''Ten Who Dared'' is a 1960 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

William Beaudine William Washington Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out a remarkable 179 feature-length films in a wide variety of genres. He is best know ...

and starring

Brian Keith Robert Alba Keith (November 14, 1921 – June 24, 1997), known professionally as Brian Keith, was an American film, television, and stage actor who in his six-decade career gained recognition for his work in films such as the Disney family ...

, Ben Johnson, John Beal and

James Drury James Child Drury Jr. (April 18, 1934 – April 6, 2020) was an American actor. He is best known for having played the title role in the 90-minute weekly Western television series '' The Virginian'', which was broadcast on NBC from 1962 ...

. It was produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. It tells the story of

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

officer John Wesley Powell, who was the first to travel down the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, and the dangers that he and nine other men had to face while making a map of the region during their 1869 expedition. Hired by Walt Disney Studios in 1959 as a technical adviser, Otis R. Marston led a film crew through the Grand Canyon to film river running and background scenes for the film.

Plot

The film is set in the United States, in 1869. Thanks to the activity of explorers, soldiers and trappers, the American territory is now well known. On the cards, there are few places marked with an explicit Unexplored (unexplored). One of these places shrouded in mystery and avoided because they are believed to be full of danger is the Colorado River. John Wesley Powell, a former Northern major of enormous scientific culture, but without an arm, lost at the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War, gathers 9 men, including his brother Walter, marked by the sufferings of Southern captivity, and obtains 4 boats to set out to discover Colorado. The journey is long and difficult. On the way, a boat is destroyed by the whiskey drunk occupants. The meeting with Baker, trapper husband of an Indian and friend of Powell, who tells of terrible waterfalls, makes one of the men abandon the company. Three others mutiny, continuing the journey overland alone, but are killed by the Indians who pass them off as the killers of a squaw. Powell eventually finds the point where the Colorado flows into Lake Mead, concluding the great feat with success.

Cast

as Bill Dunn * John Beal as Major John Wesley Powell *

as Walter Powell * R. G. Armstrong as Oramel Howland * Ben Johnson as George Bradley * L. Q. Jones as Billy "Missouri" Hawkins * Dan Sheridan as Jack Sumner * David Stollery as Andrew "Andy" Hall * Stan Jones as Seneca Howland * David Frankham as Frank Goodman * Roy Barcroft as Jim Baker * Pat Hogan as Indian Chief * Ray Walker as McSpadden * Jack Bighead as Ashtishkel * Dawn Little Sky as Indian Woman * Chickie The Dog as Jarvie The Dog

Production

Besides the Grand Canyon, other parts of the film were shot at the Big Bend of the

, Professor Valley,

Arches An arch is a curved vertical structure span (engineering), spanning an open space underneath it. Arches may support the load above them, or they may perform a purely decorative role. As a decorative element, the arch dates back to the 4th mill ...

, Dead Horse Point, Dewey, Castle Valley, and Westwater Canyon in

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

. The Grand Canyon production crew included producer James Algar, assistant director of script Herb Hirst, assistant director and production manager Russ Haverick, assistant producer Alessandro "Vee" Bodrero, head cameraman Gordon Avil, operative cameraman Richard Kelley, medical control Forrest "Doc" Reed, special effects Ray Bolton, makeup and wardrobe Frank LaRue, radioman Lester Gear, mechanic Don "Doc" Hill and rim control Matthew Bruttig. One of the replica boats used on the film, the ''Emma Dean'', was recovered by local raconteur, Stan A. Jones, in 1969 from the Golden Oak Ranch, a Disney movie lot in Placerita Canyon, Newhall, Santa Clarita, California. The boat is on display at the Powell Museum in

Page, Arizona Page is a city in Coconino County, Arizona, United States, near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. As of the 2010 census, the population of the city was 7,247. History Page was founded in 1957 as a housing community for workers and their f ...

Reception

According to ''

Allmovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

'', critics consistently rate this as one of the worst films made by Disney. '' Halliwell's Film Guide'' calls it "tedious and unconvincing". Leonard Maltin's annual publication "TV Movies" gives the film a BOMB rating, describing it as "rock-bottom Disney".

Comic book adaption

Dell Dell Inc. is an American technology company that develops, sells, repairs, and supports personal computers (PCs), Server (computing), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals including printers and webcam ...

Four Color ''Four Color'', also known as ''Four Color Comics'' and ''Dell Four Color'', is 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 ...

#1178 (December 1960)

References

External links

* * {{William Beaudine Walt Disney Pictures films 1960 films 1960 children's films American films based on actual events Films directed by William Beaudine 1960s adventure films American Western (genre) films 1960 Western (genre) films Films produced by James Algar Films produced by Walt Disney Films set in 1869 Films scored by Oliver Wallace Films adapted into comics Films shot in Utah 1960s English-language films English-language Western (genre) films English-language adventure films