Apache (1954)

[moira finnie]

Did anyone see the entire broadcast of Apache (1954-Robert Aldrich) today on TCM? I came in just at the end and wondered if anyone in the movie mentions the fact that this Massai (Burt Lancaster) has blue eyes??? Other than that, I enjoyed it, especially in light of another Burt role as Native American Jim Thorpe All American (1951-Michael Curtiz), a really good movie about such a fascinating real life figure.

I'd love to know if others think Apache is worth seeking out in order to see the rest of the movie. Thanks.

[klondike]

I saw Apache about a decade ago, Moira, and found it pretty lukewarn, and also, I would judge, suffering from some jagged mood swings in direction, and possibly, some conflicted editing.
Race-fibbing aside, about the best I can say is that Lancaster (regardless of eye color) makes a far more credible Apache than Chuck Connors or Jeff Chandler or Charles Bronson. I mean, granted, casting directors of the era had few enough Amerind actors to choose from (like Mohawk tribesman Jay Silverheels), and considerable pressure to bank on known names, but why couldn't they at least hold out for accomplished Mexican actors like Ansara & Montalban, who average a culturally reinforced percentage of Native blood, and look it?

[jdb1]

Michael Ansara, Klonny? He's not Hispanic. He was born in Syria, and is of Armenian heritage. So I guess he's been very convincing on the screen.

[klondike]

Yes, I sure would say so, cause he certainly fooled me; in fact, I've wondered numerous times why his surname sounded so very Balkan/Levantine, and always just assumed it was reduced from a long, commemorative Hispanic name!
Guess next time I go ethnicizing here on SSO, I better double check myself on the old IMDb!
Well, at least I knew better about Mr. Iron Eyes Cody!

[JackFavell]

I'd swoon if Jay Silverheels had played that role in Apache. I hear Burt looked pretty good in his buckskins, but Jay.... whew! Is it hot in here?

[klondike]

Jay Silverheels was certainly a strikingly handsome & athletic man, in that unique way that women and men could all comfortably appreciate.
He is an especially cherished performer in my household, as his immediate family were friends and neighbors of my wife's grandmother when she was growing up on the St. Regis Reservation, and was often pointed out to my children when they were little as a rare, modern example of Iroquois determination & celebrity.

[klondike]

You get to see an actor named Charles Buchinsky as the Apache corporal in love with Jean, and does that guy ever look like Charles Bronson (there's a reason for that).

Former Vermonter CB did so well as a "synth-Indian", he repeated it later for his title role in the spag-western Chato's Land.

[ChiO]

And he was brilliant as Blue Buffalo in RUN OF THE ARROW (Fuller, 1957).

[CineMaven]

I have recorded "Apache" but I haven't watched it yet. I know Burt Lancaster backwards and forwards and no more charismatic actor existed. But I'm really watching the movie to discover more about Jean Peters. I hope to chat about this soon if the train hasn't left the station too too long.

[MissGoddess]

I can always chat with you about it, Maven. I've seen it a few times. I like it.

[CineMaven]

Thank you Ms. G. I've got to look at the movie pretty soon.

[CineMaven]

Watching some of "THE DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON." This movie has got to be the most beautiful Olivia DeHavilland ever looked. And Flynn...my gosh. Dashing. And their last goodbye...heartbreaking.

This is not a post...this is me gushing.

[MissGoddess]

Watching some of "THE DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON." This movie has got to be the most beautiful Olivia DeHavilland ever looked. And Flynn...my gosh. Dashing. And their last goodbye...heartbreaking.

This is not a post...this is me gushing.

The farewell scene is one of the very best ever filmed by all concerned. It was their real screen farewell,
and I think they knew it.

My goodness, the CineMave is diving into westerns and rohanaka is striding on the noir side, what IS
the world coming to?

[CineMaven]

Ha! Ha! Well...they say adapt or die.

I'm adaptin'.