Apache
by Robert Aldrich
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Burt Lancaster, Charles Bronson, Jean Peters, John Dehner, John McIntireDirector: Robert Aldrich
Producer: Burt Lancaster
Cinematographer: Ernest Laszlo
Editor: Alan Crosland Jr.
Producer: Harold Hecht
Writer: James R. Webb
Writer: Paul Wellman
DVD: 2 Layers, Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Pan & Scan, 1.33:1
Running Time: 91 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-05-08
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Apache
Movie Review: ENTERTAINMENT AND SAGA ROLLED INTO ONE
Summary: 5 Stars
I have seen this film since it was first released and now also own a DVD of it too. I have always viewed the movie as first class entertainment and never as a historical documentary. I feel many people go astray when viewing anything as one thing when in actuality it is entirely a different thing.
The film may be termed a historical fiction but it will never be a historical documentary. The story is based on the 1936 novel by Paul I. Wellman entitled BRONCO APACHE, published by Macmillen. Though the movie script was written by James R. Webb, the novel was the basis for the movie. And mostly the movie is just that, a fiction set in Arizona Territory late in the Apache Wars.
History can be brought into this in some ways, as Frederick Remington published an article in the January, 1898, Harper's Monthly, entitled "Massai's Crooked Trail". I have a copy of that article in which Remington calls Massai a 'Chiricahua warrior', yet Dan Thrapp in his 1964 biography of Al Seiber entitled AL SEIBER, CHIEF OF SCOUTS, mentions Massai as 'a Warm Springs Apache'. Remington goes on in his article to recite the little that is known about Massai. As one chief of scouts said: the story of Massai was not as long as his trail. Many saw his footprints but never his face. No one knows what Massai looked like, nor do we know how his name should be spelled. Dan L. Thrapp mentions several possible variations: "Massa", "Massi", "Masai", "Wasse" or "Massey". Most of what Dan Thrapp wrote concerning Massai was based on the story told by Jason Betzinez.
Remington relates his story based on both Apache and 10th Cavalry views, that Massai did escape a train east of Kansas City, moved south and then west till at "last he came to the lands of the Mescalero Apaches, where he stayed for some time." It is said it had taken him a full year to make this journey. According to Remington, Massai abducted several different women over time, killing some, while allowing others to go free. His story is based primarily on one young woman named, Natastale, who, after Massai had murdered her mother, spent a considerable time as a captive with Massai. She was one similar to that portrayed by Jean Peters in the movie as tied up by the feet so she could sleep on her back. Massai kept her tied up during much of their time together. Though they lived as man and wife, Massai as far as known never married Natastale. All this is related by Frederick Remington in his 1898 article.
From what history does tell us Massai was never taken prisoner, there are some stories that say he was killed, but with all the mist surrounding this story no one can say for certain. Massai was what was known then in Arizona Territory as a 'wild one' or 'netdahe'. As such he was a dedicated killer, one who would kill Mexicans, whites, or other Indians without compunction. Massai was a warrior killer, always a destroyer, never a builder during these years, whether he later became a productive member among the Apaches remains unknown by the whites. Possibly the Apaches know more, but they aren't talking. Though I have never read of the Apaches at this period of time growing corn, it is said that Geronimo ended his days at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, growing pumpkins and squash.
The movie does a great job for a 1950s venture for both providing entertainment and entering into the semi-historical, fictional area of the Apache Wars. In Arizona Territory of that day violence was done by each side to the other, but it also must be remembered equal amounts of good also existed in some members of both sides. In time both sides needed this war to end. Each viewer will need to decide just what view he or she will take away from this movie.
As the old chief of scouts once said: "that's the story of Massai. It is not as long as his trail."
Semper Fi.
Summary of Apache
Following the surrender of geronimo massai the last apache warrior is captured and scheduled for transportation to a florida reservation.. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/12/2009 Starring: Burt Lancaster Charles Bronson Run time: 87 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Robert AldrichBurt Lancaster was cock of the walk in 1954. The Lancaster-starred From Here to Eternity had just swept the Oscars?, his personal production company Hecht-Lancaster could do no wrong, and he had marquee magic in two back-to-back Westerns directed by Robert Aldrich, Vera Cruz and this one. There are moments in his performance as Massai, the Apache warrior who wouldn't surrender with Geronimo, that seem choreographed to express the actor's exultation. Massai has hard going all the way--starting with having to recross half the continent on foot after escaping from a prison train bound for Florida--but Lancaster the ex-circus athlete who insisted on doing his own stunts fairly sings with the ecstasy of movement as he scampers over rocks, rolls unscathed between the wheels of racing wagons, and generally makes the screen look like his private gym.
Apache wasn't the first Western to sympathize with Native Americans done wrong, but it's among the liveliest--although, ironically, it was destined to be outshone in power and complexity by Aldrich and Lancaster's masterpiece Ulzana's Raid nearly two decades later. Typically of its time, Apache features non-Indians in all the Indian roles, including Jean Peters as Massai's beloved Nalinle and Charles Buchinsky (later Bronson) as her other suitor, Hondo, one of the tribesmen who has donned U.S. Cavalry blue. John McIntire contributes his crusty moral authority as Al Sieber, the real-life scout who helped defeat Geronimo and then Massai, and respected both. John Dehner is, as usual, a real bastard. --Richard T. Jameson
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