Richie-67-485852 Most excellent Western with a unique set of ingredients all designed to entertain and give rise to several emotions. This one has so much going on too. Indians, their culture, US Calvary, horses, dust, whiskey, civil war, forts, good and bad guys and a love story all done very well. This movie has part Last of the Mohicans, The Naked Prey and a mix of several other familiar themes scene in many Westerns over the years. Their are several highlights worthy to mention. The feelings of the South after losing the war dialog is potent and accurate so listen up. Great scene of Lee surrendering to Grant (with tears) and respect on all sides. then there is the Indian way, their beliefs and point of view. If that is not enough, the US Calvary wants to develop the West and set up forts and approaches the subject humbly. This movie had me riveted to the screen as there was so much going all entertaining that I didn't want it to end. Even the end music played out very well helping you to accept the ending. Good movie to eat beef jerky, a sandwich and a tasty drink. Also worth mentioning is all your favorite and familiar TV and movie stars are in this one looking and sounding good earning their paychecks as well as all being destined for long careers too. Run of the Arrow...thank you to all involved here. Mount-up

njmollo If proof was needed that Rod Steiger could be the proverbial ham, then simply watch an early scene from Run of the Arrow (1957) where he talks to his mother about honour. This scene encapsulates everything that was wrong with Steiger as an actor unrestrained by the guiding force of a strong director.Rod Steiger yet again gives us another dodgy accent that sounds like his character spent the American Civil War years vacationing in Pakistan.This is not the first time Steiger has ruined a movie by using his assumed talent for accents. Napoleon comes to mind. I for one, believe Rod Steiger ruined Sergio Leone's Duck, You Sucker (1971) with another irritatingly dodgy accent. Had Eli Wallach been given the role of Juan Miranda as was originally intended, the film could have been regarded as yet another undisputed Leone classic.The problem with Steiger as an actor was that he was uncharismatic. He had no natural charm, so it was hard to empathise with any sympathetic character he played.Rod Steiger's talent was for playing larger than life characters with unpleasant characteristics such as Gilespie in "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) or Komarovsky in "Doctor Zhivago" (1965). Playing a hero and a charming one at that was not within Steigers' range.This film might be the first to use "squibs" but so what? It still used painted-up Caucasians as the featured Indians, so I don't think it was that ahead of its time.This is a terrible movie that becomes unwatchable as soon a Steiger opens his mouth.

dougdoepke Think Western and Rod Steiger doesn't come to mind. But producer-director Fuller needed a first-rate actor for his complex story. So the New York trained Steiger got the part and is quite good too. Though I don't buy him out-racing the powerfully built Crazy Wolf (Wynant). This is an excellent Western, expertly cast and wonderfully staged. In fact, some of the scenic shots resemble Frederick Remington landscapes. It's also a story of ideas. I like the way writer Fuller prepares us for O'Meara's (Steiger) act of mercy by having him cling to Christian beliefs though every other part of him has become Sioux Indian. Thus, when he shoots Lt. Driscoll (Meeker) to spare him further pain, we understand why. It's also the point at which O'Meara realizes he's inescapably American, Johnny Reb or not. On the other hand, why the Indian girl rashly saves O'Meara is never made clear. The movie's about alienation and belonging, and though I don't agree with all Fuller's points, he does get beyond the Western clichés of the period. Note, for example, how the tribe decides rather democratically whether to accept O'Meara as a Sioux. And though there are the usual plot contrivances to generate action, both peoples are shown as deserving respect.Too bad the movie's so obscure. It's as broad in scope (first-rate locations and large cast, including real Indians), and is more thoughtful than John Ford's celebrated cavalry trilogy. I suspect one reason for the neglect is the unfortunate releasing tangle when the scheduled RKO went suddenly belly-up. The film ended up being released by low-budget Universal who likely dumped it without much promotion; at least, I don't recall any fanfare at the time. Thus, this independent production slipped into underground obscurity. Still and all, Fuller's film can also be seen as an important step on the way to such counter-cultural Westerns as Ulzana's Raid (1972), Little Big Man (1970), and the bloody The Wild Bunch (1969). Nonetheless, significances aside, it's still a darn entertaining movie.

bru-5 No one ever accused Sam Fuller of being a run-of-the-mill Hollywood dream merchant. Run of the Arrow is fairly typical of the noted director-writer's work, applying his thinking man's approach to a well-established genre; in this case, the western. Touching on the moral conflicts of the Civil War as well as the uneasy truce between the white man and the Native American, the movie centers on a disillusioned Confederate (Rod Steiger)trying to find his place in a world in which he has cast himself as an outsider.Fuller handles the visuals and the action sequences with as much confidence as the more intimate sequences of Steiger trying to immerse himself into the culture of the Sioux after what he feels is the humiliating defeat of the Confederate forces to the Union. While he lacks is the poetic sweep of a John Ford, Fuller is refreshingly unsentimental and takes pains to establish the subtlety of the characters and their conflicts. Still, it is by no means a perfect movie, undermined by the dreadful miscasting of Rod Steiger in the starring role. Although a highly skilled actor who has often excelled at portraying multi-dimensional, morally ambiguous characters, Steiger seems out-of-place as a Confederate renegade and his Irish brogue only calls attention to his uneasiness. Fuller barely shows any interest in fleshing out the relationship between Steiger and the Indian squaw he marries, casting a nondescript and unappealing actress for the love interest. But Brian Keith and Ralph Meeker are excellent as the Union officers, one kindly, the other oozing villainy from every pore.The movie is a natural for fans of adult, upper-scale westerns (a la The Gunfighter, Shane, etc.) while the more action-oriented buffs won't feel entirely left out either.