Burt Lancaster (Actor), Jean Peters (Actor), Robert Aldrich (Director) | Format: VHS Tape
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Review & Description
Oscar(r) winner* Burt Lancaster stars in an action-packed western that pulsates with the power and passion of an Indian war drum. Based on a thrilling true story and featuring masterful direction by Robert Aldrich (The Dirty Dozen) and a powerful screenplay by Oscar(r) winner** James R. Webb, Apache explodes with spectacular battle sequences, breathtaking chases and unbridled suspense. After years of bloody fighting with settlers on the American frontier, Apache Chief Geronimo (Monte Blue) is forced to submit to a humiliating surrender. But his fiercest warrior, Massai (Lancaster), refuses to accept defeat. With enormous strength and razor-sharp cunning, Massai battles the relentless US Cavalry, struggling to stay one step ahead of the highly trained soldiers who have sworn to track him down. And as his crusade escalates into a final epic showdown, Massai knows that he must persevere, not only for his life, but also for the pride of his entire race.Burt Lancaster was cock of the walk in 1954. The Lancaster-starred From Here to Eternity had just swept the Oscars®, his personal production company Hecht-Lancaster could do no wrong, and he had marquee magic in two back-to-back Westerns directed by Robert Aldrich, Vera Cruz and this one. There are moments in his performance as Massai, the Apache warrior who wouldn't surrender with Geronimo, that seem choreographed to express the actor's exultation. Massai has hard going all the way--starting with having to recross half the continent on foot after escaping from a prison train bound for Florida--but Lancaster the ex-circus athlete who insisted on doing his own stunts fairly sings with the ecstasy of movement as he scampers over rocks, rolls unscathed between the wheels of racing wagons, and generally makes the screen look like his private gym.
Apache wasn't the first Western to sympathize with Native Americans done wrong, but it's among the liveliest--although, ironically, it was destined to be outshone in power and complexity by Aldrich and Lancaster's masterpiece Ulzana's Raid nearly two decades later. Typically of its time, Apache features non-Indians in all the Indian roles, including Jean Peters as Massai's beloved Nalinle and Charles Buchinsky (later Bronson) as her other suitor, Hondo, one of the tribesmen who has donned U.S. Cavalry blue. John McIntire contributes his crusty moral authority as Al Sieber, the real-life scout who helped defeat Geronimo and then Massai, and respected both. John Dehner is, as usual, a real bastard. --Richard T. Jameson Read more
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