This film begins with a Confederate soldier by the name of "O'Meara" (Rod Steiger) shooting a Yankee officer and, after discovering that his bullet failed to kill his target, he then takes him back to a surgical tent to see whether the doctor can save him. While there, he notices "General Robert E. Lee" (Frank Baker) talking to his counterpart "General Ulysses S. Grant" (Emile Avery) and is informed that the war is now over. Infuriated over this, O'Meara decides that he wants nothing to do with the United States and sets out west to live beyond its borders. On the way there, he happens to meet an old Sioux warrior named "Walking Coyote" (Jay C. Flippen) who also served in the Civil War and the two ride together in search of the tribe he left behind. Unfortunately, they soon come upon a small group of hostile Sioux warriors led by a man named "Crazy Wolf" (H. M. Wynant) who rejects Walking Coyote's tribal membership and decides to kill both of them. Fortunately, being knowledgeable in the ways of the Sioux, Walking Coyote invokes an old tribal custom which would give the two of them a running head start equivalent to the distance of an arrow shot from Crazy Horse's bow. And if they can survive the hunt by the next morning, they will be allowed to live. Naturally, not wanting to look weak in front of his warriors, Crazy Horse grants them this opportunity. What he doesn't count on, however, is a young woman named "Yellow Moccasin" (Sara Montiel) taking pity on O'Meara and helping him out. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this was a rather peculiar Western which benefitted, to a certain degree, from the presence of Charles Bronson (as "Blue Buffalo"), Brian Keith ("Captain Clark"), Ralph Meeker ("Lieutenant Driscoll) and all of the other aforementioned actors. Conversely, it also requires the viewer to endure some rather bad dialogue--along with the obvious appeals to nationalism--that crop up from time to time as well. Even so, I still found this movie to be somewhat entertaining, and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.
Review of Run of the Arrow
