I love this movie so much

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

RUN OF THE ARROW This Western is about as off the beaten path of classic Westerns as I think that you can get. Made by Samuel Fuller in 1957, Run of the Arrow is an odd and strange film. Fuller, and particularly his film Steel Helmet, has been cited as an influence by directors from Quentin Tarantino to Stanley Kubrick. Fuller was also known to be more than a little bit of a nut, and the closest thing that the studio system came to releasing independent film in those days. The premise of Run of the Arrow, a southern civil war veteran who decides, rather than live in the surrendered south that he'll go out west and living among the Sioux, is both original and strange. The dialogue is often overwrought and Rod Steiger, in the lead role often falls into Charles Laughton like overacting. Steiger could be a very good actor, with the right director to keep him in check, as in On the Waterfront, or the exquisite The Pawnbroker. Here he is not kept in check and the price paid is often ham handed delivery. The Indians of course are played by white men with spray on tans, which adds to the strange almost surreal quality of the film. One of those actors, the only one who does not seem to require a spray tan, is Charles Bronson as the Sioux Chief. Bronson's extreme muscularity seems somehow out of place in this period piece. His bulging biceps and ripped abs seem too modern at a time when people were still buying gimmicks from Charles Atlas ads (And let's face it, Atlas was anything but buff by today's standards.). (As a side note, I once had to audition for Bronson for one of his Death Wish movies. It was a second or third reading and the character was required to perform some martial arts. Bronson asked me how high I could kick. I said something cute like high enough. He walked up to me and asked me if I could kick above his head. I nodded. He wasn't that tall. He said "Show me.". So, without thinking I threw the kick. I remember that as I did I heard gasps from around the room that I would be crazy enough to do such a thing to a man who was still a pretty big star back then. Bronson, though, never blinked. He never took his eyes off of mine. And I remember thinking that, despite the fact that I had already been in more real fights than I could count, that this was no Hollywood actor. This was a hard man. And, despite his being in in his 60s at the time, I had the feeling that I would not want to mess with him. He shook my hand. He didn't squeeze, but I could feel this iron strength in his grip. I think I read somewhere that he had spent his youth as a coal miner. All this to say that this was had a very impressive presence...). Run of the arrow is a flawed and often melodramatic film. I know that all of this sounds like I'm not recommending it. But I am recommending it, for two reasons. First, if you are a lover of classic movies, and Westerns in particular, as I am, then Run of the Arrow is as different from the Westerns of its day as it could possibly be. And, second, as someone of native heritage, Run of the Arrow is the first film that I can think of, a rare film even by today' standards, in that the Native characters are the good guys, and it is white characters who are the bad guys. That alone makes Run of the Arrow, to me, more than worthy of seeing. It isn't perfect. It's very flawed. But it's not like any Western made in its day and its not like many Westerns made today. You may laugh at the wrong moments at times. But you'll probably remember Run of the Arrow long after you've forgotten more polished and well laid out classic movies. So I do recommend it. I recommend Run of the Arrow quite highly. Because it is strange. Because it is different. And because it tries to do something that far too few movies have to courage to do. It at least tries to be truly original. #movies #film #filmcritique #classicwesterns #runofthearrow #samfuller

Skip it – "When you get to the arrow, start running!" The "run of the arrow" is a torture game the Sioux played to give their prisoners a "running chance." Unfortunately, action buffs won't give this movie much of a chance. Rod Steiger plays an ex-Confederate who hates the U.S. and decides to become a Sioux. If you think this film sounds like "Dances with Wolves," you're right on the money. And like "Dances with Wolves," this western is slow and could have used a few more fight scenes. The "run of the arrow" scene is exciting, but it is the climax. And climaxes aren't supposed to come at the beginning of a movie. The biggest problem area is the sloppy quality of the scenes. The voices are dubbed poorly, the scenes are cut horribly, and the movie just flows badly, almost like parts are missing. Still, there are a few bright spots. A young, and super in-shape, Charles Bronson plays a pretty decent Indian chief. And if you can wait for it, the ending is very fitting.

Idont like this movie , i saw this movie only because sarita montiel was in it , she play an Indian and some of the review said the pretty Mexican actress please She was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of Castile-La Mancha in 1928 as María Antonia Abad (complete name María Antonia Alejandra Vicenta Elpidia Isidora Abad Fernández). After her unprecedented international hit in Juan de Orduña's El Último Cuplé in 1957, Montiel achieved the status of mega-star in Europe and Latin America. She was the first woman to distill sex openly in Spanish cinema at a time when even a low cut dress was not acceptable.sarita was not Mexican and she became the biggest European star of the cinema after Brigitte Bardot and today she make fun of American she said back in the 50s the American were so ignorant they don't know the different between Spain and Mexico they don't even know where Spain was located,Sarita thank god went back to Europe and the rest is history, BY THE WAY BACK THEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO ANTHONY MANN

Rod Steiger's accent is so bad I didn't realise until some way into this picture that he was supposed to be Irish.German?Polish...Lithuanian?He certainly had me guessing I can tell you.Fortunately when he got to make "Henderson" 18 years later he got the Belfast accent down a lot better. Being a Reb does have a certain romance to it I suppose,fields full of waving cotton, ante - bellum houses just like "Tara",blinding white in the Southern sun,slaves singing in their quarters........sorry, my pity for the beaten Confederacy is strictly limited.And,of course,being an Irishman,he would be a natural reb anyway,so he would.Mr Steiger,when I finally sorted his accent out,is portraying a glorious double - cliché figure,a man without a country who,even if he had a home,wouldn't want to go back there. He marries the Indian woman who saves his life (the way you do),becomes accepted in the tribe and represents the Sioux nation in talks with the treacherous white eyes.After lots of adventures he decides he doesn't fit into either culture and wanders off with his family and some survivors of the U.S. Army unit his erstwhile people have pretty much slaughtered.That's "Run of the arrow" for you.Jay C.Flippen,one of the best known Western character actors plays an Indian scout with a ludicrous syrup.Where's the respect for Native American culture there? He looks as embarrassed as I felt watching him.The voice of Steiger's wife is dubbed by Angie Dickinson.Charles Bronson - under gleaming gold make up - plays a Polish Indian chief . Samuel Fuller,beloved of the auteurists,was a good pro who did what he had to do and,if he could,did at least a bit of it his way. Unfortunately for "Run of the Arrow",not much of it was done his way.