I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The movie runs out of plot and jokes well before the end of a two-hour running time, long for a light comedy.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

"Drum Beat" is notable on two counts. First it was Warner Bros. first wide screen CinemaScope picture and second it marked the first film in which Charles Buchinsky became Charles Bronson.Indian Fighter Johnny MacKay (Alan Ladd) is summoned to Washington by President U.S. Grant (Hayden Rourke) where he is appointed Peace Commissioner with a mission to make peace with renegade Modoc Captain Jack (Bronson). Accompanying him back to California is Nancy Meek (Audrey Dalton). The intended of stagecoach driver Bill Salterwhite is murdered by Modoc Jim (Frank DeKova) and Bill vows revenge.Later, during a meeting between MacKay and Captain Jack, Bill kills Modoc Jim thus starting an Indian war with the soldiers headed by General Canby (Warner Anderson). Peaceful Modocs Toby (Marisa Pavan) and Monok (Anthony Carouso) try to help MacKay in his quest for peace. A meeting is set up between Gen. Canby and Captain Jack but then.......................................................Alan Ladd made some pretty good westerns over the years but is woefully miscast in this one. It is hard to imagine the clean cut Johnny MacKay as a one time fierce Indian fighter. His buckskin jacket seems tailor made and he shows nary a whisker. Most Hollywood Indian fighters were grizzled unkempt mountain men. Not so here.Delmer Daves makes good use of the wide screen. He gives us beautiful panoramic shots of the mountainous regions together with those of the vast countryside. Victor Young as always, provides an excellent musical score. A lot of action and well staged battle scenes abound. The less said about the love triangle between Ladd, Dalton and Pavan the better.Other recognizable faces include Elisha Cook as a gun running Indian Agent, Rodolpho Acosta as Scarface Charlie, George J. Lewis as Captain Clark, Perry Lopez as Bogus Charlie and Denver Pyle, Richard Hale, Stother Martin and Peter Hansen in smaller roles.There is also an amusing little scene at the beginning with James Griffith as a White House sentry who advises MacKay how to get in to see the President.

My review title is a paraphrasing of Captain Jack, as a priest apparently is attempting a death-bed conversion: one of the few bits of humor in this otherwise serious drama of the Modoc War of 1872-3.As was usual for this era, in a western with a claimed historical basis, the amount of fictionalization is grossly understated in the opening claim. This film presents a mixed bag of fairly accurate history, unnecessarily garbled history, and pure fiction, relating to the last series of confrontations between the small Modoc tribe of the CA-OR border region and European settlers and the US army. While many Modocs had reluctantly accepted the reservation offer of 1864, some, including the featured 'Captain Jack', refused to sign the treaty, and returned to their homelands rather than live with their traditional enemies: the Klamath. Eventually, this group agreed to move to the reservation, but continuous harassment by some of the Klamath instigated their eventual return to their home territory. Unfortunately, meanwhile, Europeans had settled on some of their traditional land, leading to continuous conflicts, until the remnants of this group were rounded up and taken back to the reservation. Alan Ladd plays the very conflicted hero: Johnny MacKay, who subdues Captain Jack: the last remaining renegade leader, in a shooting-wrestling personal confrontation, including a fight while being swept down a river. Ladd isn't exactly my favorite action actor: usually appearing as less than dynamic: a quiet forcefulness. Upon reading about the history of the Modoc War, I can conclude that this character is based on a blend of several historical personages, plus a strong dose of pure fiction. He presumably represents the lone survivor of the Modoc reprisal massacre of a wagon train, known as the Bloody Point massacre. The most important historical personage contributions to his character are Alfred Meacham: Superintendent of Oregon Indian Affairs during part of this time, and the 2 army scouts who captured Captain Jack.One of the major failings of this film as good history is the refusal to recognize the critical importance of the failure of the US government to act on Meacham's recommendation that the Modoc be given their own reservation, adjacent to their shared reservation with the Klamath, as the obvious means of peacefully ending the problem. This could have saved many lives on both sides, as well as being much cheaper than waging the war and making this movie! It was a very Pyrrhic victory for the US government, as sometimes dramatized in this film...Also, MacKay several times incorrectly claims that Captain Jack signed the 1864 treaty, thus his return to the Lost River region is in violation of that treaty.The friend-enemy relationship between MacKay and Captain Jack is complex and the heart of this story, with MacKay's romance with the fictional Nancy Meek in the background: the latter pair's future plans symbolizing the recent settlers in the Modoc's former homeland. Charles Bronson is good as Captain Jack.The Modoc woman Toby is misrepresented as unmarried and proposing marriage to MacKay. Also, she dies in the ambush at the peace conference, in contrast to the historic Toby...Isabel Jewel becomes the first random victim of Modoc revenge, as the stagecoach driver's talkative sex-crazed new wife: the type of role Isabel was typecast to play, in a long career as minor low-life characters.As the film points out, Captain Jack was by no means a bloodthirsty savage. In fact, the reason he and a few others were hanged had to do with one incident, in which he personally killed General Canby, in an ambush at a peace conference. This centerpiece scene is presented with appropriate tension. As dramatized, he did this very reluctantly, only at the urging of other leaders, including Hooker Jim(Modoc Jim , in the film). Hooker Jim had previous led various raids against settlers, as well dramatized in the film, and was wanted for murder. He hoped, by killing important leaders at this conference, the army would give up. Instead, this incident caused national outrage. Ironically , Hooker Jim was granted a pardon for his murders, in return for helping in the hunt for Captain Jack's bunch: not brought out in the film.By being filmed in the rugged scenic country around Sedona , AZ, the film cannot fully convey the extreme difficulty of capturing the Modocs holed up in the treacherous lava tube cave country of present Lava Beds National Monument....,Victor Young provides some good background music to accompany the scenic country, but the film includes precious little humor. While Charles Bronson, who plays Captain jack, and Marisa Favan, who plays Toby, clearly don't look fully like Native Americans, Rodolfo Acosta, who plays the historic Scarface Charlie, Anthony Caruso, who plays the fictional Manok, Frank DeKova and Perry Lopez, who play other Modoc leaders, were more successful in looking like possible Modocs. Richard Gains plays the historic Dr. Thomas: prominent spokesman for a peaceful solution: one of those murdered in the 'peace conference'. Eliza Cook plays Blain Crackel: an outspoken pro-Modoc, secretly supplying them with repeater rifles, but ultimately shot by a Modoc, as a random victim... Robert Keith plays Crackel's opponent: the stage driver who advocates revenge upon the Modoc, especially for killing his sexy wife.General Canby had previously been most noteworthy in his successful patient defense of New Mexico Territory against an invasion by a Confederate army, in a bid to ultimately capture the Colorado gold fields to the north. Previous to this, he had been unsuccessful in stopping raids by Navajos on settlers in and near their territory. Just finding the guilty, in their vast rugged territory, usually proved impossible.

A fairly scenic Western which boasts that it is based on true events, and announces in the beginning that it does take literary license to make it more entertaining, so there's no beef about that.Ladd plays Indian fighter Johnny, who has a hate-like-hate relationship with Captain Jack, played by Charles Bronson, and is on a first name basis with the leading thugs that accompany Captain Jack.Captain Jack is a Modoc Native American, but he is not a real captain. He steals medals from officers he kills. The real leaders of the Modoc don't trust him, and think little of him. Same for his main cohorts.He makes a name for himself in villainy, and President Grant tries to quell his killing peacefully. He sees the importance of keeping peace with the good Modoc people who would make good neighbors.As with any Delmer Daves directed movie, we know his high handed American Nazi ideology will prevail, and he will force the issue to kill at least one beautiful brunette woman. One must wonder if Daves was once jilted and humiliated by a brown eyed brunette, in order to make him continually do this.It is just one of the "forced" looking events that take place in this movie. More "forced" is the direction, in which Daves seems to want to display certain lines and characteristics in very unnatural looking sequences of events. It looks like Daves had in mind to make sure certain lines were spoken, and certain images taken. It almost looks like a movie made by a story book artist.Daves is a bit more subdued in this movie than in most movies, however, and it probably is the best of his works, which isn't saying much.

Catch the two great bookend sequences. They may be the most memorable part of this nicely produced Western purportedly based on fact. That opening sequence with McKay (Ladd) walking in unchallenged to meet President Grant is based on the historical fact that presidents have only been removed from the public in later times. Citizens back then could essentially walk in and talk to the president without a dozen pre-screens. Also, for this Bronson fan, that jail cell ending may well be the high point of his acting career. He shows more unforced good humor and naturalness there than any scene I've seen him in. In fact, he easily steals the movie from the rest of the cast, positioning himself as a real Hollywood comer.This is an A-production from Warner Bros. For example, scope out the well stocked cavalry troop. No corner-cutting there. Then too, lavish use is made of Sedona's familiar red rock locations adding real scenic value. Also, there's a much larger than usual supporting cast of familiar faces, even down to bit parts. Producers Daves and Ladd (uncredited) do a bang-up job assembling the many components.Surprisingly, for plot developments, the Indians actually get to win a battle and rejoice on- screen. However, the film's impact is damaged by being over-long, probably to accommodate a romantic interest to broaden audience appeal. Then too, Ladd, the actor, appears not nearly as interested in the film as Ladd, the co-producer. Frankly, he looks glum throughout the nearly two-hour running time, and I don't think it's from under-playing the part. Plus having him over-power the muscular, extremely fit looking Bronson is quite a stretch.Despite these several drawbacks, it's still a good scenic, action flick, the first of director Daves' series of superior Westerns.