Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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.

simonsayz-1 Aldrich's first Technicolor picture, as well as the first star-driven one, sees him feeling towards future greatness, but stumbling along the way. "Apache", produced by Lancaster himself, never overcomes the terrible casting of the title character. Six foot tall, blue-eyed and Nordic looking, Lancaster is about the most unrealistic Indian ever, and the terrible wig they equipped him with does not help much either. Watching him and Jean Peters in their make up is almost akin to watching minstrels in black-face. Lancaster can show off his great physicality and athletic skill but to very little avail. The story is often clumsy and suffers from severe pacing problems and at times incongruous editing. Clearly, Aldrich and his collaborators were not ready yet for the bigger things to come in the future, but the jump in sophistication from this rather crude picture to "Vera Cruz" later in the same year is still rather astonishing. "Apache" is a very minor genre entry, perfectly watchable but without any lasting contribution to the Western, even given its unusually (certainly at the time) friendly portrayal of the American Indian. Aldrich and Lancaster would reunite and return to the themes presented here with much bigger success later in their careers for "Ulzana's Raid."

SallySparta I grew up watching westerns so in turn love them dearly....they tie me in with a great childhood when things were simple and life was good in an unadulterated sense.Burt Lancaster has always been a prominent actor and his talent is so very showing in this movie. Charles Bronson is also in the movie and comes across very well as a young actor who is later destined to be one of the greatest actors of our time. I thoroughly enjoyed watching this movie on a lazy Saturday afternoon and I highly recommend it for its soothing effects of a simple yesteryear long gone except in cinema. It is a typical plot of indians being pushed out and destroyed by the Union Army with one stand out rebel.....hell bent with an anger created thru intense hate, yet capable of showing love towards the woman in his life.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Burt Lancaster is Massai, an Apache who does not want to surrender as Geronimo and be deported to Florida. Jean Peters is his girlfriend, and Charles Bronson is Hondo, who has accepted life under the reservation. Lancaster is aiming to die as an hero to be an example to his tribe, but he has conflicting thoughts because he is also toying with the idea of planting corn, suggested by a Cherokee. Robert Aldrich was forced to accept a happy ending that was not originally intended. According to him, this distorted completely the meaning of the film which was built around the idea of Massai dying to maintain his dignity. Aldrich later on made Ulzana's Raid, also with Lancaster, with the same type of story, but doing it the way he wanted to.