Review of Indian Fighter, The

Introduction

I`ve watched more than a few Westerns in my time, the fail-safe of TV schedulers for a Saturday or Sunday afternoon in the past. I wouldn`t even begin to call myself an expert on the genre though, so there are more than a few well-known films in this genre that I am completely unfamiliar with; 1955`s The Indian Fighter is one such film.

Johnny Hawks (Kirk Douglas) is the Indian Fighter of the title, recently returned from the Civil War and sent out into the heart of Sioux country to aid a small fort manned by US Cavalry. His job is to escort a wagon train to Oregon. Before he arrives at the fort, however, he stops off at the village of his old friend Red Cloud, the Chief of a Sioux tribe. On his way into the village, Hawks spots Red Cloud`s daughter Onahti (Elsa Martinelli) bathing in the local river and falls in love with her after one glimpse of her in the water.

He also discovers that Red Cloud has a problem with white men trying to find the location of a gold seam in the locality; his own people have undertaken an oath of death to never reveal the location. Some unscrupulous white men are plying Indians with whiskey in an attempt to draw the location of the gold from the lips of Red Cloud`s people. Red Cloud has captured two such men: Wes Todd (Walter Matthau) and Chivington (Lon Chaney Jr). Fighting Red Cloud`s brother for the possession of these two men, although he doesn`t kill him, Hawks returns the two men to the nearby fort and Captain Trask (Walter Abel) as well as securing a peace treaty between Indian and white man. This brings much celebration and introduces Hawks to widower Susan Rogers (Douglas` wife at the time Diana), who is looking for a husband whilst trying to rebuff the `greatest apple grower to come out of Michigan`, Will Crabtree (Alan Hale).

The next day Hawks leads the wagon train out into Sioux country, but his lust for Onahti leads him to take the wagonners on a two day diversion into the mountains. Leaving them for a while, he seeks out Onahti and after a chase and forced kiss type of mating ritual, the two seal their love. Whilst he is away, Todd and Chivington ply one of a visiting trading party with whiskey to reveal the location of the gold. The result of this selfish action is to bring war between the Sioux and white man.

With his fellow white men doubting his true allegiance, it is up to Hawks and Onahti to rescue the day and convince Red Cloud that war will destroy his people…

Video

There are some artefacts present on the film, but considering it`s age that`s to be expected. Some of the lighting is a little suspect in places and some of the studio backdrops are a little too obvious, but that`s just modern eyes gazing at a piece nearly 50 years old.

Audio

Plenty of soundtrack options, all of them in Dolby Digital Mono. Also plenty of subtitle options. The audio is clear and there is a fine soundtrack from Franz Waxman (The Fugitive TV series) and a couple of nice enough songs from Irving Gordon, a musical collaborator of Duke Ellington.

Features

Not a crumb.

Conclusion

I have to admit that I`m not that enamoured with this film, and for a number of reasons. Firstly the dialogue feels a bit rushed, someone always seems to have to say something and a reply is generally instantaneous. It`s almost as if there is a quota of dialogue that must be spoken and it will get squeezed in here somewhere, dammit! The other is the uncomfortable feeling I get watching the so-called mating ritual between Douglas and Martinelli. It seems to be the old fashioned macho thing to do, but I`m not fond of this male trait of chasing a girl, kissing her against her will and then suddenly finding that the female in question falls head over heels in love straight away. This is one of the turning points of the film, in more ways than one, and I`m not that happy with how it`s done. Whilst this film is not solely to blame for this (it seems to be a mainstay of early Bond films, for example), in real life it would be called assault at best.

The story itself is too simplistic and Douglas just seems to get the chance to show off. His character seems rather hollow for a leading man, although he is less of an Indian fighter than his and the film`s title suggests. There`s also a lot of misguided intrigue around Hawks and the characters of Todd and Chivington. Todd is convinced that Hawks is looking for the gold himself and believes that the Indian fighter is a partner of theirs. Hawks does nothing to dissuade them of this misconception until the climax to the film, which just strikes me as a little odd.

Despite a neat plot twist where the war is started by the continued greed of unscrupulous white men, the story is not really explored more and wraps up far too easily and quickly, in about two or three minutes. It`s almost as if the ending was tacked on or massive cuts were made to the climax of the film.

Ultimately this was a bit of a letdown…