User Reviews

Director Lesley Selander's "Fort Utah" is one of the thirteen westerns made by Paramount producer A.C. Lyles back in the 1960s that toplined actors and actress past their prime. John Ireland plays the protagonist named Tom Horn. In this movie, however, Tom Horn is not the cavalry scout that either Steve McQueen played in "Tom Horn" or David Carradine played in "Mr. Horn." Meantime, George Montgomery played Horn before he became a cavalry scout in the oater "Dakota Lil'." "Fort Utah" qualifies as a traditional American western for its day. The Native Americans are villainous, one-dimensional, but inexorable. Steve Fisher's predictable screenplay features far too much dialogue. The heroine is a desperate lady who doesn't realize that she is going westward to become a prostitute. Of course, our bachelor hero winds up saving her from this fate. The scenery, particularly Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park in California, looks familiar because they've been used by hundreds of other westerns as well as television shows. Former gunfighter Tom Horn (John Ireland of "Villa Rides") is minding his own business, riding to "anywhere he pleases" when he encounters a hostile Native American. The Indian needs Horn's horse because he has lost his mount. A brief struggle ensues, and Horn kills his adversary by turning the knife that the redskin brandished against him. Buckskin-clad Indian agent Ben Stokes (Robert Strauss of "Stalag 17") rides up moments later. Stokes explains that the Indians have jumped the reservation, and the one Horn killed was a scout who belonged to a raiding party. Initially, Stokes doesn't know what prompted the redskins to leave the reservation. Eventually, Stokes adds that an individual named Dajin (Scott Brady of "Dollars") is the reason the Indians are rampaging on the warpath. At first, Stokes suspected Horn was Dajin. "You know, I'm out here looking for a wild hyena named Dajin and those Indians won't stop until I find him." Stokes adds he must "round them up and bring them back to the government feeding grounds." What complicates matters for Stokes is that he has never seen Dajin. Horn and Stokes spot a wagon train threading its way through the territory. "Looks like I'm not the only one around here who didn't know the Indians on the rampage," Horn observes. Neither Horn nor Stokes can figure out why the cavalry at nearby Fort Utah haven't warned the wagon train about the savages. "Tell them to get some soldiers over here to protect these people," Horn suggests after Stokes reveals that he is riding to Fort Utah. While Stokes sets out to alert the cavalry about the wagon train, Horn rides down to join the wagon train.

Horn warns the wagon train master about the presence of hostile redskins. Initially, Eli Jonas (John Russell of "Pale Rider") dismisses Horn's warning. You see, Jonas doesn't want to alarm the pioneers about the threat that the hostiles pose. Once Horn joins the group, he grows fond of a passenger, Linda Lee (Virginia Mayo of "White Heat"), after Bo Greer (James Craig of "Kismet"), makes unsolicited advances. Greer is a married man, but this doesn't keep him from antagonizing Lee. Horn learns Linda is heading to San Francisco to become a mail-order bride. Eventually, he learns the truth about Linda. She is destitute and masquerading as an opera singer until she gets to San Francisco where she will be a prostitute. Later, Jonas reveals to Horn that he is transporting a crate of Winchester repeating rifles. Unfortunately, when Stokes doesn't arrive with the cavalry, Horn sets out for Fort Utah. No sooner has Horn entered the cavalry fort than Scarecrow (Jim Davis of CBS-TV's "Dallas") and Britches (Harry Lauter of "Barquero") surprise and overpower him. When he awakens, Horn discovers that Stokers is confined alongside him in the stockade. According to Stokes, Dajin is an insubordinate Army sergeant with a gang of deserted troopers. They murdered the men in the fort. The cavalry shows up to escort Jones and the wagon train. The Indians descend upon the wagon train and wipe out the cavalry. They reduce the wagon train from seven wagons to one without canvas stretched over its hoops. Only nine pioneers survive, and they don't stick around to bury their dead.

Meantime, Horn and Stokes escape from the stockade by breaking through the roof. "You know this is the first time I ever busted out of anywhere since I was kid locked in the outhouse," Stokes laughs at the memory. Britches and Shirt (Eric Cody) blast away at them while Scarecrow rides off to warn Dajin. As it turns out, Dajin was after a $100-million in gold bullion that was stored at the fort. Our heroes eliminate both Britches and Shirt. Jones and the wagon train survivors arrive at the fort. They are saddened by the revelation that the soldiers are all dead. Horn fights with Greer after Greer barges into Lee's bedroom. After Scarecrow informs Dajin about Horn and Strokes' escape, the outlaw chieftain murders Scarecrow. At the fort, Jonas rallies the pioneers. Stokes says he needs Dajin alive so he can hand him over to the Indians. Dajin and his gang attacks the fort and the pioneers drive him off. Later, Dajin and his henchmen infiltrate the fort. The Indians attack the fort and Dajin and his men demand sanctuary. Stokes strikes a truce with the redskins and turns Dajin over to the Indians to prevent further bloodshed. The Indians want Dajin for massacring their women and children. Unfortunately, Horn kills Dajin. Nevertheless, they strap Dajin to his horse like El Cid style and present him to the angry Indians. The Indians riddle Dajin with gunfire and ride off. Naturally, when all the shooting stops, Linda and Horn decide to start a new lift together.

Director Lesley Selander puts these veterans through their paces in this 83-minute oater. The adult-themed predicament of Linda Lee is the only thing that differentiates "Fort Utah" from a 1950s western.

You don't think John Ireland was talking about the film in my summary line above, do you? Actually, the picture wasn't all that bad, but certainly not memorable either. If I had to come up with the most positive aspect of the picture, it would be that it included four actors who had previously made their mark starring in TV Westerns at least a decade before. Most prominent of these would have been 'Lawman's' John Russell, here in a middle of the road characterization in between a hero and a villain. As the wagon master of a diverted and then destroyed wagon train, he manages to realize he made a bad mistake by originally going up against the film's principal, John Ireland as Tom Horn.

The others included Scott Brady ('Shotgun Slade') as renegade cavalry officer Dajin, and briefer appearances by Jim Davis ('Stories of the Century', and later 'Dallas') and Harry Lauter ('Tales of the Texas Rangers'). All of them by this time were showing their oats, particularly Brady who looked like he might have eaten a bag full. Man, did he pack on the pounds since his series ended.

The story had a fleeting reference to a million dollar gold bullion stash thrown into the mix which was a bit of a puzzler since that never came up again after it was mentioned. The renegade soldiers who sided with Dajin weren't all that competent in the final analysis as they mostly all got dispatched by Horn and his partner Ben Stokes (Robert Strauss) who he picked up along the way. The fate of Dajin himself was rather creatively handled the second time around; to get my meaning you'll have to see the film.

I thought the choice of the main character's name to be a curious one since there's virtually nothing recognizable in the role of John Ireland to suggest that he's the historical Tom Horn. For one thing, the real Tom Horn spent a fair amount of time living on an Apache reservation and wound up fluent in both Apache and Spanish. So it seems to me that in this story he would have had at least some knowledge of the Indian tribe in the story as much as Stokes, the Indian agent. A better film you might try is the 1980 Western "Tom Horn" in which Steve McQueen portrays the famed gunman in the latter years of his career as judge, jury and executioner who crossed the line from the side of the law to a veritable assassin and one of the prolific man-killers of the Old West.