The Savage Reviews

One of the few pre-1960s westerns that concentrate on the plight of the Indians. Though never overcoming stereotypes, it takes a stab at offering a humanist approach. Heston plays the martyr figure again, a white man brought up by Sioux Indians after the Crow have besieged the wagon train his family was traveling west on. The inevitable encroachment of whites forces questions from members of the tribe as to Heston's loyalties. To prove himself, he infiltrates the cavalry post and discovers that whites can be good people as well as bad. When the warring Crow kill several soldiers, minor feuds break out in which Taylor, the Indian maiden companion to Heston, is killed. A major attack is planned in which Heston is given the job of leading the cavalry soldiers to their doom. At the last moment, he decides he doesn't want to see any more bloodshed, but because of this action is ostracized from his tribe. He leaves, but not before warning the tribe not to battle the white man because of the great numbers that are sure to soon journey westward. Heston is convincing, though the material he is given is pretty flat, something that the other members of the cast can't seem to overcome.