Director Samuel Fuller put out several above average films, notably PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, STEEL HELMET and SHOCKPROOF. He did not display the same form in RUN OF THE ARROW, even though he had more than a serviceable cast at hand, including such stalwarts as Rod Steiger, Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Sarita Montiel and Charles Bronson.
The acting is more than satisfactory across the board. Samuel Fuller's own script brings in the stances of Unionists, Sioux and ex-Confederate now white Sioux Steiger, but the final concoction is a trifle mixed up, and not very much helped by action sequences, especially the final attack on the fort, which seem amateurish.
The villain is Ralph Meeker as the Union lieutenant who decides to change orders from above regarding the site of the fort that is to be built in Sioux territory, after Captain Keith perishes due to a renegade Sioux's arrow in the chest. In a sense, that renegade mirrors Steiger as the loner, defeated Confederate, now a man without a nation, who belongs nowhere but has developed a relationship with beautiful squaw Montiel.
The key sentence, first spoken by Keith and repeated at the end, is that the death of Lee is not the death of the Confederation but the birth of a nation, and that it is up to each American to ensure that it happens. As indicated above, it is a well-meaning film. 7/10.
The acting is more than satisfactory across the board. Samuel Fuller's own script brings in the stances of Unionists, Sioux and ex-Confederate now white Sioux Steiger, but the final concoction is a trifle mixed up, and not very much helped by action sequences, especially the final attack on the fort, which seem amateurish.
The villain is Ralph Meeker as the Union lieutenant who decides to change orders from above regarding the site of the fort that is to be built in Sioux territory, after Captain Keith perishes due to a renegade Sioux's arrow in the chest. In a sense, that renegade mirrors Steiger as the loner, defeated Confederate, now a man without a nation, who belongs nowhere but has developed a relationship with beautiful squaw Montiel.
The key sentence, first spoken by Keith and repeated at the end, is that the death of Lee is not the death of the Confederation but the birth of a nation, and that it is up to each American to ensure that it happens. As indicated above, it is a well-meaning film. 7/10.