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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Director/Writer Sam Fuller Always had a lot on His Mind and He wasn't going to let Hollywood or a Low-Budget Stop Him. His Movies are Unique, Interesting, and Entertaining. This One is No Exception, in Fact it is Exceptional. Showing itself to be one of the Best in the Glut of 1950's Westerns, if Anything it is Ambitious to a Fault.The Film can Hardly Contain all the Thoughts and Impressions that Fuller Included, but it is a Glorious Time Watching this Exciting, Rich, and Colorful Story that Has more Authenticity and Audacity in its Short Running Time than a John Ford Trilogy.Rod Steiger's Miscasting that at Times Feels so out of Place, cannot Stop the Movie from Relentlessly Reeling Out Scene After Visceral Scene, with Near Naked, Painted-Up, and Red Skinned Indians with Dialog so Cooked that the Film is Danger of Boiling Over on Occasion. But it Quickly Moves to Another Bloody Set-Piece of Suspense and Action to Counter-Point the Dense Dialog.Ralph Meeker, Brian Keith, J.C. Flippen, Charles Bronson, and Sara Monteil all Contribute to the Movie's Presence. It is a Violent, Thoughtful, and Even Handed Western with Strains of Southern Post War Resentment, Native American Plight, Religious Tolerance, Traditional Rituals, some Brutal Nastiness, an Atypical Ending and More. All Packed in this B-Movie that is as Good as it gets in the Fifties and is Another Feather in the Oversized Sam Fuller Cap.

Steiger plays a Reb who won't surrender, but unlike Ethan of "The Searchers", he embraces the native American culture when he loses his own country.We get a great adventure story here, with shades of the searchers, the Naked Prey, Dances with wolves, and long before those films were made.More important, we get three dimensional characters. Even the two "heavies", one from each culture, are depicted with added dimensions. They are cruel, but their cruelty is motivated. They aren't "rebels without a cause". Indeed, what we see is "rebel with a cause" throughout.There is much one could say to endorse this film, but I feel that would spoil it. What sticks out is how many of the characters behave in "humane" ways, even when they're expected not to, from both sides. Charles Bronson and Rod Steiger portray characters you feel actually existed, who mirror each other, and come to understand each other. The way this unfolds is amazing in script and directing, as well as acting.This is action packed, but also thought provoking drama. You could put this on a stage and get much the same reaction, but it works great in cinema, too.

Samuel Fuller's near masterpiece.The film starts on Palm Sunday 1865 at Appomattox.Confederate Private O'Meara shoots down a mounted Union officer.While rifling through his pockets O'Meara realises he is still alive.In an act of mercy he takes him to a Confederate dressing station.Close by General Lee is surrendering to General Grant.O'Meara is about to shoot Grant when the surgeon tells him he had better shoot Lee as well because the shame would kill him.He then hands O'Meara the bullet he has extracted from the wounded officer telling him it is the last bullet fired in this war (historically incorrect).Back home his friend has the bullet remade and presents it to O'Meara. O'Meara is an unreconstructed Rebel and his Mother suggests a rope is the only answer for him. O'Meara played by Rod Steiger sports an accent that can only be described as Hollywood Irish,strangely his mother played by Olive Carey has no trace of an Irish accent at all.He decides to head west where there is no Yankee jurisdiction incidentally riding the horse he has "liberated" from the Union officer.He meets up with an elderly renegade Indian,Walking Coyote,played by J.C.Flippen in a scene stealing cameo,who tells O'Meara that he could have been a chief but he couldn't stand the politics.In five minutes screen time O'Meara learns the Sioux language,tribal history and customs. Unfortunately they are captured by the Sioux led by Crazy Wolf.O'Meara is about to discover another old Sioux custom,that of being skinned alive,when Walking Coyote invokes The Run of the Arrow where you are given an arrows flight start made to run barefoot and then hunted to the death.The Indians agree.Walking Coyote drops dead from a heart attack on the run but O'Meara is made of sterner stuff.He's a hefty fellow but he has a turn of speed that an Olympic champion might envy.This is not far fetched as Confederate infantry men were known for their speed of march,usually barefoot,not for nothing were they known as foot cavalry.He loses his chasers and is rescued by a beautiful Indian maiden called Yellow Moccasin and her young companion Silent Tongue,a dumb Indian boy. Yellow Moccasin takes O'Meara to the Indian village where he informs the chief,Blue Buffalo played by Charles Bronson,that he has survived the run of the arrow which Crazy Wolf begrudgingly confirms.O'Meara is told he will never be harmed by the Sioux.He then collapses with a fever.Yellow Maccasin volunteers to care for him and in a steamy scene (in more ways than one) uses body heat to sweat the fever out of him and also during the process he loses some of his inner demons. A fully fit O'Meara marries Yellow Moccasin adopts Silent Tongue as his son and is accepted into the Sioux nation while remaining a Christian.Blue Buffalo remarks tolerantly "Same God, different name". The U.S.Government want to build a fort on Sioux land so a big meeting is called between Sioux chiefs and U.S.Army officials.The General in charge played by Tim McCoy (in his last film role) humorously remarks to O'Meara that he has never shaken hands with an Irish Sioux before,O'Meara replies he's never shaken hands with a Yankee General either.Terms are agreed on the proviso that the Sioux have a representive to ensure the treaty is kept.Thats O'Meara's job. The officer in command Captain Clark played sympathetically by Brian Keith tells O'Meara that Appomattox was not the death of the South but the birth of the United States and when one of his troopers saves Silent Tongues life at the cost of his own by pulling him out of a swamp he remarks "We Yankees are human".Sadly this is not the case with the second in command played by Ralph Meeker who by coincidence is the same officer that O'Meara shot at the beginning of the film.Is he grateful? is he hell.He's more miffed about his horse.Captain Clark is then killed by renegade Sioux led by Crazy Wolf.Lt.Driscoll now in command and a bit of a glory hunter decides to build the fort in a forbidden area ignoring O'Meara's warning.O'Meara is beaten unconscious.When he comes to the Sioux are attacking,a brilliantly staged bloody scene. Driscoll has been kept alive and is suffering unmentionable tortures being skinned alive.O'Meara,in an act of common decency and using the same bullet shoots him again this time killing him instantly and saying "They had a right to kill him but not like that" He realises he can never truly be a Sioux and that he owes his allegiance to the United States. He,his wife ,his adopted son and the surviving troops are allowed to leave unmolested. The voice over repeats the earlier statement "Appomattox was not the death of the South but the birth of the United States" then a caption comes up which says "The end of this story can only be written by you". O'Meara,funny Irish accent and all is magnificent,he may be a blowhard about Yankee injustice but in reality he is an honourable,decent and humane man.Likewise Blue Buffalo comes across as a religiously tolerant man and you can sense his approval over O'Meara's act of decency. Mixed marriages with happy endings were a rare occurrence in films of the time,eg James Stuart's Indian wife gets killed in the film "Broken Arrow".Indian wives were more likely to be raped and killed by white bigots (off screen) their husbands then seeking bloody revenge.Richard Widmark's film The Last Wagon was a classic example. One hopefully happy ending was in the 1968 film The Undefeated where Rock Hudson's Confederate Colonel's daughter has a relationship with John Wayne's Union Colonel's adopted son a full blooded Indian,with full parental approval.

Run of the Arrow is written and directed by Sam Fuller. It stars Rod Steiger, Sara Montiel, Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Jay C. Flippen and Charles Bronson. Music is scored by Victor Young and Technicolor cinematography is by Joseph Biroc.As the American Civil War closes, Confederate Pvt. O'Meara (Steiger) finds he just can't bring himself to be part of the United States. With his head full of memories about what the Yankees put his kind through, and a heart full of bile, he decides to go West and live native. Here he encounters the Sioux and his life takes on a new meaning.....Run of the Arrow, and director Sam Fuller in general, has grown a sterling reputation over the decades. Where Fuller's rep as the American Primitive auteur is well deserved, Run of the Arrow's is not. It seems that the themes at work, and they are strong and potent, have made many forget the glaring flaws in the production.Churning away in the screenplay are themes of nationalism, identity, loyalty and racism, with the dialogue well scripted, but these themes are hardly presented as complex issues. Literally overnight O'Meara has a grasp on Sioux customs and language, with the Sioux not afforded any characterisation outside of O'Meara's musings (the authoritative voice after one day of going native!) and a brief scene where Blue Buffalo (Bronson) bizarrely accepts the Christian faith is the same as the Sioux faith. Ultimately the presentation of the Sioux is so one dimensional it's nigh on impossible to accept that O'Meara is now conflicted in his calling.Then there is the small matter of Steiger's miscasting. As some critics have fallen over themselves to laud the film as an ambitious masterpiece, they have forgotten about the lead man's misplacement. The attempt at an Irish accent is woeful, it comes off as more like an Eastern Europe and Asian mix, thankfully he gives up later in the film to give our ears a rest. But he is also physically wrong as well, we are asked to believe that his stocky frame can outrun lithe and muscular Sioux warriors, it's insulting even when taking artistic licence into account. Amusingly some critics of the time praised Fuller for fluidly tracking running feet as opposed to full bodied character, truth is it wasn't artistic intent, Steiger had sprained his ankle so Fuller had to shoot another actor running! It's just one of the many irrelevant scenes in the picture.The use of white actors to play Indians always causes friction with Western fans, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Here it cuts both ways, Bronson gets away with it, he looks the part, but Flippen is embarrassingly unconvincing as Walking Coyote and Montiel as Yellow Moccasin is done up like a porn version of a Sioux squaw! (voice dubbed by Angie Dickinson as well). It's hard to focus on strong thematics when Steiger is talking through a mouth full of beans, Flippen looks like he has wandered in off of an L.A. street and Montiel is making you horny with a shapely thigh! Where the film lifts itself above average is with Fuller's knack for stylised violence and the location photography of Biroc (latterly Ulzana's Raid). Officially the first film to use squibs for bloody impact of weapons, Fuller utilises this to the max, there's also some excellent flaming arrow work as well. Even though the print I viewed of the film is drab and scratchy, you can still see the great work of Biroc as he brings the beauty of St George, Utah, to Fuller's harsher human edges. While Young's score is inventive in blending Civil War and Irish tunes into the otherwise standard Cavalry and Indians mix.I consider myself a big Fuller fan, I love Forty Guns, Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss, but Run of the Arrow has too much wrong with it to deserve the "great" reputation it has. While those trying to put it forward as being this great inspiration that Dances With Wolves copied! Are seriously barking up the wrong tree. Each has a disenchanted soldier venturing West and encountering the Sioux, from there on in, though, the films vastly differ. 6/10