How sad is this?

Best movie ever!

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

ULZANA'S RAID, a surehand western directed by Robert Aldrich, is one of those films that most people have never heard of – even those who confess themselves fans of the genre. A blank look will invariably come into the eyes, accompanied by a shrug of the shoulders. Just another little movie forgotten in the mists of time. However, this is a film that doesn't deserve to be forgotten. It's a western that deserves classic status, mainly because it handles its unusual subject matter in a mature and direct way.The plot is straightforward: a group of soldiers are sent to pursue an Indian raiding party who have been wreaking havoc across the West. Along the way, there's time for camaraderie, violent showdowns, shoot-outs, and plenty of soul-searching. The latter comes from Bruce Davison, a young actor perfectly cast as the green lieutenant charged with tracking down the brutal Ulzana and his men. The lieutenant is a god-fearing Christian who simply cannot understand the atrocities being carried out by the men he's after, and he's to become a witness of the shocking brutalities carried out by those men. Although Davison is excellent in a prominent role, this movie's main performance is by Burt Lancaster as a weary, experienced tracker who's seen it all before and who leads the search for the missing Indians. His performance here is simply fantastic: he isn't acting, he's living the character on and off the screen, and I look forward to seeing him in more movies.This is a film heavy on dialogue and with little action – aside from the inevitable final confrontation – so fans raised on modern thrill-a-minute fare will no doubt find it lacking. That's a shame, because the grim subject matter is handled with plenty of sensitivity. Aldrich shot his film during the final days of the chaos in Vietnam, so it's inevitable that a kind of weary cynicism pervades the movie. The atrocities committed by the Indians are never shown but the aftermath is revealed in a couple of telling, horrifying images: bodies strung up with piles of ashes next to them, where they've been burned and tortured. These brief glimpses of savagery are far more effectual than grisly beheadings or scalpings and they've certainly stayed in my mind long after watching. Just one compelling element of what is a very fine and underrated movie.

Ulzana's Raid was released in that most downbeat of hippie years - 1972 and is a western that captures the zeitgeist of the early-'70s so well. Bleak and lacking metaphysical colour but directed with flair by Aldrich the narrative involves a breakout from a wretched reservation by a group of Apache braves. A US cavalry brigade led by but wet-behind-the-ears Lieutenant Garnett DeBuinn (young blond Bruce Davison) and scouts MacIntosh (Burt Lancaster) and Ki-Ne-Tay (Mexican actor Jorge Luke) set out to track the Apaches and encounter the spectacular but bleak Arizona-Mexican landscape. The Apaches are not depicted as noble savages and parallels with Vietnam are clear to see. London's Time Out Film Guide refer to this western as being: 'extraordinarily intelligent'. Some of the props are very interesting: for example the late 19th-Century framed military pictures in Major Cartwright's headquarters and a sort of mahogany welsh-dresser/pigeon-hole in the background which suggests a kind of synthesis. What about the tome and blue and white Dutch ceramic saucer in Willy Rukeyser's hut?

I finally got to watch this movie last night thanks to Netflix. It wasn't what I was expecting. Made in 1972 I expected some type of simplistic left-wing hand-wringing allegory about the Vietnam War and the inherent evil of European culture vs. the Noble Red Man. Something along the same lines as the awful "Soldier Blue" (1970) or the better, but still hopelessly biased "Little Big Man" (1970). However I didn't get that at all."Ulzana's Raid" doesn't candy-coat either side. There is no simplistic paint strokes applied. The Apache Wars in the southwest in the late 1800's were brutal. No quarter was given and none was expected. Both sides were certain that they were right and their opponent was wrong and both sides were motivated by the belief that they were superior in terms of their civilizations and racial beliefs. Both sides committed atrocities, both sides could be both vicious and brave, both sides had blood on their hands.The one thing that I came away with was that the fighting in Arizona was a guerrilla war. An undeclared war that was vicious and cruel and which the movie conveys very well. If there is any allegory to Vietnam I would say that is it. War is horrific and fighting one isn't a pleasant task. Decisions have to be made that often result in death, but those decisions have to be made and people have to follow the orders of those who make those decisions. Both sides. Well done film. At times unpleasant and disturbing, but also thoughtful, intelligently written and balanced.

... the other being The Searchers, of course.Bruce Davison's Lt. DeBuin could have as easily been a new lieutenant fresh out of West Point in Viet Nam. The film educates the viewer on the reality of those times and responsibilities and human responses to them.Lancaster is perfectly cast as the aging scout who has come to respect and like one of the fiercest and at that time least likable Native American peoples. (There were two other Lancaster Westerns at about the time of this one: The Lawman, and Valdez Is Coming.) But the most fascinating and illuminating character is Apache Scout Ke-Ni-Tay, thanks to Jorge Luke's restrained acting.Indeed, it is the young Apache Scout's and young Army lieutenant's meeting, exchanges, and ultimate mutual understanding and respect - enabled and encouraged by the wise, fatherly scout, and shared by the audience - which is the crux of this film.This little-known film everyone should see, before they pass judgment on those times and places and how people there handled them.Lou Coatney