The Siege at Red River (1954)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Strong and Moving!

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I really hate to see Van Johnson's talents wasted in a film like this. I never thought westerns were his bag anyway. He was with the "Georgia Volunteers" a vague designation that wouldn't satisfy any Union officer. And where was his accent? Now Richard Boone has played this kind of evil role before and again, and does it very well. I had to laugh at the Indians firing the Gatling gun( could they ever? would they ever?) at the fort while droves of other indians are closely surrounding it. Nary a horse hit during any of the battles. Monumental cavalry and Indian charges appear with the usual results. One has to swallow a lot to enjoy this western.

A Civil War Western, the western features mostly confined to an Indian attack on a mid-west army post, and a cavalry unit chasing them off. Actually, it's more a game of hide and seek, with a disassembled Gatling Gun being the object of Union forces seeking after it was stolen by Confederate agents in Ohio. The film was shot in color around Durango, CO and several places around Moab, UT, with the erosion remnants in Castle Valley especially memorable, looking rather like Monument Valley, to the south. Available at YouTube.Van Johnson, surprisingly, plays the chief Confederate agent Jim Farraday, His chief nemesis through most of the film is Pinkerton agent Frank Kelso(Jeff Morrow), until Van changes sides, when Britt Manning(Richard Boone), his former aid, becomes his chief European opponent, along with Chief Yellow Hawk, leader of a multi-tribal confederation in an attack on Fort Smith.Some humor is provided by Van plus Melburne Stone, as Bengi: the traveling snake oil salesman, when they sing an odd ditty called "Tapioca" and sometimes a related song, which signals their contact in that town to give them instructions for their further wanderings toward Confederate territory. Also, Joanne Dru(as Nora) along with Van provide some chuckles when she accidentally gets drunk on Benji's whiskey-fortified Chamomile tea, passes out, and is put to bed by Benji and Van, after removing her dress(not shown). Later, Van and Joanne share a small blanket out on the trail, Van requesting that they stay on their side of 'the Mason-Dixon line' in the middle.At Baxter Springs KS, a chorus girl sings "Tapioca" at the request of their agent in that town, Britt Manning(Richard Boone). She brings them to Manning, who gets involved with their problems. The cases of Gatling Gun parts are moved from Benji's wagon to Joanne's hospital wagon, she being a Yankee nurse who was rescued by Van from being stuck in river sand. The wagon searchers decide to let her through without inspection. Benji's wagon is inspected, but no longer contains the Gatling Gun. Manning later kills Benje on the road, gets the Gatling gun from Joanne's wagon, and decides to try to sell it to Chief Yellow Hawk, after finding the instructions on how to assemble and operate the gun. The chief is impressed and buys it, planning to use it in an attack on Fort Smith, in which warriors from various tribes will unite. Van and Joanne flirted after he rescued her. But she changed her attitude when the question of why he wasn't in a Union uniform came up. He stated that he didn't want to fight as a soldier, so he paid a substitute $300. to take his place. She wanted to disown him as cowardly. But, he changed sides on the Fort Smith attack, fighting Manning, who was manning the gun for the Indians. He changed after learning that many women and children were included in the fort. After this, Joanne warmed up to him again, and there was a suggested union between them after the war was over(an imminent occurrence).Joanne certainly lite up the screen with her beauty and personality. She had already costarred in a variety of westerns, including "Red River", "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon", "Wagon Master" ,"Vengeance Valley", and "Southwest Passage". In contrast, I believe this was Van's only western, he being known for musical comedies, sitcoms, and war pictures.A few mentionings of relevant historical facts are in order. There was a historic Sioux chief called Yellow Hawk, but Sioux are unlikely to have been involved in a fight in future Oklahoma. There was a real town called Baxter Springs, located in the extreme SE corner of Kansas, right next to Indian Territory, to become Oklahoma. But, historic Fort Smith was located on the central western border of Arkansas, far from Baxter Springs. "The 5 Civilized Nations", which had been moved to Indian Territory did align themselves with the Confederates. Dr. Gatling Only tried to sell his gun to the Union, unsuccessfully until after the war. However, several Union commanders involved in the siege of Petersburg individually bought a gun for their command. The gun was often used in the subsequent Indian Wars, as well as by various European countries. Strangely, Dr. Gatling was a member of the Order of American Knights": a secret pro-Confederacy organization.

Van Johnson plays a charming as well as well-appareled Confederate officer working undercover alongside Milburn Stone out the west in director Rudolph Maté's Civil War western "Siege at Red River," co-starring future Spaghetti western star Craig Hill and an up-and-coming Richard Boone. The dusty, Technicolor action unfolds in 1864 with Captain James S. Simmons, aka Jim Farraday (Van Johnson) stealing a Gatling Gun. Farraday and his partner Sgt. Benjamin 'Benjy' Guderman (Milburn Stone of "Gunsmoke") work their way from one frontier town to another singing a code song and selling snake oil medicine. Eventually, they come across a Union nurse, Nora Curtis (Joanne Dru) and caravan with her. Meantime, Pinkerton sleuth Frank Kelso (Jeff Morrow) suspects that Farraday, who claims to be a conscientious objector from Boston who paid $300 for a substitute to take his place to the war, is too good to be a true. Farraday's treacherous cohort Brett Manning (Richard Boone), a whip wielding dastard, steals the Gatling Gun and sells it to the Indians. The Civil War concludes about the same time that the Indians launch an attack on a cavalry foot with Manning operating the Gatling Gun for them. The scenery is certainly spectacular, and it appears that the filmmakers are poaching on John Ford country. This standard-issue oater won't raise any brows, but it qualifies as a pleasant way to burn time.

I was not really concentrating on this film (on Film4), as I was reading the Sunday newspaper. However, I found my attention being more and more drawn to a plot that seemed to get more believable as it progressed. Characters were developed to the point where strangeness of behaviour became them. The lack of outright violence was a huge plus in such a story, that might easily have descended into a straight-forward gunfight. Period settings overcame obvious rigours of budget to a degree of acceptability. Though all aspects - dialogue, scenery, plot etc. - all fell short at some point, the overall effect was of a well-constructed and written movie into which a great deal of thoughtful direction had been lavished.