Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

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

It's 1876. The Cree Indians of Saskatchewan have crossed the US border to hunt buffalo. There is a clash with the US cavalry and Standing Bear leads his Cree back across the border, taking two white hostages. It's the task of Constable Tyrone Power in full RCMP panoply to located the Cree, rescue the hostages, and talk Standing Bear into returning to the reservation, where they will be provided with food and shelter. Standing Bear is a reasonable guy. But he has to contend with Cameron Mitchell as Konah, the young Turk who wants to kill all the white. Likewise, one of the white hostages, a bank robber, would love to kill all the Indians. How do you handle a minority that actually seems to enjoy the prospect of war and killing? It's a perennial problem and culture doesn't seem to count for much.It's an unusual Western in that it deals as much with the issues facing the Cree as it does with the problems facing Tyrone Power. Power is the protagonist, the principled central figure, but the milieu is that of the Cree, and they're no more stereotyped than any other group liable to be found in a typical 1950s feature film.Standing Bear is thoughtful, spiritual, democratic, and a man of his word. But the aggressive Konah is not shown as evil either, just mistaken in his values. Of course, he gets it in the end anyway. There must be a final shoot out in a Western and somebody has to die.The dialog gets a couple of things right. Duncan in Gaelic may very well mean "brown warrior." The Cree and the American Blackfeet actually were at odds with one another. And the talk of "medicine" was real enough -- and still is. I lived with the Blackfeet as an anthropologist and the medicine man has a social status at least equal to that of his Christian counterpart.At the same time, the dialog is stilted and "Indian-like". In the case of Thomas Gomez, as the comic sidekick, it sounds like Charlie Chan. And although the narration refers to the humiliation of the Cree's defeat at the hands of the Long Knives, the Plains Indians didn't really care much about victory or defeat. Like T. E. Lawrence's Arabs, they fought for a while and then went home when they were tired of it.The movie isn't filled with action, and I must say not all of it rings true. It's more suspenseful than thrilling, but the musical score hints at Canada's national anthem and the photography can be luscious. It's enlightening too. Canada is as vast as the US, had all kinds of Indians and still does. Yet it never went through the genocidal Indian Wars that America did. I wonder how come? Did we have more Konahs, on both sides?

20th. Century Fox's 1952 production PONY SOLDIER (aka. "MacDonald Of the Canadian Mounties") is a somewhat disappointing and quite action-less adventure and even more so when one considers that it is one of the few westerns the estimable Tyrone Power appeared in. Produced for the studio by Samuel G.Engel it did however have a few saving graces and not least the stunning colour cinematography of Coconimon National Forest by Harry Jackson and a driving ethnic score by composer Alex North. Thinly written for the screen by John C.Higgins it was however ably directed by Joseph M.Newman.It is 1876 and constable Duncun MacDonald (Tyrone Power) of the Royal Canadian Mounted police is given an assignment to investigate the reason why the Cree Indians are massing along the Canadian/US border and attacking wagons crossing into Canada. With a half-caste guide (Thomas Gomez) he makes the long trek to the Indian camp to speak to the chief (Sturt Randall) and discovers the tribe have taken two white captives - a woman (Penny Edwards) and an unscrupulous ex-convict (Robert Horton). Now, besides trying to persuade the Crees to return to the reservation he must also endeavour to negotiate the release of the two hostages. However, the hatred of one of the chiefs (Cameron Mitchell) for all whites makes it impossible for the young constable to achieve anything culminating in a hand to hand fight to the death in the final reel.Although it's a beautiful looking movie (Ty Power's red tunic is luminous) and the scenes in the Indian camp are quite colourful the picture can often be dull and boring. Particularly tedious and tiresome is the relationship that develops between Power and an Indian boy who befriends him. There is much too much screen time wasted here and is simply just padding to fill in the running time. There is very little action throughout the movie which really only occurs in the film's first fifteen minutes and comes from stock footage culled from the studio's earlier "Buffalo Bill" (1944). Anthony Quinn who played chief Yellow Hand in that picture remember - can clearly be identified here as he runs and leaps onto his pinto pony to lead his warriors from the camp to engage with the US cavalry in William Wellman's classic battle scene from that earlier movie.On the plus side are reasonably good performances. Power is his usual polished self and Cameron Mitchell is very authentic and striking looking as the militant and vengeful warrior. The female lead is taken by pretty Penny Edwards as one of the captives but has little to do and isn't in it very much. The "B" picture actress has hardly more than a dozen words of dialogue to say in what must be her only A list movie and playing opposite one of Hollywood's biggest stars. Also of note is the sparkling score by Alex North. There's a savage atmospheric Indian theme heard in its broadest rendition under the titles with baying horns against wild woodwind figures. It perfectly conjures up the will and determination of the Canadian Cree nation. And discerned here in the great composer's music are little hints of the masterwork he would conceive ten years later for one of the finest scores ever written for the screen - "Spartacus".PONY SOLDIER is no earth shattering viewing experience at all but with its few saving graces and the presence of its appealing star it is just about worth a look.

Hollywood's depictions of the Mounted Police and Canada are notorious for playing free and loose with the facts, you won't find much worse than Pony Soldier.The Arizona desert is apparently a suitable substitute for locations in Saskatchewan and Montana. History is rewritten as the Saskatchewan Cree fight a battle with the US Cavalry. The Cree are depicted as child-like simpletons, a desert mirage of a lake and paddle wheeler has them bowing and praying in awe. This piece of blarney is the plot device for Tyrone Power saving the day. I guess when you transplant a northern Indian tribe into the Arizona desert, anything is possible.The dialogue is wooden and clichéd, including the old wheeze "He speaks with forked tongue". The movie would have you believe the Cree burned captives alive. Wrong, but maybe the Arizona Cree did so.Keep an eye out for Power's magical red tunic. Amusing to see him rolling around on the ground and covered in dust, then jumping up with his uniform ready for a parade ground inspection.

I'm not sure, but has there ever been a film made with a less than sympathetic treatment of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police? The Mounties have done very well cinema wise and Pony Soldier is not setting any new patterns.It doesn't have to because it's a very entertaining film. The plot has a lot of similarities to Broken Arrow which 20th Century Fox also produced. Tyrone Power is playing Constable Duncan MacDonald, newly arrived at Fort Walsh and sent out on a mission to negotiate a peace with Cree Indians who've left their reserve and tangled with U.S. Cavalry south of the border. On the way back they've taken two white prisoners in a raid and Power is looking to get them back. One is Penny Edwards who catches the eye of Cameron Mitchell and he decides she'd make a good squaw for his little brother. The other is Robert Horton who's an escaped outlaw.So intrepid Mountie Power along with his Indian guide Thomas Gomez go to the camp of the Crees. Gomez is a most reluctant guide, in fact he's kind of blackmailed into making the journey. Thomas Gomez is an underrated and capable actor who deadpans some very funny lines.Two others in the cast really make this work. Little Anthony Numkena plays the Cree Indian boy who Power adopts and that turns out to be a great negotiating technique. But their affection is genuine and the scenes between Power and Numkena are some of the best in the film.Stuart Randall plays the Cree Chief Standing Bear. His portrayal is very similar to Jeff Chandler's more heralded portrayal of Cochise in Broken Arrow. In fact the Indians are not stereotyped, they are three dimensional characters here. Randall does a fine job as Standing Bear, negotiating with Power and having to contend with militants in his own camp led by Cameron Mitchell. Since Jeff Chandler had already broken the same ground with Cochise, Randall's performance has been overlooked, unfortunately so for him.Tyrone Power is a whole cloth hero here and does a fine job. One of the things that Americans don't appreciate is that the Mounties were there in large measure to protect the native Indians from white depredation. Canadians have always loved contrasting that to how the U.S. Cavalry treated the native population. Our cavalry was there on the settler's behalf. The contrast is certainly a matter of historical record, but I wonder if Canada had seen the immigration westward that America did, would their Mounties have been more like our blue coats.