Grave, brutal, realistic Western with quality characters

This went unnoticed when it was released in 1972 and I can understand why to a degree because it's not a rollicking, comic booky Western. It's a grim, adult-oriented one that's believable and thought-provoking, not to mention utterly brutal.

Loosely based on the exploits of a Chiricahua Apache known as Josanie, the story involves a greenhorn Lieutenant, DeBuin (Bruce Davison), assigned to a fort in Arizona who's put in charge of a company to stop the eponymous Apache chief (Joaquín Martínez) and his band who've jumped the reservation. A veteran sergeant (Richard Jaeckel), a weathered scout named McIntosh (Burt Lancaster) and his Apache partner, Ke-Ni-Tay (Jorge Luke), assist the Lieutenant, whose civilized sensibilities are shocked by the brutality of the fugitive Apaches.

Davison is great as the naïve Lieutenant -- just 6 months out of the academy -- who somewhat awkwardly takes command of the group of seasoned frontiersmen. This happens all the time in war situations. Thankfully, DeBuin is humble and smart enough to yield to the wisdom of McIntosh and the sergeant, most of the time.

Speaking of DeBuin, most viewers view Ulzana's bloodbath through his eyes and we can relate to his confusion and frustration over the gross inhumanity he witnesses for the first time. But this isn't a film that takes one side or the other; it just shows the way it was. DeBuin sits down with Ke-Ni-Tay to understand why the Apaches would enact such carnage. The warrior explains their belief of acquiring an enemy's power through torturous death, but no matter how you slice it, it's a bunch of darkened/ignorant BS. It doesn't matter what the person's reasoning is, anyone who commits the atrocities of Ulzana & his raiders deserves to be executed on sight. After all, Timothy McVeigh "had his reasons" for what he did; and so do Muslim terrorists.

Yet the movie refuses to be lopsided. There's a scene where DeBuin sees that the "good" soldiers could just as easily fall into such supposedly justified depravity. The point? Each one of us could commit wicked acts if we open certain "doors" within, allow ourselves to be influenced by radical belief systems or hang around the wrong people, etc. Race and tribe are irrelevant. Just yesterday, I found out that a goodhearted friend I hadn't seen for a decade held-up the workers at a Flying J at gunpoint and walked-off with over $3000, but it was a case of drug-addled insanity because, as soon as he came to his senses, he brought all the money back. He's still in a heap of trouble though. A couple of months ago another friend who was in my wedding party brutally stabbed someone to death and is now facing life in prison.

Being a Christian believer, DuBuin has to struggle with his hatred toward Ulzana & his raiders. At a campfire, Jesus Christ & his teachings come up and the sergeant (Jaeckel) tells the Lieutenant that he ain't turning no cheek with Ulzana's band. This effectively shows the gross misunderstanding that revolves around Christ's teaching to "turn the cheek." Jesus was referring to a backhanded slap to the face, which was an insult in that culture. In other words, we could all save ourselves a lot of trouble in life if we learn to ignore the antagonism of various morons who would like to divert our focus and ruin our day. The Old Testament teaches this as well: "A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult" (Proverbs 12:16). So Christ was talking about giving an antagonist a break for the sake of peace in situations of personal offense; he wasn't referring to cases of criminal atrocities, which is what Ulzana & his band were guilty of committing. The Bible says that governments are "God's servants" for good in the sense that they protect citizens from criminals; they "bear the sword," meaning that they possess the power to punish and even execute criminals when justified (see Romans 13:1-6). Relating this to the movie, DeBuin and his company, including the sergeant, are the government in this situation and they "bear the sword." As such, they are perfectly justified in annihilating Ulzana's raiders from the face of the earth.

Ke-Ni-Tay (pronounced KIN-eh-TAY) is an excellent character, by the way. So is McIntosh. Actually, the four protagonists are all believable, well-developed characters. Another plus is that they used actual First Americans for the Apache roles, largely Latin Americans.

On the downside, there are scenes of horse-tripping and the story could've been more compelling, but I sense that the filmmakers were shooting for mundane realism along with entertainment.

At the end of the day this is an overlooked Western, but it shouldn't be. It's worth one's time and is even great in some ways. In my opinion it's better than the overrated "The Wild bunch," which came out three years earlier.

It was shot in Arizona and Nevada and isn't overlong at 1 hour, 43 minutes.