Publisher: CinemaSerf January 27, 2024
"Col. Tucker" (Joseph Cotton) is the Confederate officer who is offered a chance to re-enlist in the US Army after the end of the US Civil war and so he and his men accept - so long as they never have to bear arms against their former colleagues. Now reduced to a Lieutenant, off to the remote and dilapidated Fort Thorn they all go where they find in the commanding officer "Maj. Kenniston" (huff Chandler) a man with a limp and an axe to grind. You'd think they'd have enough on their hands with the marauding Indians raiding the frontier, but nope - these two men manage to get under the other's skin and soon it's probably safer to be outside the fort than inside it! The first half hour follows the traditional path and is nothing special, especially the rather dull romance between an out-of-sorts Linda Darnell ("Elena") - the daughter of the grumpy major and "Bradford" (Cornel Wilde). Once that settles though, we start to get more action with the raiding parties getting bolder and more audacious and the soldiers having to retreat to the safety (they hope) of their wooden enclosure. The last half hour offers us a decent siege western adventure and the denouement - well look not for an happy ending for anyone! Robert Wise takes his time to get this going, but once he does it delivers plenty of action, for once doesn't treat the Indians as if they were rather feeble and intimidated foes and Chandler and Cotton carry off their roles well enough too.