Too many fans seem to be blown away

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Good start, but then it gets ruined

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

This is one gritty and tough film - right from the start. Capt. Richard Lance (Gregory Peck) is one hard-nosed cookie - almost dis-likable for most of the film but in the end he does show us another side of himself, a side that if came out earlier in the film it would be debatable as to if they would have survived. I think the tougher side of Capt. Lance is the side that did keep most of them alive. I get a claustrophobic feeling while watching this film because the group of men became stuck in old fort and surrounded by their foe for most of the film. Their water supply running out and time ticking away they are attacked randomly and it's in the end that Capt. Lance redeems himself to his soldiers and they are freed from their entrapment. A good film that is brutal for it's time era. 8/10

When Captain Richard Lance arrives are Fort Invincible he discovers the site of a massacre; every man stationed there is dead. There are still some of the Apaches who attacked present ransacking the site; one of them is Chief Tucsos. He captures the chief but his man want him killed believing that if he is dead his men will move on but if he is alive they will do whatever they can to rescue him. Lance accepts that this might be so but his orders are clear; he won't kill a man once he has been taken prisoner. The return to their own fort and Lance is ordered to arrange for the prisoner to be sent to another fort further away; he takes the mission himself but is ordered to stand down as the colonel thinks he is needed there. The man sent instead is his friend and rival for the affections of a woman at the fort; it is assumed he organised the replacement himself to get rid of a rival and when the detail is ambushed everybody blames him for the death of his friend. Now Tucsos is free it is only a matter of days before he attacks; in order to protect the fort Lance volunteers to take a small group of men back to Invincible to keep the Apaches pinned down as they try to come through a narrow pass that is the only way through the mountains. The men he selects to go with him aren't the best in the fort; they are the worst; they weren't selected because he thought they had hidden courage but because they would be the least missed when the Apaches broke through and attacked the main fort!This western isn't a classic but it is entertaining. Rather than the wide open expanses of the open plains the action mostly takes place within the confines of the wrecked fort and in the narrow pass the men seek to block; this gives the film a rather claustrophobic feel. This is increased by the fact that the band of malcontents Lance selected are potentially as dangerous to him as the Apaches they are meant to be fighting. The group includes a drunken corporal, a bullying sergeant bitter that he never received a commission, a coward, a deserter and an Arab trooper who has already attacked Lance once before! I rather liked the fact that these men didn't all turn out to be heroes after all; some of them did but others remained true to their base character throughout. Gregory Peck puts in a solid performance as the by-the-book Captain Lance and the rest of the cast are entertaining; especially Ward Bond who played the drunken Cpl. Gilchrist. The only character I was unsure about was Trooper Kebussyan; this portrayal as a somewhat crazed Arab, always referred to as Ay-rab, would be considered racist in a more modern film. The conclusion features one of the oldest clichés in the genre but it can be forgiven as it was fairly exciting. Overall this was a decent western and while it is not a must see it is worth watching if you get the chance.

The more desperate his fight on the desert's scorching sands , the more adored he was in her arms ¡ . Gregory Peck as captain Lance who gave Fort Invincible his name ¡ . Richard Lance (Peck) is a honorable cavalry officer to roust renegade troopers and a tribe of Indians Apaches . Cavalry captain is saddled not only problems with Native American but irritability among his own undisciplined troops . Lance is wrongfully framed by his girlfriend (Barbara Payton) and underlings of killing lieutenant Holloway (Gig Young) massacred along with a patrol by Indians . Richard Lance eventually puts the bridle on tight and struggles to win his soldiers respect while warding off violent Indians. Richard along with a group of soldiers have to defend a left fort surrounded by Indians until arrival reinforcements who are using a Gatling machine gun . The angry Apaches (led by Michael Ansara, usual in Indian roles) are out on a rampage of killing , seeking vengeance against the white intruders, and with the aim for eliminate them.This is an acceptable , conventional tale with action galore about a hard-bitten officer who goes to hell and back while assembling a detail of misfit cavalrymen to hold-off rampaging Indians and later on regaining the respect of his soldiers and his sweetheart . Gregory Peck and a top-notch all-secondary-star-cast as Ward Bond, Steve Brodie , Warner Anderson , Neville Brand , Jeff Corey and Lon Chaney Jr as the Arab ; all of them shine in this gripping story about a surrounded garrison . Furthermore as protagonist girl appears Barbara Payton ( who acted in important films as Dallas, Drums in the deep South , Kiss Tomorrow) , she turned to be one of the saddest stories from dark chronicle Hollywood . Attractive blonde sexpot and her life eventually disintegrated,mostly by her own doings . She was the subject of a spread in Confidential Magazine in the early 1950s when then fiancé Franchot Tone allegedly caught in bed with Guy Madison . Tone later married her , despite the indiscretion, besides she had a tempestuous relationship with Tom Neal. But happened the downfall , her once enticing countenance now blotchy and once sensational figure now bloated,Barbara sank deeper into the bottle and had several brushes with law , among them public boozy , bad checks and ultimate prostitution . The 39 years former star was found on the bathroom floor. Director takes a fine penned screenplay creating a cavalry-Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the anguish of soldiers and including jarring burst of violence , however it packs a predictable ending . It's the habitual theme about an unit stranded by enemies and their grueling efforts to break the siege, issue imitated many other times . Gritty and passable written Western from Edmund H. North and Harry Brown , based on the novel by Charles Marquis Warren ,also Western filmmaker .The picture contains nice moments though partially unsatisfying and disappointing for the reason of the deeply claustrophobic environment . Well produced by William Cagney , James Cagney's brother , this Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining. Thrilling and stirring musical score by the classic Franz Waxman . Cinematography by Lionel Lindon enhances the dark tones especially on the besieged fort .The motion picture is professionally directed by Gordon Douglas . He's an expert on adventures genre as ¨Black arrow¨ and ¨Fortunes of Captain Blood¨ , both starred by Louis Hayward ; but he's mainly specialist filmmaking Western , his first was ¨ Girl rush (1944)¨ and in the 40s directed ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ and ¨The Nevadan¨ for duo Harry Joe Brown-Randolph Scott . He went on directing Alan Ladd's (as Jim Bowie) vehicles as ¨Iron Mistress¨ and ¨The fiend who walked west¨ which resulted to be a Western rendition to ¨Kiss of death¨. In the 50s he proved his specialty on Western in the films starred by Clint Walker as ¨Fort Dobbs¨ ,¨Yellowstone Kelly¨, ¨Gold of seven Saints¨ and about legendary bandits as ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ and ¨Great Missouri raid¨ . After that , he filmed ¨Chuka(1967)¨ that bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Only the valiant¨ , the remake ¨Stagecoach (1966)¨ , ¨Rio Conchos¨ with Richard Boone and considered the best Western and finally ¨Barquero(1970)¨with Lee Van Cleef and realized in Spaghetti style.

Two names, one in front of and one behind the camera, imply a touch of Class that is largely absent here. Gregory Peck was one of the most underrated actors in the history of film and writer Harry Brown had a string of fine credits from A Walk In The Sun onwards. Sadly producer Jimmy Cagney was seemingly reluctant to shell out on a decent budget and may well have manipulated things - Brown, for example, had written Cagney's Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, the previous year and leading lady (no, I'm not making it up, that's what the billing says) Barbara Payton, had appeared in it and was under contract to Cagney which may explain what she was doing, albeit ineptly, here. Peck himself was railroaded into this but even so he was too good an actor and too much a pro to give anything less than his best and the support is at least interesting; Lon Chaney Jnr, Jeff Corey, Gig Young, Neville Brand, Ward Bond, Steve Brodie, all essentially wasted as was all-around director Gordon Douglas. A curio at best.