Sadly Over-hyped

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

This Cavalry vs. Indians Western deals with Major Howell Brady (Jeff Chandler) supported by two colleagues (Charles Drake , Noah Beery Jr.) are sent by Washington to end the Kiowa uprisings in Indian territory . As they are assigned to go to Texas and recruit peaceful tribes Seminoles relocated from Florida to aid the army in bitter fighting the savage and hated Kiowas . As US cavalry and Indian tomahawk (led by Maygro : Henry Brandon who starred the unforgettable Indian ¨Scar¨ in ¨The Searchers¨) , though initially hostile , they subsequently join army and saber fighting side-by-side for the glory of the West . Nevertheless , Col. Jackson Meade (John McIntire) is reluctant to this unusual alliance and distrusts having Indians as allies . Then , Brady leads his regiment on a wild chase across the plains and hills in this saga of the old west . Brady and his US cavalry squares off rampaging Kiowas commanded by Satanta who refuses to surrender himself . Along the way Brady tries to win the heart of a widow who married a Confederate officer whose body was never found , and may still be alive . This moving movie is an epic portrait of the historic story about celebrated Indians Seminola and Tomahawk against the Kiowas . The picture gets Western action , shootouts , a love story , breathtaking raids on a Yankee fort and results to be quite entertaining . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . At the ending , when takes place the Indian assault , possesses all the sweep , grandeur and noisy action of the greatest Westerns of an age long past . Nice acting from a great cast . As Jeff Chandler is good as Army Major Brady who attempts to vanquish Kiowas and to keep the peace between US cavalry and Indians . Chandler gives stature to the role , providing sincerity and bravura . Chandler was famous , until his early death , for playing Indian chief Cochise , a dignified portrait well shown in : ¨Broken arrow¨ , ¨Battle of Apache Pass¨ and ¨Taza , son of Cochise¨ . Although Chandler also played all kinds of genres , such as : ¨Return to Peyton Place¨(drama) , ¨Flame of Araby¨ (adventure) , ¨Merrill's marauders¨ (wartime , in his last film) , until his early death at 42-year-old . Mauren O'Hara as gorgeous and pleasant widow Elaine Corwin , proves to be a great actress , as usual . And other wonderful woman , Suzan Ball as Indian Avis , who also died early at 21 by cancer , being these ¨War arrow¨ and ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ both of them directed by George Sherman , his last films . And support cast is frankly excellent , such as : Noah Beery Jr. , Charles Drake , Henry Brandon , Dennis Weaver , Jay Silverheels , Jim Bannon , Lance Fuller and special mention for the veteran John McIntire . This thrilling and stirring Western was beautifully shot by William Daniels , Greta Garbo's regular cameraman . And an original and shining score from William Lava and Herman Stein , though uncredited . The motion picture was professionally directed by George Sherman in B-style , though has some flaws . Sherman made reliable low-budget fare for Columbia between 1945-48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another eight years , where he directed this ¨War Arrow¨ . Sherman specialized almost exclusively in "B" westerns there , including the "Three Musketeers" series, which featured a young John Wayne. George directed lots of Westerns as ¨The Last of the Fast Guns¨ , ¨The Lone Hand¨, ¨Santa Fe stampede¨ , ¨Red skin¨ , ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ ¨Calamity Jane¨, ¨Relentless¨ , ¨Comanche Territory¨ , ¨Dawn at Socorro¨, ¨Border River¨ and many others . He also made occasional forays into action and horror themes, often achieving a sense of style over substance . The only "A"-grade films to his credit were two westerns starring John Wayne: ¨Comancheros¨ (1961) (as producer) and ¨The big Jack¨ (1971) . His last films were realized in Spain as "Find That Girl" , ¨The new Cinderella¨ and ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨. War Arrow rating : 6/10 . Acceptable and passable . Well worth watching .

Jeff Chandler plays a major in the U.S. Calvary who wants to train the peaceful Seminoles to help the Army fight the savage, marauding Kiowas; Maureen O'Hara is a flirtatious widow whose captain-husband (found burned beyond recognition, yet still possessing his identification papers!) may be alive, having defected to fight alongside the Indians. Unconvincing Universal western with fine Technicolor photography but a flimsy, ridiculous script. No attempt is made to show why the Kiowas are so bloodthirsty; by the end, they are also portrayed as mercenary and stupid. Suzan Ball has the silliest role, that of a citified Seminole (and feminist!) whose education has apparently taught her the only way to get what she wants is by using her feminine wiles. There's the strong suggestion that Ball and Chandler have a one-night-stand, which is intriguing in and of itself, though screenwriter John Michael Hayes only utilizes the implication to drive cool-but-quickly-thawing O'Hara into Chandler's arms. A few interesting details, otherwise an assembly-line massacre for non-thinkers. *1/2 from ****

In War Arrow, Major Jeff Chandler is sent west with two trusty sergeant sidekicks, Charles Drake and Noah Beery, Jr., to implement some ideas of his own about fighting the Kiowas. His answer is to recruit some reservation Seminoles as a fighting force against the Kiowa. Seems as though the Kiowas like to raid their villages as a warm up before attacking whites and the Seminoles have no weapons to resist.These Kiowas led by Henry Brandon are devilishly tricky lot, almost as if they are led by someone who studied army military tactics. Turns out they are.In her memoirs Maureen O'Hara dismisses both of her films with Jeff Chandler, this film and Flame of Araby which makes this one look good. She said he was a nice man, but they had no chemistry together at all. Chandler probably was not terribly interested in the project, he was just beginning to fight for better roles than the action programmers he was doing under his Universal contract.Chandler is operating independently out of the fort commanded by John McIntire. Of course McIntire is obtuse and jealous because Chandler is romancing O'Hara who he has eyes for. Forgetting the jealousy angle, McIntire has every right to be put out about Chandler operating independently. The army chain of command is a sacred thing and any commander worth his salt wouldn't put up with it.Of course why the Seminoles would possibly want to go to war on behalf of the white man against other Indians is not satisfactorily explained, even with the Kiowas. It certainly would seem far more likely to team up with the Kiowas.On the plus side, War Arrow has some nice battle scenes, especially the climatic battle when the Kiowas come real close to capturing McIntire's fort. It also has some nice performances by Dennis Weaver and Suzan Ball playing Seminole lovers.But it sure won't be ranked as one of the great cinema westerns.

"War Arrow" opens with major Jeff Chandler arriving at Fort Clark, Texas, and discovering that Colonel John McIntire openly opposes the government endorsed plan to make use of displaced Seminole Indians to stop the bloody Kiowa uprising on soldiers and settlers...In fact, the only person at the fort who is friendly to Chandler is Maureen O'Hara, the attractive widow of Captain James Bannon...All the action leads to a tidy end: Chandler discovers Bannon is very much alive (at least at the climax of the movie) and is really the renegade white chief of the Kiowas...In the small assigned action-packed moments in this slight entrance, the pillaging Kiowas are totally controlled... For a rare change Maureen had some harsh competition in the fascinating department, which was supplied by Suzan Ball as the passionately sensual daughter of the Seminole chief...The film is more of an excuse to show that excellent guys, always end up with excellent girls—even when the best guy resists authority and tries to match one tribe of Indians against another... All right! But not very imaginative... don't you think?