Stars: Burt Lancaster, Jean Peters, Paul Guilfoyle

Director: Robert Aldrich

Summary: The last Indian to surrender to the United States fights a one man war. His name is Geronimo.

In Robert Aldrich's stirring film, an indominable Apache fighter, Massai (Burt Lancaster), refuses to accept the defeat of his people signaled by the surrender of his legendary chief, Geronimo (Monte Blue). Likewise, he will not swallow the pronouncement of a foe, Indian scout Al Sieber (John McIntyre), who tells Massai (with the latter securely bound in chains), "You're not a warrior, just a whipped Indian." Massai escapes a train headed for a reservation in Florida and resumes his quest to find a way of life beyond the suffocating subjugation of the white man. Sieber comes after him, as does a fully assimilated Indian, Hondo (Charles Bronson), who has been whipped into a murderous rage because Massai has stolen the heart of his woman, Nalinle (Jean Peters). Lancaster delivers a passionate performance, and Aldrich girds his tale of the defiant warrior with powerful, iconic imagery worthy of myth, making for a film that ventures into the genre of the Western but stakes out a spacious territory all its own.

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John Ford's 1948 classic stars John Wayne as a Cavalry officer used to doing things a certain way out West at Fort Apache. Along comes a rigid, new commanding officer (Henry Fonda) who insists that everything on his watch be done by the book, including dealings with local Indians. The results are mixed: greater discipline at the fort, but increased hostilities with the natives. Ford deliberately leaves judgments about the wisdom of these changes ambiguous, but he also allows plenty of room in this wonderful film for the fullness of life among the soldiers and their families--community rituals, new romances--to blossom. Fonda, in an unusual role for him, is stern and formal as the new man in charge; Wayne is heroic as the rebellious second; Victor McLaglen provides comic relief; and Ward Bond is a paragon of sturdy and sentimental masculinity. All of this is set against the magnificent, poetic topography of Monument Valley. This is easily one of the greatest of American films. --Tom Keogh

Aspect Ratio:	4:3
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Original Theatrical Trailer, Interactive Menu, Chapter Selection
Subtitles:	French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Spanish
Year:	1954
Release Date:	November 25, 2002
Runtime:	87 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	16046 D V D
Keywords:	Apache, Westerns
Genre:	Westerns