everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Disappointment for a huge fan!

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Westerns that feature a cavalry theme don't hold much attraction for me but this one managed to hold my attention. It has an above average story by William Sackheim that helps - an above average and hard working cast, with above average photography by D.O.P. the Award nominated Charles P. Boyle (Anchors Aweigh '45)The DVD copy I was given by a friend is from the Umbrella series: Six Shooter Classics (they really must do something about that silly marketing title). Universal originally used the magnificent IB Technicolor process for this film but this disc is well below average (compared with Umbrella's earlier 'Tumble Weed' that looked perfect). Sound transfer is also below standard. Robert Sterling ('Roughshod' '49) is good as the Fort Commander, with good support from Ray Collins, Greg Palmer (Lee) and Joan Evans. Dennis Weaver does very well as the Indian chief with his motley Hollywood tribe. Music is mostly from the Universal stock library and offers little help. Audie Murphy is reliable as always in his way. Veteran director Frederick De Cordova keeps things moving and probably helped with the good dialogue (as he was known to do). Have certainly seen far worse.

Column South finds Audie Murphy as an army lieutenant in acting command at Fort Union in New Mexico. The new commander Captain Robert Sterling with his sister Joan Evans arrives to take over and he's a spit and polish short and his disposition ain't helped when he comes into the fort and sees a brawl going about politics. It's 1860 and the country is getting ready to divide sectionally.But it's still one army with a mission to keep the peace with the Navajo represented by Chief Dennis Weaver. But the growing divide may let the Indians conquer and Weaver is one smart and courageous warrior.In fact Weaver is the best one in the cast, the one who steals the film in every scene he's in. There's also a good performance by Ray Collins who is a visiting general with a big agenda all his own.Column South is a well done western with a good cast and a good story for this cast to perform. Definitely one of Audie Murphy's better westerns.

Column South is directed by Frederick de Cordova and written by William Sackheim. It stars Audie Murphy, Joan Evans, Robert Sterling, Dennis Weaver and Ray Collins. Music is scored by Joseph Gershenson and photography by Charles P. Boyle.The Breach Between The North And South Was Rapidly Widening. A Grim Spectre Of Civil War Hovered Over The Land. It Was A Time of Crisis. . .A Time For Choosing Sides.Story essentially involves Jed Sayre (Murphy), a friend to the local Navajo Indians, relinquishing his command of Fort Union to Captain Lee Whitlock (Sterling), who after arriving with his sister Marcy (Evans), demands changes to how the Fort is run and expects Jed to end his friendship with the Navajo. When a prospector is discovered murdered it is presumed the Navajo are the guilty party, so setting in wheels in motion for Jed to try and quell the impending war with the Indians and thus having to fight his friend Menguito (Weaver) In the mixer is the impending Civil War, with deserters, traitors and political shenanigans at HQ also taking a hand in proceedings. While Jed and Marcy dance around the inevitable with their love/hate relationship.In spite of dangling some interesting narrative threads, Column South sadly doesn't rise above being a routine Cavalry Vs Indians Western. But it's never dull and Murphy fans get the usual committed performance. What is of most interest here is the location for the shoot, shot in Apple Valley, California, it's an appealing Oater location with its surrounding hills and craggy rocks that are formed down in the valley. To my knowledge, Apple Valley was only used in one other Western film, Richard Carlson's Four Guns to the Border in 1954, which is a shame because as I say, it's both a looker and carries a harsh edge that some of the great Western movie photographers really could have done great work with.As it is, Column South is better than average, and certainly an easy film to while away the time with. But the running time doesn't allow the interesting factors in the story to get expanded, thus leaving the film with unfulfilled potential. 6/10

If I remember well, in this movie - and perhaps I confound with another Audie Murphy film directed by Nathan Juran: TUMBLEWEED, there is something very unusual in this little feature. In a sequence, the Indians are inside the fort and are attacked by US cavalry !!!Isn't it interesting? I watched it when I was a kid and I was shocked at this time. In the meanwhile, I got this film, but it is lost in my collection and I have no time to search it. Actually, I have them both. If I am wrong, if the sequence of Indians fighting IN the fort against US cavalry - at the OUTSIDE - is in TUMBLEWEED I hope an IMDb user will tell me my error.Thanks