Red Tomahawk ** (1967, Howard Keel, Joan Caulfield, Broderick Crawford, Scott Brady) – Classic Movie Review 9,539

The 1967 Pathécolor Western film Red Tomahawk stars Howard Keel, Joan Caulfield, Broderick Crawford, and Scott Brady. It is the ninth of the 13 Westerns A C Lyles produced for Paramount Pictures.

The 1967 Pathécolor American Western film Red Tomahawk stars Howard Keel, Joan Caulfield, Broderick Crawford, Scott Brady, Wendell Corey, Richard Arlen and Tom Drake. It is the ninth of the 13 Westerns A C Lyles produced for Paramount Pictures, following Waco (1966), which also stars Howard Keel.

A welcome cast of old-timers enlivens director R G Springsteen’s otherwise fairly dull and unremarkable 1967 A C Lyles Productions Western film Red Tomahawk about brave military man, US Cavalry Captain Tom York (Howard Keel), who, with the assistance of gunslinger friend Ep Wyatt (Scott Brady) and saloon roulette dealer Dakota Lil McCoy (Joan Caulfield), helps the people of Deadwood to defend themselves from an Indian attack.

The writing is strictly from stock – and even then from a lower drawer – and even the action is not very well done, though it is saved by the stalwart vintage cast.

Steve Fisher writes the screenplay and Andrew Craddock [A C Lyles] writes the story.

The cast

The cast are Howard Keel as Captain Tom York, Joan Caulfield as Dakota Lil McCoy, Broderick Crawford as Columbus Smith, Scott Brady as Ep Wyatt, Wendell Corey as Sy Elkins, Richard Arlen as Deadwood telegrapher, Tom Drake as Bill Kane, Tracy Olsen as Sal, Ben Cooper as Lt. Drake, Don ‘Red’ Barry [Donald Barry] as Bly, Regis Parton [Reg Parton] as Prospector #3, Gerald Jann as Wu Sing, Roy Jenson as Prospector, Dan White as Ned Crone, Henry Wills as Samuels Sol Gorss as Townsman / Roulette Player.

It is the ninth in a series of 13 A C Lyles Productions B-movie Westerns from 1963 to 1967. It is shot at Iverson Ranch, Chatsworth, Los Angeles, and at Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

The film was released on January 1, 1967, by Paramount Pictures.

Red Tomahawk is directed by R G Springsteen, runs 82 minutes, is made by A C Lyles Productions, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Steve Fisher, based on a story by Andrew Craddock [A C Lyles], is shot in Pathécolor by W Wallace Kelley, is produced by A C Lyles, and is scored by Jimmie Haskell, with Art Direction by Hal Pereira and Al Roelofs.

Betty Hutton and Howard Keel were set to team again after Annie Get Your Gun (1950) but Hutton could not keep up with the fast-paced shooting of only 10 to 14 days, so she was fired after the first week of shooting and replaced by Joan Caulfield as Dakota Lil McCoy.

Veteran film producer A C Lyles died aged 95 on 27 September 2013.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9,539

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