Tomahawk (1951)

The film is an entertainment not a history lesson but the broad picture of the advance into Indian territory from Wyoming into Montana along the Bozeman is not misleading - nor is Chivington's complicity in his incitement of the Cheyenne, Carrington's qualities as an officer, or Fetterman's fool-hardiness historically wrong or misplaced. Lastly, this was made in the cinema era of Indians as bloodthirsty savages - well before 'Cheyenne Autumn' and the sixties' discovery of revisionist Western history. Bridger's parting comment that it wasn't anything in the innate qualities of the American fighting man that won them the battle but the introduction of a superior arms technology is an astute assessment of the situation in 1868. For the rest, the opening commentary that the Americans would keep on coming regardless is the unavoidable truth of the matter.

A famous trapper by the name of "Jim Bridger" (Van Heflin) signs on as scout under the command of "Colonel Carrington" (Preston Foster) to assist him at a small fort in Sioux Country. While he has every intention of assisting the colonel, he also has an ulterior motive and that is establish if the killer of his Cheyenne wife and son is a cavalry officer named "Lt. Rob Dancey" (Alex Nicol) stationed at the fort. At any rate, rather than give away the entire story I will just say that this film turns out to be a pretty solid western, all things considered. While the acting isn't great and some of the battle tactics seem rather strange, the scenery was nice and the open terrain was definitely used to great advantage in the action scenes. Good performances were turned in by the aforementioned Van Heflin along with Susan Cabot as the pretty Cheyenne maiden named "Monahseetah". Likewise, Yvonne De Carlo did well as "Julie Madden" who happens to arrive at the fort en route to Virginia City. But in my opinion the best performance was by Alex Nicol who seemed perfectly cast for the part. In short, those who enjoy a good western probably won't be disappointed with this movie.

Recently I've watched a few westerns that I'd not heard of until I saw them listed in the TV guide; most turned out to be enjoyable and this one turned out to be one of the best. Set in 1876 when the US Government wants to open a trail through Sioux territory; they are understandably wary as every previous treaty with the US Government has been broken. At the Treaty meeting a white man stands up for them; he is Jim Bridger a scout who is travelling with his friend Sol Beckworth and a Cheyenne woman called Monahseetah. No treaty is signed but Bridger tells the commanding officer that the Sioux will let them pass through there territory if none of them are harmed. Bridger has no intention of staying with the army but when Monahseetah sees one particular officer, Lt. Dancy, he takes the offer to act as a scout... clearly he has a score to settle with Dancy. Things turn bad pretty soon when Dancy murders an Indian boy he sees near their horses; he covers up his crime but another Indian who saw what happened escapes and it isn't long before they are attacked. Nobody is killed but one settler is wounded. Once in the fort Dancy claims the attack was unprovoked but Bridger just knows he is lying... it is only a matter of time before there is open warfare between the Cavalrymen in the fort and the Sioux.I was surprised just how much I enjoyed this film; there was plenty of exciting action, some of it exciting, some of it tragic; some tense moments and with the exception of Dancy there were no genuinely bad characters. The Sioux had clearly been wronged and had every right to fight back but the vast majority of the cavalry just wanted to live in peace and help the settlers through the territory. Dancy however was a real villain we learnt early on that he had only reenlisted in the army because he enjoyed the prospect of killing Indians and we later learn that earlier on he had been part of a group who had massacred a Cheyenne village including a woman who was Bridger's wife and Monahseetah's sister. It was refreshing not to see the Indians portrayed as 'savages' preying on 'innocent' settlers; even though the story follows people within the camp it is clear that our sympathies are meant to lie with the Sioux. Van Heflin puts in a fine performance as protagonist Jim Bridger and Alex Nicol is suitably unpleasant as the villain Dancy. If you are a fan of the western genre I definitely recommend watching this one!

Tomahawk is a good B western with some A list cast players in the credits. The lead character in it is famous mountain man Jim Bridger who in 1868 when this story is supposed to be taking place was 64 years old and according to Wikipedia was suffering from arthritis and rheumatism at that time and was retiring from army scouting, trapping, and all other frontier activities. But what we have is 40 year old Van Heflin in the part. Knowing what I know it does make the film just a trifle ludicrous.But no more than a whole lot of other Hollywood product which had famous frontier characters in all kinds of situations and plots that were historically and physically impossible. In fact there is some truth in some of the story line in Tomahawk. Bridger in fact did find a scout an alternate trail to the Bozeman trail which did run through Sioux country and it was called the Bridger trail. Red Cloud did go on the war path at this time when an army fort was built on land ceded to him by treaty. It's just that Bridger was out of the picture in real life at the time of this story.Heflin makes a stoic and impassive Bridger who is on army business and business of his own. He arrives at the fort commanded by Colonel Preston Foster with sidekick Jack Oakie and Susan Cabot, an Indian maiden. He's there to scout for the army though his sympathies are well known to be with the Sioux. But Heflin is also hunting an army man, known to have been involved in the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of 1864.Along the way Heflin does help rescue Yvonne DeCarlo and her partner Tom Tully who were traveling in a medicine show wagon when they were attacked. A bit of a romance does develop, though it is definitely in second place to the action, if not the accuracy.Tomahawk though a B film is definitely in line with such post World War II westerns as Fort Apache, Broken Arrow, and Pony Soldier which had a sympathetic Indian point of view. It's got good production values and moves at a decent clip. But don't write any term papers based on it.