Redundant and unnecessary.

An Exercise In Nonsense

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Although this film is entitled New Mexico, it certainly might have taken place in any part of our Southwest. It begins with the totally ridiculous premise that Abraham Lincoln took time out in the middle of the Civil War to visit New Mexico territory and make promises to Indian chief Ted DeCorsia that the US government would be feeding the Indians. That was really too much to swallow, anyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of American history knows that Lincoln never got beyond 50 miles of the White House during his term of office. So when the film began with Hans Conreid as Lincoln getting out of that stagecoach I figured this one would be one ridiculous film.It turned out to be a film that was not half bad, but could have used a lot of improvement including cutting those first six or seven minutes and some other premise used to show the disappointment of the Indians in the white man's failed promises. In that meeting with Conreid and DeCorsia is Captain Lew Ayres who wants peaceful relations and is a man of some honor. But an ambitious colonel played by Walter Greaza and a corrupt judge played by Lloyd Corrigan turn the promises of Lincoln into dust. When Greaza is murdered by the Indians, Ayres has to go in pursuit of DeCorsia.Circumstance places Ayres and his men along with saloon entertainer Marilyn Maxwell and Corrigan at an old mission built on a hillside where they hold off the attacking Indians. One of the troops, Raymond Burr, shoots down a young child who is DeCorsia's son giving him and additional reason to hate the army.Jeff Corey who was having blacklist troubles got to appear in this film as a cavalry Indian scout. That this was an independent film is significant because Corey could not get work at a major studio. New Mexico which was an independent film released by United Artists is too low budget and its characters not sufficiently developed which would have made a much better film. It was a sincere effort and no one in the cast need be ashamed of their work here.

As a young boy in 1952, I went to visit Acoma, a Native American village, near Albuquerque, New Mexico together with my parents and uncle. The scenery was so impressive that it remains alive in my mind , and I remember the houses where to reach the upper floor you had to go through an external ladder. So it was a deception to see this film where such a beautiful scenery is wasted. The DVD I purchased is in black and white, but I read in the IMDb it was made in Ansco Color. I wonder what happened. The story is interesting, about a truce made with the Chief Acoma, which is broken . Lew Ayres is an army captain on a mission to capture Acoma. Marylin Maxwell is Cherry, who joins them against all logic and even provides some musical numbers!!! She is not a bad actress, but here her character does not work. The script is good, but could have been brought to the screen in a much better way. Overall, frustrating, considering what it could have been.

Old school western has peace with an Indian tribe collapsing after the death of President Lincoln. An evil colonel and inspector run roughshod over the native population. A captain, who was decorated by Lincoln for keeping the peace tries to keep things calm however war flares which put everyone in danger.Okay western is very much run of the mill. Its nothing you haven't seen before, especially if you're a fan of the genre. certainly its done well but at the same time the sense of having been here before makes everything seem less than it is. I liked it but at the same time I don't think I'll ever see it again, or really even remember it.

The great cast here, including Ayers, Maxwell, Divine, and Conried cannot save this predictable and routine Western effort. All the stereo-types are here, the fallen woman, the honor-bound Cavalry Captain and comic relief, but none of it seems to work well. The ending attempts to be different, but by that time the viewer could not care less.