NekoHomey
Purely Joyful Movie!
Phonearl
Good start, but then it gets ruined
Sammy-Jo Cervantes
There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.
cacorbett
This is an enjoyable and engrossing color Western from 1951. Van Heflin is great as the famed Jim Bridger in this memorable tale of the sometimes bitter conflict between settlers , Calvary and Indians during the 19th Century. Yvonne De Carlo is lovely and entertaining as the female lead, struggling to understand Bridger's seemingly divided loyalties.The photography and color in this movie is top notch, and the film is consistently entertaining and full of plot twists to keep the viewer engrossed. Screen legend Rock Hudson makes an impressive early appearance in this sad but enlightening tale of the struggle of cultures on the Western plains. De Carlos steals the film as the female lead !
a-caplan
The film is an entertainment not a history lesson but the broad picture of the advance into Indian territory from Wyoming into Montana along the Bozeman is not misleading - nor is Chivington's complicity in his incitement of the Cheyenne, Carrington's qualities as an officer, or Fetterman's fool-hardiness historically wrong or misplaced. Lastly, this was made in the cinema era of Indians as bloodthirsty savages - well before 'Cheyenne Autumn' and the sixties' discovery of revisionist Western history. Bridger's parting comment that it wasn't anything in the innate qualities of the American fighting man that won them the battle but the introduction of a superior arms technology is an astute assessment of the situation in 1868. For the rest, the opening commentary that the Americans would keep on coming regardless is the unavoidable truth of the matter.
bkoganbing
Tomahawk is a good B western with some A list cast players in the credits. The lead character in it is famous mountain man Jim Bridger who in 1868 when this story is supposed to be taking place was 64 years old and according to Wikipedia was suffering from arthritis and rheumatism at that time and was retiring from army scouting, trapping, and all other frontier activities. But what we have is 40 year old Van Heflin in the part. Knowing what I know it does make the film just a trifle ludicrous.But no more than a whole lot of other Hollywood product which had famous frontier characters in all kinds of situations and plots that were historically and physically impossible. In fact there is some truth in some of the story line in Tomahawk. Bridger in fact did find a scout an alternate trail to the Bozeman trail which did run through Sioux country and it was called the Bridger trail. Red Cloud did go on the war path at this time when an army fort was built on land ceded to him by treaty. It's just that Bridger was out of the picture in real life at the time of this story.Heflin makes a stoic and impassive Bridger who is on army business and business of his own. He arrives at the fort commanded by Colonel Preston Foster with sidekick Jack Oakie and Susan Cabot, an Indian maiden. He's there to scout for the army though his sympathies are well known to be with the Sioux. But Heflin is also hunting an army man, known to have been involved in the infamous Sand Creek Massacre of 1864.Along the way Heflin does help rescue Yvonne DeCarlo and her partner Tom Tully who were traveling in a medicine show wagon when they were attacked. A bit of a romance does develop, though it is definitely in second place to the action, if not the accuracy.Tomahawk though a B film is definitely in line with such post World War II westerns as Fort Apache, Broken Arrow, and Pony Soldier which had a sympathetic Indian point of view. It's got good production values and moves at a decent clip. But don't write any term papers based on it.
alexandre michel liberman (tmwest)
This film, as its main character Van Heflin, is sympathetic to the Sioux and their reasons for fighting. This makes it very unusual as was "Broken Arrow" which was released the year before. Rock Hudson at the beginning of his career plays an officer and shows up in a few scenes. Yvonne de Carlo is the woman who falls in love with Heflin, and Susan Cabot the Indian girl who is always with him. Alex Nicol, as usual, is the bad character, in this case an officer who is trigger happy and ready to start a war. Unlike "Winchester 73" where the soldiers where under equipped, here they have a big advantage because of the "breech-loading rifles". Fast paced from beginning to end, good action scenes.
