5/10
Routine and ordinary oater with one novelty , the U. S. Cavalry testing camels in the West
28 June 2022
So-so Western displaying action , shootouts , Indian attacks , and though sometimes is slow-moving , isn't tiring neither dreary , sustaining the interest for quite a while . Resulting to be dramatically slack and some moments there's nothing left to maintain viewer involvement . Reportedly based on real events , in fact an actual test once conducted in the Big Bend area of Texas . Horses were having a tough time in the arid climate, and the "powers that be" thought that camels might just be a better option . As the U. S. Cavalry is experimenting the novel idea of using camels rather than horses as a means of transportation . As the General Headquater orders to test the feasability of camels in the deserts of the Southwest , receiving a shipment of fine Arabians , that's why Edward Beale (Rod Cameron) is in charge of finding a shorter trail across the American desert and to also test the practicality of using camels in the West . Along the way , Clint MacDonald (John Ireland) , an outlaw one jump ahead of a posse , then the astute bank robber unites the caravan by posing as a doctor when he's a simple veterinary . His girlfriend , Lilly (Joanne Dru, at the time married to Ireland) , also comes along joining the expedition . But it starts to move when cunning Matt Carroll (John Dehner) becomes aware of MacDonald's true profession as a crook and he wishes to take the gold from the bank robbery . At the beginning the Apaches afraid of the strange camels , but they eventually lose their fear and carry out a violent assault . Wagons West! - The Cry That Rocked the Desert Frontier! A Thousand Miles of Roaring Excitement! For every mile forward, a storm of Apache arrows pointed the road back! All the greatness the West could muster was thrown into the battle for the Great American Desert!

This one is a cheap and so-so Western , originally in 3-D , mostly shot in Kanab , Utah, where during the 50s and 60s were filmed several oaters . There is action enough and shootouts but no too much but the little action sequences are effective . Although in this B-movie there is a whole lot of footage of the other United Artists A-films regarding the grueling trek across the desert . Agreeable and passable though mediocre movie about a desert expedition passing illegally through Apache lands, triggering an Apache retaliation against the trespassing blue soldiers , while the cavalry tries keeping out . There's another film dealing with camels in the West : ¨Hawmps!¨ (1976) by Joe Camp with James Hampton , Christopher Connelly , Slim Pickens , Denver Pyle , but this one is more hilarious than ¨Southwest Passage¨(1954) that relies on action , shootous and drama . Set on spectacular landscapes and it attempts to fit briefly to historical facts , as the U. S. Cavalry tried camels out in the southwestern desert for a short, but memorable , period of time . The picture is regularly made , with plenty of action sequences , fights , crossfire , cavalry charges and anything else . In the film there are gorgeous outdoors shot on desert location well photographed by cameraman Sam Leavitt , though a perfect remastering being extremely necessary . The picture didn't obtain success and was a real flop in box office , in spite of the spectacular sets , colorful cinematography and atmospheric musical score from Arthur Lange and Emil Newman . The protagonist is a famous actor who starred B-series called Rod Cameron . Along with John Ireland , his wife Joanne Dru and John Denner . Furthermore , large plethora of notorious secondaries , such as : Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams , Darryl Hickman , Stuart Randall , Douglas Fowley , Kenneth MacDonald , Stanley Andrews and Morris Ankrum .

This Indian-on-the-warpath motion picture was regularly directed by Ray Nazzarro who made a lot of Westerns in low-budget . By 1945 he fell into directing westerns for that studio, a genre and a studio in which Nazarro would spent the vast majority of his career. He worked steadily for the next 20 years, churning out dozens and dozens of Columbia's westerns, including many in the "Durango Kid" series with Charles Starrett, and was at the helm of a slew of Columbia's musical westerns and low-budget hillbilly musicals, which featured such acts as The Hoosier Hotshots. As he made Westerns as The Range Rider , The Kid from Amarillo , Fort Savage Raiders , Al Jennings de Oklahoma , Frontier Outpost , Streets of Ghost Town, Texas Dynamo , The Tougher They Come , Outcast of Black Mesa, Trail of the Rustlers ,Renegades of the Sage , Bandits of El Dorado , South of Death Valley , Cyclone Fury , Laramie , The Blazing Trail and many others . As the era of the B western ended, Nazarro journeyed to Europe, where he turned out some "spaghetti westerns" and was one of several directors to work on a bizarre and trouble-plagued Jayne Mansfield film, Einer frisst den anderen (1964) . He also returned to directing television series , a medium in which he had occasionally worked since the early 1950s again, mostly in westerns. This Western could have been a lot worse but that's no reason to watch it . Rating : 5/10 , average but passable and acceptable . Only for hardcore Western fans.
1 out of 1 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed