Steineded How sad is this?

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Erica Derrick By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

bsmith5552 This almost forgotten western was ahead of it's time. The theme of "an eye for an eye" revenge is carried to the extreme with the brutal massacre sequence where soldiers, women and children alike are slaughtered without mercy.The film opens with army scout Adam Reed (Rory Calhoun) being brought to Cheyenne Chief Fire Knife (Lee Van Cleef). The chief warns of an impending Cheyenne attack on an army encampment in retaliation to one led by commanding officer Major Ives (Warner Anderson) who has been branded as "The Butcher" by the Indians for his slaughter of women and children.Reed brings a yellow tomahawk to Ives as a warning from the Cheyenne. He ignores the warning. Reed meets Katherine Bohlen (Peggie Castle) skinny dipping and sparks fly. Katherine is engaged to Lt. Bascomb (Patrick Sexton) whom she unceremoniously dumps. Reed also meets up with fellow scout Tonio Perez (Noah Beery Jr. complete with Mexican accent) who assists Reed in sounding the alarm. At the same time, Tonio is being pursued by the young Indian squaw named , now get this, Honey Bear (a very young Rita Moreno).Into the camp comes prospector Walt Sawyer (Peter Graves) and his wounded partner. Subsequent events reveal that Sawyer has a hidden agenda of his own.Then the Cheyenne attack and savagely "kill all white eyes" except for Major Ives who was away obtaining buried ammunition, Tonio who had been escorting a wagon load of wives escaping the attack, Sawyer and Reed. The survivors which also include Cpl. Maddock (Adam Williams) and Private Bliss (James Best) then try to reach the distant fort while being pursued by Fire Knife and his braves and.......................................................................................Although the massacre sequence is not as graphic as one would see today, it is nonetheless brutal and totally unexpected. Calhoun is a stalwart hero who had been appearing in a number of low budget westerns at this time. Castle in her skin tight slacks, makes a sexy heroine. The always likeable Beery is good as is Graves and Anderson as the heavies. Lee Van Cleef is also excellent as the Indian Chief. Walter Reed, Dan Riss and Robert Bray round out the cast.A quirky unexpected ending round out this opus ably directed by veteran director Lesley Selander.

classicsoncall I was a fan of Rory Calhoun back in the late Fifties when he appeared in the Western TV series lead role of "The Texan". In this picture, filmed in 1954, Calhoun looks almost a decade younger and exceptionally athletic. There was no reason to believe that he wouldn't fall for Peggie Castle's character, especially after she broke off her engagement with cavalry Lieutenant Bascomb (Patrick Sexton). She might not have survived network TV as long as Amanda Blake in 'Gunsmoke', but she sure did rival Kitty as one of the pre-eminent saloon keepers of the Old West in 'Lawman'.I never heard of "The Yellow Tomahawk" until it popped up on Encore Westerns last night, and it proved to be one of those rough cut gems from a half century ago. In addition to Calhoun and Castle, the other interesting casting decision made here was Lee Van Cleef in the role of Cheyenne warrior Fire Knife. You also had Peter Graves in the role of a renegade gold prospector who killed his partners for their dig, eventually proving to be a thorn in the side of Indian scout Adam Reed (Calhoun). But it doesn't end there - Noah Beery's on hand as a cavalry hand named Tonio Perez, and he finds himself fending off the advances of Nez Perce maiden Honey Bear. Rita Moreno is not quite convincing as the fawning young squaw infatuated with a grizzled old goat twice her age, and I kept wondering if Reed might cast an eye in her direction. Maybe he would have if she opened the picture swimming in the buff instead of Castle.The story itself gets downright brutal in a number of scenes, particularly the attack on Major Ives' (Warner Anderson) new fort under construction. Iron Knife puts an honorable face on things in his dealings with Reed, but ultimately you know that things will end badly. The finale is a bit of a twist, as Reed holds to his own principles just as dearly; the chief should have accepted the gift bow back when it was offered.If you're paying attention to the opening credits, you'll wonder as I did why 'Color by Color Corporation of America' heralds the start of a black and white picture. I guess I've seen enough films to not be surprised by such a minor detail, but it would have been cool to actually see the yellow tomahawk.

zardoz-13 Director Lesley Selander's thoroughly routine outdoor yarn "The Yellow Tomahawk" (1954) pits the Cheyenne against the U.S. Cavalry with leathery tough Rory Calhoun in the middle as the seasoned, buckskin-clad Indian scout who has to lead the survivors to safety. This United Artists western was lensed in color but the TV print that Turner Classic Movies aired was inexplicably in black & white.The action opens with Adam Reed (Rory Calhoun of "Black Spurs") eluding several Indians and riding up to palaver with his old friend and Cheyenne chief, Fire Knife (Lee Van Cleef of "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly"), who has killing on his mind. Fire Knife warns Adam that his Cheyenne braves are poised to wipe out a nearby cavalry fort under construction because it violates a treaty that the Indians made with the government. On his way to inform stuck-up camp commandant, Major Ives (Warner Anderson of "Objective, Burma!"),about the impending Indian attack, Adam discovers a beautiful wood nymph seductively treading water in a lake. Katherine 'Kate' Bolden (Peggy Castle of "I, Jury") is another of those silly women in westerns that bathe nude in the middle of Indian country without a care in the world. Castle appears to be genuinely nude in her bathing scenes, too, perhaps the most memorable scene of all in this otherwise predictable western. Naturally, Major Ives dismisses Adam's warning from Fire Knife until the commander realizes that somebody has raided his ammunition dump far outside the fort. This is one of the many questions that the Richard Alan Simmons' screenplay leaves unanswered in this trim, 82-minute oater. Why would the cavalry bury their ammunition at a secret spot in the desert rather than keep it on the premises in the fort? No sooner have they made this discovery than the Indians attack, knock out of hero, and leave him as the only survivor. Before this attack, a pair of white prospectors rides into the fort. Sawyer (Peter Graves of "Stalag 17") brings in his partner with an arrow in his chest. While Adam is getting hot water to help in removing the arrow, the greedy Sawyer grinds the shaft in deeper and kills his helpless partner. Later, we learn that Sawyer and his partner had struck gold. The question of the dispersal of the gold is also left unanswered after our heroes survive the ordeal. Adam and Fire Knife have one final pow-wow and Fire Knife demands that Adam hand over Major Ives or everybody will die. Naturally, Adam refuses and the Indians begin to whittle down the whites. James Best in a supporting role as a cavalryman gets an arrow in the back for his efforts. Noah Beery, Jr., plays a aimable Mexican scout pursued by a sexy Indian damsel appropriately named Honey Bear (Oscar-winning actress Rita Moreno of "West Side Story") and Robert Bray of "Lassie" fame is on hand briefly as the ill-fated cavalry officer that Kate had planned to marry. The biggest surprise in this unremarkable western shot on location in Kanab, Utah, is that the evil cavalry officer Ives, who slaughtered Indian men, women, and children at the infamous Sand Creek Massacre, has been keeping a secret that he is a Native American, too! Ironically, the taut bow that Fire Knife gives out of friendship to Adam at the outset of the hostilities is what our heroic scout uses to kill the stalwart Cheyenne warrior after he has run out of bullets. "The Yellow Tomahawk" concludes on an ambiguous note. The survivors reach another outpost, Fort Ellis, where Adam and Ives furnish their respective reports about the issue to an army general, but we never learn the outcome of this meeting. Is this artistic ambiguity or yet another unanswered question. Producer Howard W. Koch is no relation to "Casablanca" scenarist Howard Koch. Ultimately, "The Yellow Tomahawk" is one of many pro-Indian westerns that appeared in the aftermath of "Broken Arrow" (1950) where the Native American is viewed as a noble savage unjustly treated by some but not all whites. Selander, who made dozens of westerns during the 1950s and the 1960s, makes this minor western tolerable despite its thin characters and familiar predicament. Calhoun stands out of an above-average cast as the always serviceable leading man, and good looking Castle is worth watching for her feminine charms. Peter Graves plays a skunk as was usual in most of his early roles. Actually, Lesley Selander did a more satisfactory dramatic version of this movie the year before called "War Paint" (1953) with Robert Stack. Incidentally, Noah Beery Jr. and Rita Moreno both went on to become regulars on "The Rockford Files".

bux Calhoun spends much of his time in this film, warning the builders and settlers of a new army outpost, that they will be wiped out by the hostiles. In this decidedly downbeat tale, he is not only snubbed by authority, but mocked and ridiculed...and guess what? The action scenes are done well, and the unusual ending is fresh.