''Apache'' is a 1954 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Robert Aldrich Robert Burgess Aldrich (August 9, 1918 – December 5, 1983) was an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. An iconoclastic and maverick '' auteur'' working in many genres during the Golden Age of Hollywood, he directed main ...

and starring

Burt Lancaster Burton Stephen Lancaster (November 2, 1913 – October 20, 1994) was an American actor. Initially known for playing tough characters with tender hearts, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year caree ...

, Jean Peters and

John McIntire John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in Novemb ...

. The film was based on the novel ''Broncho Apache'' by Paul Wellman, which was published in 1936. It was Aldrich's first color film.

Plot

Following the surrender of the great leader

Geronimo Gerónimo (, ; June 16, 1829 – February 17, 1909) was a military leader and medicine man from the Bedonkohe band of the Ndendahe Apache people. From 1850 to 1886, Geronimo joined with members of three other Central Apache bands the Tchihen ...

, Massai — the last

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

warrior — is captured and sent on a prison train to a reservation in Florida. But he manages to escape in Oklahoma and heads back to his homeland to win back his woman and settle down to grow crops. His pursuers have other ideas, though.

Cast

as Massai * Jean Peters as Nalinle *

as Al Sieber * Charles Buchinsky as Hondo *

John Dehner John Dehner (DAY-ner; born John Dehner Forkum; November 23, 1915February 4, 1992), also credited Dehner Forkum, was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor. From the late 1930s to the late 1980s, he amassed a long list o ...

as Weddle *

Paul Guilfoyle Paul Vincent Guilfoyle () (born April 28, 1949) is an American character actor. He was a regular cast member of the CBS crime drama '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', on which he played Captain Jim Brass from 2000 to 2014. He returned for ...

as Santos *

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...

as Clagg *

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – February 22, 1972) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no pe ...

as Lieutenant Colonel Beck *

Morris Ankrum Morris Ankrum (August 28, 1897 – September 2, 1964) was an American radio, television, and film character actor. Early life Ankrum was born in Danville in Vermilion County in eastern Illinois, and pursued a career in law. After graduating ...

as Dawson *

Monte Blue Gerard Montgomery Blue (January 11, 1887 – February 18, 1963) was an American film actor who began his career as a romantic lead in the silent era; and for decades after the advent of sound, he continued to perform as a supporting player ...

* Paul E. Burns as General Store Proprietor

Production

In April 1952

announced he would star in a film based on the novel, to be produced by himself and Harold Hecht. Lancaster had previously played an American Indian in ''

Jim Thorpe – All-American ''Jim Thorpe – All-American'' (UK title: ''Man of Bronze'') is a 1951 American biographical film directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Burt Lancaster as Jim Thorpe, the great Native American athlete who won medals at the 1912 Olympics and d ...

''. Both Lancaster and his love interest, played by Jean Peters, appeared in

brownface Brownface is a social phenomenon in which a white or light-skinned person attempts to portray themselves as a "brown" person of color, but less overtly and with a lighter complexion than traditional blackface. It is typically defined as a racis ...

in the film. In June 1953, Lancaster and Hecht announced they would make two films with

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

, starting with ''Apache''. The film would be the first in a series of movies Lancaster made for

. It was originally budgeted at $742,000. In July 1953 the producers hired

as a director. Aldrich says this was on the back of his second feature as director, ''

World for Ransom ''World for Ransom'' is a 1954 American film noir drama directed by Robert Aldrich and starring Dan Duryea, Patric Knowles, Gene Lockhart, Reginald Denny, and Nigel Bruce (in his final film role). Many of the actors and sets used in the film ...

'', along with the fact that he had previously worked for Hecht-Lancaster on other movies as an assistant and had tried to buy the original novel himself.mr. film noir stays at the table Silver, Alain. Film Comment; New York Vol. 8, Iss. 1, (Spring 1972): 14-23. The ending of the novel featured the leading character killed by US troops. "Of course, United Artists and Hecht became apprehensive of that so called down-beat ending," said Aldrich. "I made noise but they didn't hear me; then you go through the steps but you know they're going to use that happy ending."

Shooting

Filming started October 19, 1953, in Sonora, after a week of rehearsal. Lancaster tore a ligament while filming a horse scene on the film. He returned to filming relatively quickly.

Reception

Box office

The film was a big hit, earning over in

theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is frequ ...

s during its first year of release and $6 million in overall North American rentals. Aldrich subsequently directed Hecht-Lancaster's next film, '' Vera Cruz''. The film earned in American and Canadian rentals during 1954, and it went on to generate total gross receipts of in the United States and Canada. In France, the film sold 1,216,098 tickets at the box office.French box office results for Robert Aldrich films
at Box Office Story

Critical

At the time, Clyde Gilmour praised the film as "one of the most exciting and entertaining westerns Hollywood has produced," while the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

criticized it as "slow and dull." Retrospective reviews have praised the film for its "acceptance of the alien nature of the Apache" and "more than the standard revisionist bromides."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Apache (Film) 1954 films 1954 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Revisionist Western (genre) films Films about Native Americans Apache Wars films Films shot in Arizona Films shot in California Films shot in Los Angeles County, California Films directed by Robert Aldrich Films produced by Burt Lancaster Films produced by Harold Hecht Films scored by David Raksin Films with screenplays by James R. Webb Norma Productions films United Artists films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films Whitewashing in film English-language Western (genre) films