Apache [Blu-ray]

Director: Robert Aldrich Robert Aldrich

Overview

Apache was based on Paul I. Wellman's novel Broncho Apache, which in turn was inspired by a true story. Burt Lancaster plays Massai, a lieutenant of the great Apache warrior Geronimo (here depicted as an old man, played by Monte Blue). Though his tribe has signed surrender terms with the conquering whites, Massai refuses to do so. He escapes from a prison train and conducts a one-man war against the white intruders-and against some of his own people. Along the way, he claims Nalinle (Jean Peters), whom he previously regarded as a traitor to his cause, as his wife. John McIntire plays famed Indian scout Al Sieber, who-in this film, if not in real life-is sympathetic to the Indians' plight and Massai's single-purposed cause. The real-life counterpart to Massai was killed by Sieber's minions after agreeing to call off the hostilies; United Artists objected to this, forcing producer/star Burt Lancaster to shoot an unconvincingly happy ending.

Product Details

Release Date:	12/01/2020
UPC:	0738329251635
Original Release:	1954
Rating:	NR
Source:	Kl Studio Classics
Region Code:	A
Language:	English
Time:	1:31:00
Sales rank:	22,373

Special Features

Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Burt Lancaster	Massai
Jean Peters	Nalinle
John McIntire	Al Sieber
John Dehner	Weddle
Charles Bronson	Hondo
Ian MacDonald	Clagg
Walter Sande	Lt. Col. Beck
Morris Ankrum	Dawson
Monte Blue	Geronimo
Paul E. Burns	Actor
Lonnie Burr	Actor
Rory Mallinson	Actor
Dick Rich	Actor
Philip Van Zandt	Inspector
Mort Mills	Sergeant of the Guard Fort.
Billy Wilkerson	un Apache
Paul Guilfoyle	Actor
David Raksin	Composer

Technical Credits

James R. Webb

Paul Wellman

Robert Aldrich	Director
James R. Webb	Screenwriter
Harold Hecht	Producer
Lee Zavitz	Special Effects
Paul Wellman	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Another 1950s pro-Indian Western featuring Caucasian actors in brown body paint speaking pidgin "Native," Apache nevertheless manages to dispense more than the standard revisionist bromides. Showcasing his energetic style, director Robert Aldrich doesn't stint on the violence perpetrated by either the whites or by star Burt Lancaster's athletic blue-eyed brave Massai, while Massai's rough handling of Jean Peters' Nalinle makes him tough to admire. Nevertheless, Massai's trip from Florida to his ancestral lands early in the film concisely and potently sums up the ruinous spread of white "civilization" across indigenous tribal territory, turning him into a Machiavellian hero saved by the agrarian ideal and Nalinle's familiar instincts. As Aldrich figured, that salvation rings jarringly false, but the powers that be overruled the relatively inexperienced movie director's artistically sound yet commercially difficult instincts. Aldrich's first collaboration with producer/star Lancaster, Apache was also the director's first hit and the beginning of Lancaster's fruitful run as a Western action hero. According to historical accounts, the actual Massai's eyes really were a Lancasterian azure.

All Movie Guide - Lucia Bozzola