Apache Drums (1951)

Val Lewton and Hugo Fregonese, that's quite a pair and this film makes justice to it. Fregonese directed some solid westerns like "The Raid", Blowing Wild" and "Saddle Tramp". It is hard to find a western that did not age and when looking for some aspect of it that will be cheesy, naive, improbable, deja vu,etc you will not find it. This is just the case. Stephen McNally is Sam Leeds, a gambler who loses his credibility to the town people, so when he tries to warn them about an incoming attack by the Apaches, they don't believe him. Coleen Gray is Sally, the woman he loves, but does not trust him and Willard Parker is Madden, his rival the local mayor. From the moment Leeds realizes there is going to be an attack, the film has a tense ambiance which keeps getting worse as people start dying in the church. Good cinematography by Charles P. Boyle who also did some remarkable westerns like "The Cimarron Kid" and "Horizons West".

This is an excellent B-Western. I first saw it as a child and found it hugely exciting and gripping - and I have seen no reason to change my mind in around four subsequent viewings!I am puzzled when I hear people saying that they can't see the influence of producer Val Lewton in it. To me it is very clear. His expertise in building tension and providing visual shocks (from his many horror films) is clearly in evidence, especially in the climactic attack on the church. I bet he helped director Hugo Fregonese a fair bit! The action scenes are all well shot and exciting, but one of the best bits doesn't have any action. It is the scene where Stephen McNally comes across the Indian massacre in the canyon. Now we've all seen many Westerns where someone, usually the leading man, comes across a massacre, whether by Indians or whites. Usually however, whilst they may look sad or occasionally even upset, they are completely blasé about any ongoing danger. This is always rather unrealistic: Who is to say that the perpetrators of the massacre aren't still around, just over the next ridge, or laying in wait behind a nearby group of rocks? However, here, McNally looks genuinely scared, looking nervously around him in case the Indians are still close by, and in case he's next. At last, some realism! It is also one of the many gripping moments.The rousing singing of 'Men of Harlech' by the defenders of the church works well for me, despite the criticism by another reviewer. However, I agree with him that that is almost certainly where the makers of 'Zulu' got the idea from! I gave 'Apache Drums' a 10, as it remains one of my very favourite B-Westerns.

This really is a poor film.Whilst the basic story is a typical good old yarn, the performances (with the exception of James Griffith as the Army commander) are very one-dimensional and the characters are hackneyed and do not develop.The production values are also very low and make-up on some of the "Apaches" in the title are more akin to a horror movie than a western, consequently one's mind starts to wander which is not helped by such a pedestrian-paced storyline.And as for direction, there is a literally-laugh-out-loud scene when they sing where you can not only tell that everyone singing is from the Welsh valleys that even the main character does not lip-synch in time. Although there is a slight raising of tension towards the latter parts of the film it is only slight and not really enough to make you have any doubt about the ending.I love westerns and am trying to see as many as I can at the moment but this is one of which I wish I had not bothered wasting an hour and a half of my time.

While not one of the greatest westerns to ever be brought to the screen, this movie does bring something else that others seemed to fail at, and that is actual human feelings and and what they went through in times of turmoil such as this film suggests. The townsfolk have to hold up in a church while outside they are attacked by Indians. In the movie it shows how the people would have and must have felt. The ending also leaves the viewer feeling pretty good. For not a very popular movie as say a John Wayne movie, this movie is actually quite good. It has yet to be released on DVD or VHS and i seriously doubt that it even has a chance yet if it was i strongly suggest western fans to grab a copy of it and see what I'm really talking about. As for those who want to see it now, your best bet is probably to try to catch it on the Western Channel although i have bee watching the channel for a few years and have yet to see it on there. The only time i ever saw it on television was on AMC, back when they had no commercials and actually played what the channel suggested, Classics.