Apache
Burt Lancaster was cock of the walk in 1954. The Lancaster-starredFrom Here to Eternityhad just swept the Oscars®, his personal production company Hecht-Lancaster could do no wrong, and he had marquee magic in two back-to-back Westerns directed by Robert Aldrich,Vera Cruzand this one. There are moments in his performance as Massai, the Apache warrior who wouldn't surrender with Geronimo, that seem choreographed to express the actor's exultation. Massai has hard going all the way--starting with having to recross half the continent on foot after escaping from a prison train bound for Florida--but Lancaster the ex-circus athlete who insisted on doing his own stunts fairly sings with the ecstasy of movement as he scampers over rocks, rolls unscathed between the wheels of racing wagons, and generally makes the screen look like his private gym.Apachewasn't the first Western to sympathize with Native Americans done wrong, but it's among the liveliest--although, ironically, it was destined to be outshone in power and complexity by Aldrich and Lancaster's masterpieceUlzana's Raidnearly two decades later. Typically of its time,Apachefeatures non-Indians in all the Indian roles, including Jean Peters as Massai's beloved Nalinle and Charles Buchinsky (later Bronson) as her other suitor, Hondo, one of the tribesmen who has donned U.S. Cavalry blue. John McIntire contributes his crusty moral authority as Al Sieber, the real-life scout who helped defeat Geronimo and then Massai, and respected both. John Dehner is, as usual, a real bastard.--Richard T. Jameson