Arrowhead *** (1953, Charlton Heston, Jack Palance, Katy Jurado, Brian Keith) – Classic Movie Review 10,591

Forceful acting from Charlton Heston, as a dashing but racist US Cavalry Chief of Scouts called Ed Bannon, and Jack Palance, as Toriano, the Apache chief he clashes with, enlivens writer-director Charles Marquis Warren’s rugged, handsome 1953 Technicolor Western film Arrowhead.

Toriano (Palance) is freed from jail when Chief Chattez (Frank DeKova) leads his people back to their reservations, but Heston has reservations about Palance, naming him a war-mongering renegade.

Charlton Heston and Katy Jurado star in Arrowhead (1953).

Arrowhead is made in 3D and written by Charles Marquis Warren, who keeps the action stirring and the characters intriguing, though it isn’t always credible, which is odd since it was based on a true story, but filtered through a novel, Adobe Walls by W R Burnett.

Also in the cast are Katy Jurado, Brian Keith, Milburn Stone, Mary Sinclair, Richard Shannon, Robert J Wilke, Lewis Martin, Frank DeKova, Peter Coe, James Anderson, John Pickard, Pat Hogan, Dick Paxton, Chick Hannon, Kathryn Grant, Richard Farnsworth, Don Dunning, Frank Cordell, Rus Conklin, James Burke, Holly Bane, Rachel Ames, and Eric Alden.

Arrowhead is directed by Charles Marquis Warren, runs 105 minutes, is made by Nat Holt Productions, is released by Paramount, is written by Charles Marquis Warren, based on the novel Adobe Walls by W R Burnett, is shot in Technicolor by Ray Rennahan, is produced by Nat Holt, is scored by Paul Sawtell and is designed by Hal Pereira.

The end of the film says that Ed Bannon is partly based on Al Sieber, Chief of Scouts of the United States Army in the Southwest, but there are several significant differences between the two.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,591

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