WILLIAM HOLDEN is a Union Captain in 1863, assigned to Fort Bravo guarding Conferate prisoners. 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. JOHN FORSYTHE plays Eleanor's intended sweetheart who ends up losing her to Holden, and WILLIAM DEMAREST and WILLIAM CAMPBELL supply some much needed comic relief when the going gets rough.
Enjoyable western doesn't given Holden a chance to smile much, a far cry from his earlier movies where he said he always played "Smilin' Jim" kind of parts. Eleanor Parker looks very beautiful throughout, but her costuming and hairdo is strictly the product of '50s costuming and make-up. Still, she makes nice eye candy, especially photogenic in the brilliant color.
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. JOHN FORSYTHE plays Eleanor's intended sweetheart who ends up losing her to Holden, and WILLIAM DEMAREST and WILLIAM CAMPBELL supply some much needed comic relief when the going gets rough.
Enjoyable western doesn't given Holden a chance to smile much, a far cry from his earlier movies where he said he always played "Smilin' Jim" kind of parts. Eleanor Parker looks very beautiful throughout, but her costuming and hairdo is strictly the product of '50s costuming and make-up. Still, she makes nice eye candy, especially photogenic in the brilliant color.