Very well executed

Overrated and overhyped

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

After a vicious Indian attack on a ranch in which the women are raped and killed and a young girl is left in a state of shock, the scene shifts to Fort Canby, under the command of Richard Boone. Unfortunately, this is not one of Boone's better movies. A lot of the blame, almost all of it perhaps, goes to the lines the actors have to somehow make sound real. That task turns out to be virtually impossible. The best part is the debate over which Indians, the Apaches or the Comanches, actually carried out the raid. Luana Patton takes top honors as the center of George Hamilton's and James Douglas's attention. Douglas, the ranking junior officer leads a small squad of soldiers out to track the Indians, setting in motion the central action sequences which culminates in a borderline ridiculous cavalry-Indian fight, somewhat saved by the arrows falling on some of the soldiers. However, life in the fort turns out to be a bit more interesting than the action outside of the walls.

About the same time a cavalry lieutenant by the name of "Curtis McQuade" (George Hamilton) arrives at his new post in the desert a band of renegade Indians begin terrorizing the inhabitants of the area. But nobody knows for sure if these Indians are Comanche or Apache and until that question is answered any solution to the problem cannot be undertaken. But that isn't the only problem at this fort as Lt. McQuade also runs into his former girlfriend, "Tracey Hamilton" (Luana Patten) who just happens to be engaged to a fellow officer named "Lt. Thomas Gresham" (James Douglas). To further complicate matters, the commanding officer "Captain Stephen Maddocks" (Richard Boone) doesn't particularly care for Lt. McQuade and lets him know it right away. Anyway, rather than disclose the story and risk spoiling the film for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was a pretty good western movie which tended to depict life at a frontier post in a less than favorable light. Although a couple of the actors could have used more screen time I liked the addition of Charles Bronson (as "Trooper Hanna"), Richard Chamberlain ("Lt. Porter"), and Arthur O'Connell ("1Sgt Karl Rodermill") along with the aforementioned George Hamilton and Richard Boone. In any case, I enjoyed this movie and rate it as slightly above average.

Joey's comments above are spot on. And you should also notice the visual style of the film: scenes in the fort tend to be in tones of grey or blue, cavalry colours, but most scenes throughout the film have a detail picked out in bright red - clothing, books, drinks,and, finally blood. Compositions are also distinctive: two shots often have one figure closer to the camera, some medium shots have an over-the-shoulder angle. For those who like that kind of thing, there is an interesting Oedipal theme, and the film centres on the rite of passage of the central figure,played by George Hamilton, appropriately vain and self-regarding. Women are sacrificed and marginalised ruthlessly, and there is a further theme about children which I couldn't quite work out.The cavalry/Indians structure is the peg on which a thoughtful narrative has been hung; even the killing scenes avoid the some of current excesses, and there are hints that the Indians have their own culture which the cavalry officers learn to recognise - and exploit. The inferior technology of the Indians is clearly a factor in their defeat.It will be a shocking day when the US Cavalry meet an indigenous population which is tactically and technologically their equal, won't it?

It is interesting to see a young George Hamilton and a young Richard Chamberlin and how they looked and acted in their early years. In fact, it is quite pathetic. Richard Boone plays the post commander whom, you learn at the END as to why an old man is still a captain. Really, it was droll movie. Slow plot development, if any and a meaningless conclusion. I did like the color except for one scene where Hamilton opens the door and sees an obviously painted scene in daylight and then exits into the nightlight on the exterior.