Review of The Guns of Fort Petticoat

Very entertaining western from the late 50's ,Audie Murphy stars as a Texan who joins the Union side during the American civil war,much to the annoyance of his fellow Texans. The Union army then go on to attack a peaceful Indian settlement which he is very much against and because of this he deserts. Because he believes the Indians will want revenge he quickly goes back to Texas to warn the homesteaders of future Indian attacks.When he arrives home there is only women left as the men have all gone away to fight in the Civil war,the women all distrust him because he is wearing the Unionists colours and they only see him as a traitor. After the body of a young woman is found killed by an arrow he manages to finally convince the women that what he has been saying is true. They then all take refuge in an abandoned mission where he trains them to fight and shoot in anticipation of an attack,they also learn how to make bombs.The only other man at the mission runs off and joins up with a gang who after they kill him lead the Indians back to the mission. The women end up surrounded and outnumbered and very bravely fight off the final Indian assault with Murphys help of coarse.

The Guns Of Fort Petticoat is a sort of what-if film thats very ahead of its time ,its the sort of storyline that you would expect to be made today and not back in the 50's.It has its amusing moments and it also has romance and some pretty interesting fight scenes.It may all sound a bit far-fetched but it does work especially when quite a few of the women get killed,which under the circumstances is bound to happen. The characters are interesting {if not a little clichéd}and Audie Murphy does give a very good performance and convinces us that this could have happened. This is a very entertaining little film that im glad has been forgotten.