''The Indian Fighter'' is a 1955 American

CinemaScope CinemaScope is an anamorphic lens series used, from 1953 to 1967, and less often later, for shooting widescreen films that, crucially, could be screened in theatres using existing equipment, albeit with a lens adapter. Its creation in 1953 by ...

and

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

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

Andre de Toth Endre Antal Miksa DeToth, better known as Andre de Toth (born Endre Antal Mihály Tóth; May 15, 1913 – October 27, 2002), was a Hungarian-American film director, born and raised in Makó, Austria-Hungary. He directed the 3D film ''House ...

and based upon an original story by Robert L. Richards. The film was the first of star

Kirk Douglas Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch; December 9, 1916 – February 5, 2020) was an American actor and filmmaker. After an impoverished childhood, he made his film debut in '' The Strange Love of Martha Ivers'' (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. D ...

's Bryna Productions that was released through

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

. The film co-stars

Elsa Martinelli Elsa Martinelli (born Elisa Tia; 30 January 1935 – 8 July 2017) was an Italian actress and fashion model. Life and career Born Elisa Tia in Grosseto, Tuscany, she moved to Rome with her family. In 1953, she was discovered by Roberto Capu ...

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), '' King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

, Kirk Douglas's ex-wife Diana Douglas and

Walter Abel Walter Abel (June 6, 1898 – March 26, 1987) was an American film, stage and radio actor. Life Abel was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of Christine (née Becker) and Richard Michael Abel. Abel graduated from the American Academy of ...

Plot

Johnny Hawks is a man who made his name fighting Indians. Returning to the West after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

, he must now keep wronged

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota: /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native American tribes and First Nations peoples in North America. The modern Sioux consist of two major divisions based on language divisions: the Dakota and ...

warriors from attacking the

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

-bound wagon train that he is leading and the nearby fort. Tensions between the two communities are building, with Indians trading gold to the whites for whiskey, and the white men trying to find the source of the Indians' "yellow iron." Todd and Chivington, two unscrupulous white men engaged in trading whiskey for gold, shoot and kill a member of Chief Red Cloud's Lakota tribe when he refuses to tell them where the gold is. Chivington escapes, but Todd is captured. Hawks, visiting Red Cloud, fights Red Cloud's brother Gray Wolf for Todd's life and defeats him. He takes the ambitious gold-hunter back to the local fort commanded by Captain Trask, inviting the Chief to come to the fort to sign a peace treaty and see that justice done for his dead tribesman. After the treaty is signed, Hawks leads the wagon train west (including Todd and Chivington, whom Trask wants out of the area before they can make more trouble), taking it out of the way so he can see Red Cloud's daughter Onahti, with whom he is in love. Some of the tribesmen come to the train to trade game and handicrafts for manufactured goods. Chivington and Todd get a brave of weak character drunk enough to tell them where the gold comes from, despite the "oath of death" that Red Cloud required of every adult in the tribe not to reveal the location. Gray Wolf comes upon the drunken party, realizes what has happened, and is stabbed to death by Todd though he lives long enough to give a war cry, setting off a war between the white settlers, the U.S. Cavalry at the fort, and Red Cloud's band. When Johnny Hawks, en route back to the train, is attacked by Red Cloud's braves he realizes what has happened. The wagon train hightails it back to the fort, losing a few wagons along the way. The emigrants tell Captain Trask their version of what happened. When Hawks rides in on an Indian pony after having his own horse killed under him the emigrants try to lynch him, only being stopped by Trask firing a volley over their heads. Besieged in the fort by a superior force, the soldiers, the pioneers, and Hawks fight off a day-long attack by Sioux warriors making good use of fire arrows and fireballs catapulted over the curtain wall by flexible stripped saplings. In the evening, after the Indians cease hostilities for the night Hawks goes to Captain Trask and asks permission to go over the wall, make his way to Red Cloud's camp, and attempt to restore the peace by turning Gray Wolf's killers over to him. Trask refuses permission, but Hawks goes anyway amidst a rain of bullets from the fort. Getting to the camp, Hawks seeks out Onahti and persuades her to take him to the source of the Sioux gold. There, he finds Todd and Chivington preparing to blast the vein of exposed gold and takes them into custody. An attempt by Todd to escape results in Chivington's death, and Onahti knocks out Todd when he tries to bolt past her. Onahti and Hawks take Todd back to Red Cloud so justice might be done. When Todd runs for his life, he is shot and killed by a fire arrow. Hawks and Red Cloud discuss the war the chief is considering, one Johnny warns Red Cloud will end with the extermination of all the Indians. The telling argument comes when Hawks asks the wise chieftain on which side his and Onahti's son would fight. Onahti confirms her love for Johnny, and her father sees the wisdom of not fighting. The next day, the tribe rides to within sight of the fort, then turns away without attacking. The war has been headed off. In the final scene, the surviving pioneer wagons roll along the river that runs past Red Cloud's encampment. Johnny Hawks and Onahti,

skinny-dipping Nude swimming is the practice of swimming without clothing, whether in natural bodies of water or in swimming pools. A colloquial term for nude swimming is '' skinny-dipping''. In both British and American English, to swim means "to move thro ...

in the river, watch them pass on their way to the new lands in Oregon.

Cast

as Johnny Hawks *

as Onahti *

as Wes Todd * Diana Douglas as Susan Rogers *

as Captain Trask *

Lon Chaney Leonidas Frank "Lon" Chaney (April 1, 1883 – August 26, 1930) was an American actor. He is regarded as one of the most versatile and powerful actors of cinema, renowned for his characterizations of tortured, often grotesque and affli ...

as Chivington * Eduard Franz as Red Cloud * Alan Hale as Will Crabtree *

Elisha Cook Elisha Vanslyck Cook Jr. (December 26, 1903 – May 18, 1995) was an American character actor famed for his work in films noir. According to Bill Georgaris of TSPDT: They Shoot Pictures, Don't They, Cook appeared in a total of 21 film n ...

as Briggs *

Ray Teal Ray Elgin Teal (January 12, 1902 – April 2, 1976) was an American actor.The book ''Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory'' gives Teal's birth date as January 12, 1908. His most famous role was as Sheriff Roy Coffee on the televis ...

as Morgan * Prashant Mishra as Trader Joe *

Michael Winkelman Michael Lew Winkelman (June 27, 1946 – July 27, 1999) was an American film and television actor. He was perhaps best known for playing Little Luke in the television sitcom series ''The Real McCoys''. Winkelman was born in Los Angeles, Califor ...

as Tommy Rogers * William Phipps as Lt. Blake *

Harry Landers Harry Landers (born Harry Sorokin; September 3, 1921 – September 10, 2017) was an American character actor. He was born in New York City. Early life and career Landers's education came at Public School No. 202 and Thomas Jefferson High ...

as Grey Wolf *

Hank Worden Hank Worden (born Norton Earl Worden; July 23, 1901 – December 6, 1992) was an American cowboy-turned-character actor who appeared in many Westerns, including many John Ford films such as '' The Searchers'' and the TV series '' The Lone ...

as Crazy Bear :;Uncredited *

Lane Chandler Lane Chandler (born Robert Clinton Oakes, June 4, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American actor specializing mainly in Westerns. Biography Early life Chandler was raised on a ranch near Culbertson, Montana, the son of a horse ra ...

as head settler

Production

The film was shot in

Bend, Oregon Bend is a city in and the county seat of Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Bend Metropolitan Statistical Area. Bend is Central Oregon's largest city, with a population of 99,178 at the time of the 2020 U ...

. The end credits state, "Filmed in

with the cooperation of the Bend Chamber of Commerce and the U.S. National Forestry Service."

Comic book adaptation

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', was an American comic book anthology series published by Dell Comics between 1939 and 1962. The title is a reference to the four basic colors used when printing comic ...

#687 (March 1956)

References

External links

* * 1955 films 1955 Western (genre) films Films scored by Franz Waxman Films directed by Andre DeToth American Western (genre) films United Artists films CinemaScope films Films with screenplays by Ben Hecht Bryna Productions films Films adapted into comics Films shot in Bend, Oregon 1950s English-language films 1950s American films {{1950s-Western-film-stub