Sadly Over-hyped

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

*** This review may contain spoilers *** *Plot and ending analyzed*Fort Bowie (1958) is a horrible Western, and there are many reasons that being the case. The most notable is a diluted script, bad acting, and a baseless portrayal of the Apache Indians war tactics. Ben Johnson is ineffective as the lead man, for he's as stiff as a bucket of heavy lead. You don't know if he sympathizes with the Apaches or wants them all killed, since he alternates throughout. I don't think it matters much since he comes off as some arrogant jerk.The Apaches themselves are played as half-grunting oafs. The plot is the standard U.S. Cavalry versus the much-hated Apaches. One officer wants to use mild tactics, while another wants to kill them outright.In the film, the Apaches attack a large fort head-on in one of the most ridiculous scenes of a Western. In reality, two Apaches could have sneaked in and burnt the fort during the night. But the Apaches were intelligent and always avoided large groups of soldiers or forts. They also threw in a paltry love interest side-story that is so stupid that it defies any intelligence. The only reason to watch this film is because of the stuntmen who perform some good horse riding and battles scenes, that's about it. Ben Johnson was a good character actor, but not a reliable lead. This film falls short of being average at that.

The only thing raising this movie to the level of a B-western is Ben Johnson in the unusual casting of being the movie's lead, Capt. Thompson. All other aspects, the dialog, plot, production values, you name it, just don't add up to the low expectations one expects of a middling B-lister. The plot is standard for this type of movie: A rabid Army officer bent on making a name starts an Indian war. The much more competent (and noble) lower ranking officer Johnson can do nothing to stop it, nor can he stop his colonel from becoming needlessly jealous, believing Johnson is having an affair with his wife. Any sane individual would only need to look at the wife and then at the Indian love interest played by Maureen Hingert to know Johnson would need to be daft or blind to go for the wife (OK, Hingert is Ceylonese, not Indian, but Ceylon is pretty close to India so in that respect, one could argue she's closer to Indian than most actresses in these westerns). Everything comes together in a battle for Ft. Bowie that must be seen to be believed. Like Hitler, forced to fight on two fronts, the Indians are on the fort walls fighting to keep the cavalry out of the fort while also fighting to break into buildings inside the fort. Bodies from both sides pile up on the walls and then mysteriously disappear to make room for more bodies. It's also in this fight that we get to see Jan Harrison turn on her "love switch" as she suddenly realizes her true feelings for her colonel husband (Kent Taylor, soon to be demoted to Captain and become one of the three Rough Riders for one season of TV) who stands fully exposed in front of a window even between shots. This leads to the worst scene in the movie as Johnson and Larry Chance (Victorio, who actually died in Mexico) fight it out forever while Taylor stands with drawn gun refusing to pull the trigger and end our misery.As for the noisy arrows in the summary... I don't know where these Indians got their bows but they need to buy some silencers for them as the noise they make when they release their arrows would alert a sentry miles distant. Except for the novelty of seeing Johnson headline a movie and maybe the eye candy of Ms. Hingert, there's nothing to recommend this film. Most Audie Murphy 1950s Westerns are more fun so if given a choice, Murphy is the way to go.

At a cavalry outpost, the colonel (Taylor) dispatches a captain (Johnson) on a suicide mission among the Apaches because of rivalry over his wife's (Harrison) affections.The colonel loves wife Allison, but she loves the captain, I think. And, the captain loves her, at least some of the time. However, the rest of the time, he loves Chanzana, but Chanzana is half Apache, and I think she loves Apache leader Victorio. Oh well, I may be wrong about all this, but then the script can't seem to make up its mind either. So maybe you can sort it out.Good thing there's lots of action to interrupt this frontier soap opera. In fact I don't know when I've heard more shooting. Seems like somebody's always wiping out somebody else. Boy, was I surprised when the major shoots all the Indians carrying that white flag of truce. Pretty rotten thing for our guys to do, which sets off all the shooting because now the Apaches want revenge.But then it seems like the Indians like roasting our guys over an upside-down spit. That's pretty rotten too and not in any multi-cultural handbook I know of. Then too, that part reminds me of another good Apache movie, Ulzana's Raid (1971), where the Apaches also practice some strange culinary arts. Even stranger, however, is when the Indians defend the fort against attacking cavalry (I love that wagon-ramp trick). Now where has any Western fan seen that upside-down world before.Anyway, it's an okay Western with some interesting sidelights and the great Ben Johnson. I'm just wondering why they went all the way to scenic Kanab, Utah to film, and then didn't didn't do it in Technicolor. Then again, maybe they spent their budget on all the big shoot- outs. But-- bottom line-- if you can untangle the big who-loves-whom puzzle in this movie, I'm sure there's a place for you at People magazine. Otherwise, you might want to catch up with this cowboys-and-Indians on an especially slow night.

This film is a surprise, it turns out to be much better than expected, considering few people ever heard about it. Ben Johnson as Capt. Thompson proves that he should had more leading roles. The two women, the beautiful Jana Davi (born in Ceylon) and Jan Harrison are responsible for making this a better than average B western. Harrison is Allison, the unfaithful wife of Col. James Garret. Jana Davi is Chanzana one of the wives of Victorio, who leaves the reservation and declares war. This reaction was caused by Major Wharton's bloody and unjustified massacre of Santo and his men who wanted to make peace. Both women fall in love with Thompson, who tries to resist because of the consequences. Good cinematography and the music is by Les Baxter.