''Captain Apache'' is a 1971 Spanish-British acid Western film directed by Alexander Singer and starring

Lee Van Cleef Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr. (January 9, 1925 – December 16, 1989) was an American actor. He appeared in over 170 film and television roles in a career spanning nearly 40 years, but is best known as a star of spaghetti Westerns, particularly t ...

, Carroll Baker, and

Stuart Whitman Stuart Maxwell Whitman (February 1, 1928 – March 16, 2020) was an American actor, known for his lengthy career in film and television. Whitman was born in San Francisco and raised in New York until the age of 12, when his family relocated to ...

. It was written and produced by

Milton Sperling Milton Sperling (July 6, 1912 – August 26, 1988) was an American film producer and screenwriter for 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., where he had his own independent production unit, United States Pictures. Biography Sperling, who was of ...

and

Philip Yordan Philip Yordan (April 1, 1914 – March 24, 2003) was an American screenwriter, film producer, novelist and playwright. He was a three-time Academy Award nominee, winning Best Story for ''Broken Lance'' (1954). During the 1950s and 1960s, Yorda ...

. The film was based on the 1965 novel ''Captain Apache'' by Sidney Edgerton Whitman, a prolific writer of

Western fiction Western fiction is a genre of literature set in the American Old West frontier and typically set from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century. Well-known writers of Western fiction include Zane Grey from the early 20th century and ...

. The vocals of the opening and credits song were written by Dolores Claman and performed by Van Cleef.

Synopsis

Captain Apache is a Native American U.S. Cavalry officer, who finds himself tangled into a

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, ploy, or scheme, is a secret plan or agreement between people (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder, treason, or corruption, especially with a political motivat ...

, and proceeding upon the case of solving the enigma of the last words of a dead

commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to incl ...

(and captain's old friend), which were: "April morning". Each time he nears discovering the meaning of the phrase, another character capable of providing certain help in solving the mystery dies and throws him off the trail. The journey eventually takes the captain to a train, one which pulls a private

railroad car A railroad car, railcar (American English, American and Canadian English), railway wagon, railway carriage, railway truck, railwagon, railcarriage or railtruck (British English and International Union of Railways, UIC), also called a tra ...

named ''April Morning'', transporting President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

. Putting the information together leads the captain to realize an

assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

is about to take place and he is the only one who can prevent it.

Cast

as Captain Apache * Carroll Baker as Maude *

as Griffin * Percy Herbert as Moon * Elisa Montés as Rosita * Charly Bravo as Sanchez * Charles Stal Maker as O'Rourke * Tony Vogel as Snake * Faith Clift as Abigail * Dee Pollock as Ben * Dan van Husen as Al * Hugh McDermott as General Ryland * Elsa Zabala as Witch

Release

Captain Apache was also released under these titles: ''Capitán Apache'' (Spain), ''Deathwork'' (U.S.A.), ''The Guns of April Morning'' (U.K.), ''Capitan Apache'' (Italy), ''Kapteeni Apassi'' (Finland), ''Pääpiru'' (Finland), ''O Keravnos ton Apache'' (Greece), and ''Hunt the Man Down''.

References

* *

External links

*
''Captain Apache''
at Spaghetti-Western.net 1971 films 1971 Western (genre) films British Western (genre) films Spanish Western (genre) films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels Films shot in Almería Films directed by Alexander Singer English-language Spanish films 1970s English-language films 1970s British films Acid Westerns English-language Western (genre) films {{1970s-Western-film-stub