hyped garbage

Excellent but underrated film

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Edmond O'Brien was excellent, as usual, as was Tucker. But I may have missed something plot-wise; Dean Jagger's daughter appears to have no knowledge of her father's earlier career as a criminal, nor, more bizarrely, of the fact that his name had originally been Sam Morrison before he changed it to Quade to enlist in the cavalry! Normally that's the kind of thing a daughter would notice... Was this explained anywhere? If so it went right by me.

O'Brien and Haskin were to make a second movie the same year :"silver city";although "war path" has Polly Bergen instead of Yvonne De Carlo (the former can't compete with the latter as far as beauty and seduction are concerned ),it's got a better screenplay ,more interesting characters and O'Brien ,who plays again an educated man (engineer in "silver" ,lawyer before joining the army in "war") seems more interested in his part.The title is well chosen ;"warpath" has two meanings in the plot: 1)O'Brien's fiancée was killed in an armed robbery and he learns that two of her murderers have joined the army So he becomes a private ,to his officers' dismay, cause "he was a great officer in the civil war".But this time ,it's a way to satisfy a desire for personal revenge.2)The Indians are on "warpath" too and they play the part of the villains ;Custer is considered THE hero of the era and it's interesting to compare the way he is depicted with those of seventies works such as "litle big man" .All in all,the most endearing character is O' Hara (Forrest Tucker):it's not exactly the average villain and he has some surprises in store for the audience.

SPOILER: A man who joins the cavalry to find 2 men he blames for the death of his fiancee finds himself in the middle of a big indian uprising. He has no idea what the 2 murderers look like, but finally he finds out their identity. However, the indians and a new love cause his plans to change somewhat. So-so.

O'Brian is great as Vickers, the man on a quest for vengeance. Set against the backdrop of Custer's Last Stand this is an action-packed western with a fine supporting cast-especially Tucker and Carey Jr. The action is done on grand scale, and there's enough of it to satisfy.