AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

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

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

John T. Ryan THIS PRODUCTION IS one of many contradictions. It tries hard to show us the view of history from the perspective of the American Indian. The tribe of choice here is obvious from the very title. They were also among the most ferocious fighters on the face of the earth.IN HERE LIES the problem for at appears that this production from Burt's own Hecht-Lancaster Productions/United Artists attempts to show it all, but sophomoric-ally tends to romanticize the situation.THERE IS NO denying that the various tribes that populated what is now the USA had suffered some great deal of high-handed, unfair and double dealing when it came to their status as citizens and even as being human. There were multiple cases of our Federal Government's habit of unilaterally violating treaties and other agreements made with the various Indian nations.WE HADN'T SEEN this film since its initial release in 1954. We caught it on cable and the handy-dandy DVR. Somehow it seemed less spectacular and more formula.THERE APPEARS TO be a tendency to romanticize the civilizations of those less technologically advanced as being some how more naturally virtuous. Hence we have the myth of "the Noble Savage." The operational, though false, premise being that the primitives are somehow closer to Nature and to God.THIS PRODUCTION STRIKES a sort of middle of the road approach between the tribal ways of life and the harsh treatment delivered by the Feds. It is our contention that the former is soft-soaped while the latter is at least somewhat exaggerated.AS FOR THE portrayal and characterization of the main character, Massai, it has its ups and downs.TO BEGIN WITH, his super stoic, anti-social and savagely brutal mindset appears to be contradicted by his intuitive rationale and sense of fair play. A definite duplicity and contradiction exists in the portrayal.ANOTHER AREA OF dramatizing that has some great variety to its part in the story is the wardrobe modeled by Mr. Lancaster as solo warrior, Massai. One ensemble is definitely on the right track and features some leather vest and long pants, topped off with the required wrap around kerchief tied around the head. Another puts us in mind of something that he would have purchased from Eddie Bauer's or Lands End.

nvilar Apache is one of the first Hollywood films which dealt in a serious, thought-provoking and openly sympathetic way with the suffering of the native Americans as a consequence of the white man's expansion to the West. It is interesting to watch this film side by side with, for instance, John Ford's silent classic The Iron Horse, as we can see two opposite approaches to the history of the American West in the late 19th century. While Ford's epic production is a hymn to white man's progress and to the expansion of civilization to the wild, unexplored territories of the United States inhabited by the Indian nations, Apache is a touching drama about the desperate fight for survival of those same Indians, who were ruthlessly driven out of their ancestral lands and ways of life by the stern advance of material progress. The plight of the Apache nation is embodied by the central character of the film, the strong, stubborn, freedom-loving and nobly human Indian warrior Massai, played by the actor Burt Lancaster, who was also the inspirer and producer of the film. Unwilling to accept personal slavery and what he deems as the total humiliation of his nation after Chief Geronimo's surrender to the U.S. Army and the confinement of the Apache tribes to the reserve, Massai decides to start a one-man fight for human dignity and freedom and becomes a solitary outlaw at war with the local U.S. Army garrison.The film is certainly worth watching, not only because of the human interest of the story itself, but also as a well-crafted piece of cinema. Apache is the first great movie by the director Robert Aldrich, who in that year of 1954 would score double and reward us with another masterpiece, the unforgettable Veracruz, also with a Burt Lancaster in absolute state of grace as an actor, this time teaming with the veteran Gary Cooper.If in Veracruz Lancaster gave as a memorable performance as the attractive villain Joe Erin, here he is no less powerful as the honest and indomitable warrior Massai. At his side, also good performances by Jean Peters in the role of the faithful, ever-loving and determined squaw Nalinle, and John McIntire as the hard-boiled, cynical Indian-hunter Al Sieber, in a role that prefigures the twilight heroes of Peckinpah's films.All in all, a classic of the Western genre which inaugurated Aldrich's later shining career.

MartinHafer This film is just silly and not worth your time. One of the biggest reasons was the wretched decision to cast the 6' tall and blue-gray eyed Burt Lancaster as an American Indian!! Unfortunately, this silly miscasting was common in the 30s-50s, as the likes of Rock Hudson and Kent Smith also played Indians (among MANY others).Now if you can ignore the silly and racially insensitive casting, you still probably will hate the film because of the horrible writing. The story is supposedly about a real-life Indian ("Massai"), but the story bears little similarity to him. The biggest problem is that Massai is a hero in the film, but according to IMDb he was not just a murderer but a rapist--hardly the stuff of heroes!! Also, the film ends in the most ridiculous fashion. After Massai shoots at least two of his people, only minutes later, those trying to subdue him just let him walk away--yet he just killed two people!!!! Even if you are sympathetic to his cause, why not disarm him or at least give him a strong scolding for the killings!? If you can ignore the dumb casting, dumb mis-telling of Massai's life and dumb ending, can you enjoy the rest of the film? Well, no...you can't. That's because it purports to be a romance between Massai and Nalinle, it's about the least romantic pairing in film history! For his part, Massai treats Nalinle like dirt and she follows him like a whipped puppy. There is no love or chemistry. But to make it worse, I just wish the couple would have used a few pronouns!! Hearing Nalinle talking to Massai and referring to him as "Massai" (never YOU or even HE), it sounds like a kid in a school play trying to pretend (unconvincingly) that they are Indians. Dull and dumb--hardly a glowing endorsement!!

bkoganbing Burt Lancaster essays the second of his American Indian roles in Apache, the first being in Jim Thorpe - All American. As Jim Thorpe Lancaster plays a man who is living in the world the white man made for him. As Masai, the last Apache warrior, Lancaster is going to live on his terms.In fact the real Masai was killed, but Hollywood wanted a happy ending. Ten years later Lancaster would have had Masai killed, but he didn't have the clout yet to override the studio.In fact Burt's having trouble all around in this. He's not getting along with any of his fellow Indians either. Not getting along with Charles Bronson. But Bronson is viewed rightly so as the Pierre Laval of the Apaches. That's understandable.But I think the most interesting scene is his meeting with Cherokee Morris Ankrum. Morris's wife acts more like a white house wife than a subservient squaw. That's something Lancaster is having trouble digesting. The Indians weren't real big on women's liberation.But Jean Peters is your more traditional Indian female. She's going with her man no matter what. And Burt actually does humanize under her influence somewhat.It may be the Apache has been beaten, but they won't be broken and that's the message that Lancaster wants to convey to his people.In the great tradition of Broken Arrow and Fort Apache.