evening. At the dance, Carla expresses surprise that a pair of Confederate officers have been permitted to attend. One of them is Captain Marsh, who gallantly asks her to dance with him. As they dance closely together, it is revealed that they are in fact lovers, and she has come to the fort to aid in his escape. The breakout is planned for the night of Lt. Beecher's wedding to Alice.Following the dance, Roper takes Carla to see his prized rose garden on the way back to her quarters. Surprised by this softer side of the stern captain, she asks about his late father. He slowly starts to reveal a human side as he falls for her. The next day, Carla and Alice depart for a nearby town to shop for a wedding dress. Roper unexpectedly and inconveniently volunteers to accompany them. Roper and three troopers escort the carriage. In town, Roper accompanies Carla to a dry goods store run by a Mr. Watson, a Confederate sympathizer who has agreed to provide supplies for the escape attempt. While Roper is distracted, she covertly slips Watson a wad of cash and describes the clothing, provisions, horses, and guns that will be required. Watson is to deliver supplies to the fort on the night of the wedding and then conceal the escapees in his wagon. After returning to the fort, Roper accompanies Carla on a ride into the beautiful rock formations above the fort. Roper comes on to her and embraces her. She fights him at first but then willingly submits as they kiss passionately.After Beecher and Alice's wedding, Roper tells a conflicted Carla that he in love with her, asking her to stay on and marry him. Meanwhile, the four escapees (including Marsh and Bailey) have climbed into the back of Watson's covered supply wagon. Carla tells Roper that she needs to be alone to think. After he leaves, she runs to the supply wagon and tells Marsh she is going with them. Roper pointedly questions the nervous Watson as he exits with the concealed prisoners and Carla in his wagon.The next morning, the escape is reported. Roper is stunned and bitter at Carla's deception. He and Beecher lead a detail in pursuit of the escapees. Out on the desert, Carla seems distracted, and Captain Marsh suspects that she has feelings for Roper. Roper's pursuit group soon sneaks up on the Confederates' campsite and gets the drop on them. Marsh challenges Roper to a fistfight, with Roper winning handily. Roper gathers up his prisoners and starts back for the fort.Watching from atop the spectacular desert rock formations, the Mescaleros discover Roper's outnumbered party and attack. The group is forced to dismount and take cover in a small defile. Roper arms the Rebs and they acquit themselves well, but the group is hopelessly surrounded. As night falls, Bailey bolts from the ditch and flees on the one remaining horse. The others curse him as a coward. The following morning, the Apaches attack again, wounding Beecher and one of the Rebels. During the attack, the Apaches curiously bracket the soldiers' position by thrusting lances into the soil just out of reach. No one knows why. The reason soon becomes apparent as single arrows are carefully lobbed from the surrounding cliffs, registering the distance to Roper's band. Deadly volleys of arrows soon follow, cascading down onto the group. Captain Marsh, Beecher, and others are hit. Two of the Confederates desperately leap from cover to knock down the lances guiding the archers. Both are shot dead. Roper makes his own dash and finishes the task, but the end is near.As night falls, Marsh uses a gun to force Roper and Carla to leave together, telling Roper that he has won her and now has to save her, but Marsh collapses before they can leave. With Marsh and Beecher near death, Roper realizes that his only remaining option is to pretend the others are all dead and break cover himself to face the Apaches. At dawn, he sprinkles Marsh and Beecher with dirt and tells a tearful Carla to play dead. As he walks out of the defile, both guns drawn, he is shot twice and collapses. Suddenly, the Apaches flee past him. The cavalry has arrived. Bailey was not a coward after all; he had ridden to the fort and brought help back. Roper, Carla and Beecher are saved, but it is too late for Captain Marsh, who dies as the movie ends.

Tags: violence

Review:
William Holden is Captain Roper, a strict commanding officer in charge of a large group of Confederate prisoners in a dry heat stockade at Fort Bravo, Arizona, in 1863...He is disliked by his captors as well by his captives because of his displeasing behavior toward the escapees whom he invariably recaptures...
A main example, dragging back to the fort John Lupton with a rope around his waist...To Fort Bravo arrived, one morning, the talented, and beautiful Eleanor Parker (Carla) apparently for the wedding of a friend (Polly Bergen)...
In fact she is scheming the escape of a rebel, Captain John Forsythe...Carla - a confederate agent - knows how to charm and handle beautifully Holden in her sojourn in the fort...
He sets out in their pursuit, ignoring that outside, and around him, in the wilderness, common enemy is watching, the deadly Mescalero Indians...Holden is stern, enigmatic and firm as the brusque young officer, who keeps the restless prisoners in Fort Bravo while trying to keep out marauding Indians...
The rain of the Indians arrows is vigorously presented by John Sturges who directed many fine Westerns like "Backlash," "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," and "The Law and Jake Wade." "Escape from Fort Bravo" is a great Western and a good suspense drama with a sweet romance and spectacular action...
Fort Bravo is being used as a Confederate prison camp during the waning months of the American Civil War. Inside the fort's walls are the prisoners, wanting to escape, and the troops of the Union cavalry, trying to prevent their escapes, and outside are the bands of savage Mescalero Apaches, just waiting for anybody to leave the safety of the fort.William Holden plays Capt.
During this time, a female Confederate sympathizer, played by Eleanor Parker, comes to the fort and will attempt to distract Holden, while she manages to enact the escape of her Confederate lover, played by John Forsythe.
The escape occurs, some rebel prisoners manage to leave the fort, Parker goes with them, but she does not realize that Holden has come to fall in love with her.
Roper, Holden's part, takes a small troop of men out from the fort in pursuit, he hoping to catch up with them before the Apaches do.Besides the three main leads mentioned above, the supporting cast includes William Demerest, William Campbell, Richard Anderson, Polly Bergen, and in a pre "Broken Arrow" role, John Lupton.
Sometimes I'm in the mood for a good western, so that is how I came to watch Escape from Fort Bravo (1953).I chose this film in particular because I like to see William Holden when he was just hitting his stardom, and before his alcohol abuse had aged him prematurely and affected his magnetism.
I think Sturges used Parker's character well, but he didn't let her get in the way of the main draw which was the action and adventure.I probably would have given up on the film if Holden had stayed in a perpetual bad mood and continued to incite the prisoners and even his fellow soldiers with his barbaric methods for wrangling in escapees.
William Holden and Eleanor Parker play off one another well in this tug of war and wills with John Forsythe hovering as an interested party.
During the Civil War, Union captain at an Arizona fort chases down a group of deserters on their way to Texas (including the woman the captain loves, who aided in the band's escape), but all involved become trapped in a desert trench by bloodthirsty Indians.
During the Civil War , a group of Confederates are ruthlessly guarded by a hard-bitten cavalry officer , the pivotal role captain Roper (William Holden) .
John Marsh (John Forsythe) accompanied by his underlings , the old Campbell (William Demarest) , the impetuous Young Cabot Young (William Campbell) and the coward Bailey (John Lupton) escape from the Union POW camp at Fort Bravo but has to contend with the desert , the Mescalero Indians and the pursuing Union troops .
Released in 1953 and directed by John Sturges, "Escape from Fort Bravo" was always one of my top Westerns of the 1950s.
When Roper goes after a group of escapees the soldiers have no recourse but to team up against a band of marauding Mescalero Indians.William Holden was in his prime here, as was the breathtaking Eleanor Parker, both stunning examples of masculine strength and feminine charm respectively.Although the soldiers rarely miss and the Natives rarely hit, the Indians are depicted in a realistic, respectable manner, showing ingenuity in their resolve to wipe out the pinned-down group of whites.William Campbell, well-known for the lead Klingon in the original Star Trek episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and less-so as the alien Trelane in "The Squire of Gothos," has a formidable supporting role as one of the escaping Confederates.
FINAL WORD: I realize a lot of pre-60's Westerns come off eye-rolling or artificial, but "Escape from Fort Bravo," doesn't fall into that category; that is, aside from the dated opening tune and the aforementioned song at the dance, as well as the parts that were obviously shot in the studio, which was typical in that era.The film runs 99 minutes and was shot in desolate regions of California (Semi Valley) and New Mexico (Gallup), including Death Valley National Park.GRADE: B+.
William Holden's character, in the Civil War-era Western "Escape From Fort Bravo" (1953), has a very appropriate name.
Roper, he is dragging an escaped Confederate prisoner, by rope, across the desert; a not-so-subtle warning to any other rebs who might be planning a similar break from the Union fort, deep in the Arizona Territory.
Marsh (John Forsythe) and abetted by Texan belle Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker), Roper is forced to follow the fugitives...even though the path leads straight into the country of the bloodthirsty Mescalero Apaches.
Filmed in Death Valley National Monument and in gorgeous color, "Escape From Fort Bravo" showcases some truly spectacular scenery, not the least of which is Eleanor herself.
(Oh, did I forget to mention that those Mescaleros have a nasty habit of tying their prisoners to ant hills?) "Escape" boasts a very tough-talking script, with glints of humor coming from the bickerings between (those great character actors) Williams Demarest and Campbell, and its final third is remarkably suspenseful, as Roper, Carla and the escaped rebs are laid siege in a ditch, while the Mescaleros pick them off with rifle shot and lob volleys of arrows into their midst.
Director John Sturges would go on to make three more classic Westerns over the next seven years ("Gunfight at the O.K. Corral," "Last Train From Gun Hill" and, of course, "The Magnificent Seven"), and here turns what is basically a "cavalry and Injuns pic" into a thing of real beauty and excitement.
Jeff Alexander scores the music and Robert Surtees photographs it primarily in and around Death Valley in California, USA."In 1863 while the War Between the States still raged, a large group of Confederate prisoners were held in a sun baked stockade at Fort Bravo, Arizona Territory.
The film also serves notice of what a fine director of action John Sturges would become, he of course would go on from here to be known for such film's like Bad Day at Black Rock, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, The Magnificent Seven and The Great Escape.
A Lot of Time And Trouble For Four Men. William Holden did Escape from Fort Bravo as a double loan out from his two studio employers, Paramount and Columbia.
Not the guys I'd take along.Nevertheless Escape from Fort Bravo boasts of some great scenic photography in Death Valley and a very exciting last stand battle with the escapees and Holden facing certain death at the hands of the Mescaleros.Director John Sturges and all the players involved did films a lot better than Escape from Fort Bravo..
The Death Valley scenery is spectacular and the Ansco Color photography quite good but it doesn't make up for the simple plot involving Confederate prisoners at a Union fort in Arizona trying to escape, with Mescaleroes on the warpath all around.
The way you light a man's cigar."The Best Part of this Over Produced Western is the much Talked about Climax that has an Indian Attack with the Mescaleros using some Military Artillery Tactics and the Standoff is Staged just a bit Off Key and that Boosts the Movie to just Above Standard Stuff despite all the Effort from MGM to make this something Special.
Good classic film that shows how the North dealt with the Confederates and American Indians at the same time during the U.S. Civil war.Good overall production and the ciematography was very good.To nitpick,the movie started slow and Parker's dresses were too unrealistic for the circumstances.Also the romance chemistry between Parker and Holden was lacking.The script could also have been a tag better.Still,the second half of the film delivered the action goods which will delight true Western genre fans.Only for fans of the genre who are not partial to the Confederate side and fans of the lead stars.......
Tough-as-nails Cavalry officer William Holden prepares to protect a fort full of Confederate prisoners of war against an impending Indian uprising, while the rebels plot their escape with the help of a visiting beauty.Escape From Fort Bravo looks great but it's too slow and ultimately forgettable.
This film doesn't ask much of Holden's talents or the other actors'.If you can ignore the fact that this film offers no tour de force acting parts and just view it as a western, it is a tolerable western featuring the iconic rock features of Death Valley National Park (when they don't take the action into the soundstage).The first part of "Escape" sets the action in Ft. Bravo--and army outpost in Arizona where some confederate prisoners are kept.
The surrounding wild country is plagued by the Mescalero Apache, portrayed as ruthless and an obstacle to Manifest Destiny.In the second part of the film, a woman arrives at the fort who captures the attention of Captain Roper (Holden).
If you enjoy a good old fashioned western that takes place mainly in the hot desert sun with a band of hostile Mescalero Indians hiding behind nearly every mountain top in pursuit of both sides of fighting Civil War troops, the north and the south troops, then this old fashioned western will be right up your alley.William Holden plays Captain Roper, a take ALL prisoners kind of game warden who refuses to let even one confederate soldier make his escape across the desert.
Yes, the damsel these two captains are fighting over is Carla Forester, played by Eleanor Parker.To summarize, the north is winning the Civil war so the southern troops are trying to escape from Fort Bravo (thus the title) but they have to travel through the hot and unforgiving desert and Captain Roper will chase anyone down, including the woman he is falling deep in love with, that being Carla Forester who is also on the run.Fifty (50) years ago I would have had nightmares after watching the Mescalero Indians striking fear in the troops as they tried to hold off the Indians in the desert.
The reality is however that even if the film does contain a lot of talent in front of and behind the camera if you don't like Westerns you won't be mad keen on this movie Set during the American Civil War the premise involves a Union officer played by Holden who has to escort a group of Confederate prisoners across hostile Indian territory where they have to team up to defend themselves against the Indian war party .
The movie has some good actors in William Holden and Eleanor Parker, but the story in which their characters operate does not do much for the western genre.
That could be a very nice movie, with an excellent cast of luminaries (William Holden as Captain Roper Eleanor Parker as Carla Forester John Forsythe as Captain John Marsh William Demarest as Campbell William Campbell as Cabot Young Polly Bergen as Alice Owens Richard Anderson as Lieutenant Beecher Carl Benton Reid as Colonel Owens John Lupton as Bailey), with seemingly good plot - Union camp for Cofederate prisoners of war, the seemingly excellent nature would also provide a big welcome addition...
Try Escape from Fort Bravo, starring William Holden as the leader of a Union prison camp and John Forsythe as one of the Confederate prisoners who's planning an escape.
Set in a remote Union outpost for captured confederate prisoners during the Civil War, Sturges set out to give the story an authentic look so he filmed in the stunning locations of Death Valley and in and around the New Mexico Badlands.
The first Cinemascope movie "The Robe" was released by Fox at the same time.William Holden, in one of his best parts, plays union Captain Roper a formidable hard-bitten taskmaster over the prisoners.
On a visit to the Fort for a wedding is the lovely Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker) whose real business is to arrange for the escape of her confederate officer lover (John Forsyth) and three of his men while at the same time ensuring Captain Roper falls for her charms, little suspecting that she herself would fall in love with him.
When one of those prisoners receives a visit from a young woman (ELEANOR PARKER) pretending to arrive at the fort to attend a wedding, he has no idea that she's a Confederate spy and wants to use him as a way to set an escape plan into action.Filmed amid breathtaking vistas in Death Valley by veteran director John Sturges, in glorious sun-baked Technicolor, it's a solid western, a little slow in getting started--but once it moves away from the fort and into the desert where Holden and a group of other soldiers and the woman are surrounded by Mescalero Indians, it becomes a fascinating display of Indian ingenuity with arrows and spears that is photographed for maximum effect.While the ending may be a bit predictable, with Parker and Holden riding off into the sunset, it's a gripping shootout surrounded by cunning Indians that sustains the last forty minutes.
However, it remains watchable thanks to the clear-thinking script, the strong performances and the exciting climax.Captain Roper (William Holden) is a tough Union officer at the titular fort, located in central Arizona.
Near the start of the film, Roper brings back a young Confederate escapee named Bailey (John Lupton), and drags him around the yard with a rope to set an example to the other prisoners contemplating possible future escape bids.
Later, a beautiful woman named Carla Forester (Eleanor Parker) arrives, claiming that she is present for the fort commandant's daughter's wedding, though in actual fact she is a Confederate spy.
Bitter and disillusioned, Roper once again sets out to track down and recapture this latest bunch of runners....Escape From Fort Bravo certainly looks pleasing to the eye (due, in no small part, to the cinematography of the great Robert Surtees), and it is a very professionally assembled work.
William Holden is as tough as nails, a captain at isolated Fort Bravo, which houses a horde of Confederate prisoners and is surrounded by hostile Mescalero Apaches.
Finally he died with a smile on his face when Bailey (The only Confederate soldier to survive), ending up learning from Roper & Marsh how to be a hero, by escaping the Indians, and instead of running away, like he did earlier, he went back to the fort, and brought back the soldiers to save Roper, Carla, and Lt. Beecher (Richard Anderson), who was the only other survivor (interesting that Campbell somehow knew that would happen?).
William Holden as Captain Roper in this 1953 film comes across as a hard-nosed military man, who inflicts bitter punishment against a rebel soldier who dared to escape.Where are the southern accents from the Confederate soldiers?
At the beginning of the film William Holden's character is so repulsive and cruel that -- at least for me -- one begins to root for the Confederates, which is helped along by the Confederate leader being John Forsythe.To a degree, the film seems a bit formulaic in spots, but it's a decent enough plot to hold your attention...although getting Eleanor Parker into Fort Bravo seemed a bit contrived...but you have to have a love interest.
"Bad Day at Black Rock" director John Sturges' first period horse opera, "Escape from Fort Bravo," takes place during American Civil War at a remote cavalry stockade doubling as a Confederate prisoner-of-war camp.
William Holden heads up a solid cast including Eleanor Parker, John Forsythe, William Demarest, William Campbell, Richard Anderson, Polly Bergen, John Lupton, Carl Benton Reid and Glenn Strange.The film opens with a foreword.
Bob Bailey (John Lupton) has tried to escape, but U.S. Cavalry Captain Roper (William Holden of "Golden Boy") has recaptured him.
In truth, Carla has come to Fort Bravo to help her lover, Confederate Captain John Marsh (John Forsythe of "Destination Tokyo"), and handful of soldiers, including Bob Bailey (John Lupton of "Julius Caesar"), Sergeant Campbell (William Demarest of "All Through the Night") and Cabot Young (William Campbell of "Backlash") escape.
Finally he died with a smile on his face when Bailey (The only Confederate soldier to survive),learned from Roper & Marsh how to be a hero, by escaping the Indians, and instead of running away, like he did earlier, he went back to the fort, and brought back the soldiers to save Roper, Carla, and Lt. Beecher (Richard Anderson).
Directed by John Sturges, this average Western set in 1863 combines elements of the Civil War with the struggle against the Mescalero Indians in settling the West.
However, when one of the Southerners (John Lupton) does escape, Captain Roper (William Holden) feels it's necessary to make an example of him to keep others from trying the same - he makes him walk back!