Main Cast: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, John McIntire, Charles Buchinsky, John Dehner
Release Year: 1954
Country: US
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
Apache was based on Paul I. Wellman's novel Broncho Apache, which in turn was inspired by a true story. Burt Lancaster plays Massai, a lieutenant of the great Apache warrior Geronimo (here depicted as an old man, played by Monte Blue). Though his tribe has signed surrender terms with the conquering whites, Massai refuses to do so. He escapes from a prison train and conducts a one-man war against the white intruders-and against some of his own people. Along the way, he claims Nalinle (Jean Peters), whom he previously regarded as a traitor to his cause, as his wife. John McIntire plays famed Indian scout Al Sieber, who-in this film, if not in real life-is sympathetic to the Indians' plight and Massai's single-purposed cause. The real-life counterpart to Massai was killed by Sieber's minions after agreeing to call off the hostilies; United Artists objected to this, forcing producer/star Burt Lancaster to shoot an unconvincingly happy ending. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Another 1950s pro-Indian Western featuring Caucasian actors in brown body paint speaking pidgin "Native," Apache nevertheless manages to dispense more than the standard revisionist bromides. Showcasing his energetic style, director Robert Aldrich doesn't stint on the violence perpetrated by either the whites or by star Burt Lancaster's athletic blue-eyed brave Massai, while Massai's rough handling of Jean Peters' Nalinle makes him tough to admire. Nevertheless, Massai's trip from Florida to his ancestral lands early in the film concisely and potently sums up the ruinous spread of white "civilization" across indigenous tribal territory, turning him into a Machiavellian hero saved by the agrarian ideal and Nalinle's familiar instincts. As Aldrich figured, that salvation rings jarringly false, but the powers that be overruled the relatively inexperienced movie director's artistically sound yet commercially difficult instincts. Aldrich's first collaboration with producer/star Lancaster, Apache was also the director's first hit and the beginning of Lancaster's fruitful run as a Western action hero. According to historical accounts, the actual Massai's eyes really were a Lancasterian azure. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
Nicolai Remisoff - Art Director, Norma - Costume Designer, Sid Sidman - First Assistant Director, Robert Aldrich - Director, Alan Crosland, Jr. - Editor, David Raksin - Composer (Music Score), Robert J. Schiffer - Makeup, Harry Maret - Makeup, Ernest Laszlo - Cinematographer, Jack R. Berne - Production Manager, Harold Hecht - Producer, Joseph Kish - Set Designer, Lee Zavitz - Special Effects, James R. Webb - Screenwriter, Paul I. Wellman - Book Author
Following the surrender of Geronimo, Massai, the last Apache warrior is captured and scheduled for transportation to a Florida reservation. Instead, he manages to escape and heads for his homeland to win back his girl and settle down to grow crops. His pursuers have other ideas though.
