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Captivating movie !

Absolutely Brilliant!

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Having watched quite a few B-Westerns lately it is obvious that this film had much more money spent on it; rather than a small cast and obvious California locations it has a large cast and is clearly filmed in the area it is set; this obviously benefits the film... it is also about half an hour longer than those B-films and I'm not so sure that is to its advantage. Set in 1883, later than many westerns, the Indian Wars are almost over; only a few renegades hold out over the border in Mexico from where they can strike with impunity. Into this situation West Point graduate 2nd Lt. Matt Hazard is sent to a remote border fort. Here he finds ill discipline and poorly trained men; while the acting CO Lt Mainwarring is away he takes it upon himself to bring the men up to the standard he believes is required if they are to survive combat with the Apaches of Chief War Eagle. After an incident where he rescue's Lt. Mainwarring's wife Kitty from the Indians the two of them grow close and when his fiancée turns up it is clear that she is jealous of Kitty. Inevitably there is a confrontation with War Eagle's troops but rather than ending in the expected military victory Hazard must follow War Eagle to Mexico with just an Indian Scout to talk War Eagle into surrendering by promising him that he hand his people will be free to live on a reservation in Arizona... a promise the government seem happy to break.I was somewhat surprised at the lack of a well known lead; Troy Donahue did a good enough job as Lt Hazard but didn't really have the presence I'd have expected, Suzanne Pleshette was a good leading lady although her role was fairly small. The highlights of the film were the numerous action sequences where large numbers of cavalrymen fought against a similar number of Indians; people were constantly being shot off horses and no amount of modern CGI can match the skilled work of stuntmen used in a film like this. For much of the film I thought the Apache were clearly meant to be the bad guys but I was pleasantly surprised that by the end they were depicted as an honourable foe and it was the apparently good US Cavalry who were behaving dishonourably... although obviously our hero stood up for the people he had negotiated a peace with. At nearly two hours the film did drag a bit and would probably have been improved if the romantic subplot had been lost; still it was worth watching and I'd recommend it to fans of the Western genre.

A Distant Trumpet is directed by Raoul Walsh and written by John Twist with the adaptation from Paul Horgan's novel by Richard Fielder & Albert Beich. It stars Troy Donahue, Suzanne Pleshette, William Reynolds, Diane McBain, Claude Akins & James Gregory. Max Steiner provides the musical score and William H. Clothier is the cinematographer.1883, Fort Delivery, Arizona, and newly posted Lieutenant Matthew Hazard (Donahue) is about to be thrust into two wars. One is of the heart, the other pits him against the last pocket of Indian resistance: the Chiricahua's, led by the mighty War Eagle.A blunderbuss "A" class production from Warner Bros that feels like a "B" class Oater from the 50s, A Distant Trumpet has much to recommend to the Western fan. Driven by a rousing cavalry themed score by Steiner, and beautifully photographed by Clothier around Red Rocks (New Mexico) & Painted Desert (Arizona) in Panavision/Technicolor, it's a film that carries a message and pays respect to the topic to hand. Without doubt the makers are keen to mark it out first and foremost as an adrenaline fuelled Cavalry Vs Indians based picture, with Walsh grandly staging the action sequence with skill (100s of extras/stunt men, no CGI here), but although the script could have done with some more work as regards the characterisations, the screenplay does make rich on the promise of adult themes. While the decision to let the Indian characters speak their own language is also a major bonus.Where it falls down is three fold. Firstly is the problem of asking the average Donahue to carry the film, he may be easy on the eye to those so inclined, but his one note, expressionless, performance is often a distraction to the many splendours around him. Secondly is that the twin lovelies of McBain & Pleshette are underwritten and underused respectively, which in a film that's nearly two hours long (too long and that's the third point) is an act of stupidity. Some would argue that the love triangle sub-plot is an uneasy fit on context to the "war" at the film's core, but it does have value in regards to showing the point of view of the ladies marrying into the army way of life. Yes it should have been formed better, particularly from McBain's (yellow hair, yellow dress and vanilla ice cream skin) character's angle , but it does exist in the narrative and it's good to see.It's far from the great swansong that Raoul Walsh deserved, but its pluses far outweigh the negatives. Be it battle orchestration (cliff top attack rules!), observing the thorn between two roses dynamic or just that it affords respect to the Indians, it's a film easily recommended to the genre fan. Besides which, Steiner and Clothier make it essential viewing. 7/10

A Distant Trumpet is a Big Boring western with an excess of monotonous wide screen Calvary maneuvers. By the way I do so like a good western. In fact I appreciate some mediocre and cult "B" type westerns, but this movie was not even bad enough to be laughable; it was just boring.It's like the director was making a big movie that was suitable for preschoolers; no sex, no realistic violence, no believable fighting, limited dialogue. In fact the plot and dialogue was so limited that preschoolers could have played the parts.This was director Raoul Walsh's last film, he was 77 years old; maybe his age, health, mental and physical stamina had something to do with the lackluster result of this final production.A Distant Trumpet totally lacks drama; screen writers/director seem to have purposely limited character development and dialogue. The Indians were just there; you did not fear or feel sorry for them. The Indian fights were not believable. The deaths and injuries were staged and not believable. Calvary life was not believable. The whole cast was stiff and unbelievable. Suzanne Pleshette is the only one who had a moment or two where the audience could connect. On the whole it was stiff and there was no connection. Throughout watching this production, you never forget that you are watching a movie. The director must have been allergic to close-ups. Even the bad whiskey dealer and prostitutes were mere caricatures. This is an extremely disappointing production.

The more I watch this, the more I like it. Great epic scenes with a huge cast of soldiers, Indians, and horses in real American West settings. The wide screen Panavision photography (with original release prints in IB Technicolor) is excellent. CGI may be fine, but I have yet to see anything surpass the look of hundreds of REAL men on horses in stunning REAL outdoor settings. As for the story, while I thought the book was very good, the way the characters are handled in the film is better in some ways, and the ending of the film much more to my liking. One thing they did have to tone down from the book was the sex element. It appears WB even adjusted one sequence after prints were made up. This appears in Reel Two, where Matt Hazard (Tro Donahue) and Kitty Mainwarring (Susan Pleshette) are in thr cave together overnight. With Pleshette's back to audience line (apparently later dubbed in) says "Good night Matt" and there is an ABRUPT cut to daytime and troops coming into the fort. 35mm and 16mm prints I have seen all contain this SLICED cut. And the original 35mm trailer containing the cave sequence does not contain the "good night" line". I believe that originally there was an embrace and kiss between Troy and Suzanne and a DISSOLVE to the next scene (or fade out & in). In any event, as Westerns go, this has a good story and looks better all the time, especially wide screen.