I love this movie so much

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

There were so many stories to tell about the civil war, the wild west and all that goes with it and this be one of them. We have it all here. Good supporting cast, excellent lead actors, dust, horses, Indians, Calvary, horses, shootings, and lots of character. The story starts out mildly and than at some point starts to gel real nice. The viewer is then captured and made one with the movie world. There is enough character development to make you care what happens to these small group of men as they all have a part to play separately and collectively. There is realism in this movie. Water is limited, hope diminishes in general, surrounded by enemies, and practically no where to go brings out of a person who they really are. It has been said that it is important how a man lives but no less important how he dies. This is demonstrated well in this movie. There is no substitute for realism, truth and reality and the western frontier took many a life who underestimated it all. Here, they bet it all and that is called living on the edge. The poets refer to this type of journey as living rather than just existing. Good snack movie and have a tall tasty cold drink standing by. Satisfying ending that if you cooperate will generate a tear and some good reflection to boot...Forward Ho ooo

This is the 4th film I'm aware of in which Errol Flynn's character dies an unnatural death: 3 in battle, and one by execution by a firing squad(in Vichy France). As my review title suggests, this film incorporates elements of the other 2 films in which Flynn's character dies in battle: "The Charge of the Light Brigade" and "They Died with their Boots on". However, in the present film, Flynn's small group of Confederate rangers are not a formal cavalry detachment. They are faced with apparent certain death, trapped in a box canyon, vastly outnumbered by Shoshone warriors bent on revenge. Thus, they decide to mount a cavalry-like charge at the Shoshone, hoping to send a few of them to the happy hunting grounds, along with themselves.This film belongs to a small group of Hollywood films that dramatized the dream of stealing California, or just the southern part, for the Confederacy, or alternatively stealing or transporting some gold from CA to the eastern Confederacy, in a last gasp effort to save the nearly sunken Confederacy. Flynn had previously been the lead in trying to stop such a gold shipment from CA, in "Virginia City", one of two films(along with "Hangman's Knot") in which Randolph Scott headed the small Confederate party intent on delivering CA gold to the East. Interestingly, Patrice Wymore, soon to become the 3rd Mrs. Flynn, was the female lead in both films I'm aware of that dramatize a scheme to steal CA or just southern CA for the Confederacy, the other being Randolph Scott's subsequent "The Man Behind the Gun".Even in 1950, shooting in color was still considered a luxury feature, as the 3 strip Technicolor process had not generally been replaced by a single film, requiring much smaller cameras. As Flynn was then considered by Warners to be well past his prime, this rather low budget film, unfortunately, was shot in B&W. It was mostly shot in some spectacular red rock canyon lands around Gallup, N.M., which would have been nice to see in color!The plot is awfully contrived. While there was some hope early in the war that the Confederacy might win at least parts of NM, AZ, and CA, the possibility that a small contingent of rebels might wrest CA for the Confederacy at this late stage in the war is absurd. However, a strength of the screenplay is that it doesn't play out in a predictable manner. What begins as an anticipated Confederates vs. Unionists showdown in CA ends in primarily a conflict between the Shoshone vs. Barstow's bunch plus Union cavalry, acting separately. In this respect, it's basically a replay of "Virginia City", with the Shoshone replacing Bogart's Mexican banditos, and the difference that the Confederates and Unionists here are acting separately , rather in unison. The ending also smacks of "A Tale of Two Cities", with Barstow's bunch acting as a diversionary lure to deflect a capture of Union commander Rickey's fiancé: Johanna(Patrice Wymore) by the Shoshone. Whereas in "Virginia City", Flynn, playing the lead Union officer, gets the girl by default, since Confederate leader Scott is killed; here, with Flynn playing the Confederate lead, he loses the girl to the lead Union officer, again by default of his death, if no other reason. While Barstow makes no overt play for Johanna, clearly a degree of emotional bond develops between them, tempered by Barstow's hostile attitude toward the captured Yankee soldiers.Patrice seems a bit stiff in her role as Johanna, one of only two survivors of an overturned stage, running to escape a Shoshone attack, with Barstow's bunch scaring the Shoshone off. Rickey soon shows up with a few soldiers and a few Shoshone scouts. Barstow decides to try to capture them, rather than killing them in an ambush, with Johanna serving as bait. In this, he succeeds, in a tense segment when Barstow's bunch have a Shoshone chief(Mad Dog, one of the scouts), as well as Rickey, as prisoners of war. Both Rickey and Mad Dog escape the less than stellar night security. Mad dog's escape and the related killings of his scout sons proves a death sentence for Barstow's bunch, as they soon realize. Also, now realizing that their mission to help capture CA is a certain failure, even if they should escape, they change their mission to saving Johanna.Unlike most westerns of the time, there is little small talk humor in the film. Flynn and the others play it pretty straight and gritty, seemingly knowing that that their mission to help save the Confederacy had a near zero chance of success. Much of the action takes place at night or near dusk or dawn. We get to learn a bit about each of the Confederates, who came from many different states.Bewhiskered 'old timer' Chubby Johnson served a familiar role as the stage driver, who survived all this. .. I didn't understand the behavior of Cole Smith: the supposed CA rebel contact man.Incidentally, the Shoshone chief's name of Mad Dog was presumably borrowed from the famous Creek of the same name.

I saw this film for the first time more than fifty years ago. In Brazil it was known as "Olhando a morte de frente" which the best translation I can come up with is "Looking straight ahead at Death". Even though I was a child I enjoyed it greatly and could not stop talking about it after. Seeing it again yesterday I realized how good this film is nowadays, of all Flynn' s westerns it is the one that less aged. The quality that only a big studio like Warner could provide makes most of the modern westerns pale in comparison. Great cinematography in black and white, great music by Max Steiner, great performance of Flynn, excellent actors like Slim Pickens. It is surprising why this film was never released before, and why it did not get the positive critical approval it deserved.

By the time Errol made this film, he'd walked through a number of Westerns including his previous venture, where he played, of all things, a sheep-herder, in "Montanta". Yet from the outhouse to the penthouse Flynn transitioned into Rocky Mountain which goes down as his last but also one of his best Westerns.There's an authentic, grainy feel in this black and white adventure by co-Robin Hood Director, William Keighley. He shows a wonderful use of mountains near Gallop, New Mexico. Flynn looks like he actually "gets it" and doesn't mail in his performance. He's surrounded by a solid cast of character actors including a young/thin Slim Pickens in his film debut. Chubby Johnson is great as the stage-driver. In fact, in his own subtle way, steals almost every scene. Dickie Jones is memorable as the kid, Buck Wheat. Flynn met his 3rd wife, Patrice Wymore in this film. Of note are two great scenes where "real" Indians attack a stagecoach plus the final confrontation between Flynn's men. Only drawbacks are the staged "cut-in" closeups of Flynn. He looks puffy and fat in these shots whereas, in most of the film, he looks good. I agree with other posters who mention this has a John Ford "look" plus the great horse riding scenes. It doesn't get much better or real than what's here.