doug-balch This is an underrated Western. It never shows up on "Best Westerns" lists, but it is as good or better than many that do. Here's what I liked:Kirk Douglas plays the stock role of charismatic Western scout very well.The Indians are portrayed as three dimensional characters. The film presents a pretty aggressive Indian point of view without becoming overly depressing or preachy. Red Cloud and the Sioux are placed in historically accurate context, except for the Oregon location.There are several very strong Civil War tie-ins.Nice bit about the photographer. Probably only time this idea was ever used as part of a "passing of the West" theme.Absolutely stunning outdoor locations. Very little sound stage filming.Elsa Martinelli is HOT. Excellent use of child actor Michael Winkelman (later of "The Real McCoys" TV series) as comic relief.Here are some of the things that detracted from the film's quality:Walter Mathau is badly miscast as the heavy.Overall the plot is too bland and cookie cutter. The heavies aren't very menacing. There's no really compelling character or dramatic tension.In many places the plot is implausible and contrived, especially the actions of the heavies, Civington and Todd. The same is true of the romance between Hawks and Onahti. This is the chief's daughter, she has the pick of any brave in the tribe, yet she falls for a white guy who rapes her.Kirk Douglas is a legit star and has a great screen presence, but he is very smug and overacts.

classicsoncall Overt references to the passing of the West are a central theme in "The Indian Fighter", sadly lamented by Kirk Douglas' character, particularly in the scene with photographer Briggs (Elisha Cook). It was interesting to me that Johnny Hawks didn't attempt to stop Briggs, realizing that the sweep of civilization was inevitable, and that he couldn't delay it's coming. As a pioneer, Hawks certainly wasn't in denial over the future of his frontier.Johnny's first encounter with Onahti (Elsa Martinelli) puzzled me somewhat. Taking her by force didn't seem to be the wisest thing to do right in the middle of Red Cloud's camp. I don't think that's something a white man could get away with, no matter how honorable his long range intentions.Even with some great cinematography and majestic landscapes, I found myself only nominally interested in the story. There seemed to be something just a bit missing to the plot development; perhaps it was Johnny Hawks' disconnect from the villains of the piece, Lon Chaney and the oddly cast Walter Matthau. (Maybe only odd in hindsight, as most of my experience of Matthau has him in somewhat comedic roles.) It seemed to me that the early set up of Wes Todd's (Matthau) save in the Sioux camp would have put Hawks in closer proximity to the two gold seekers, but then it appeared like Onahti distracted Hawks from a lot of things. I wonder if anything was going on off camera.With a title like "The Indian Fighter", the picture doesn't seem to dwell on that preoccupation much. Kirk Douglas does go one on one with warrior White Wolf early on, and plays a part in the attack on the Army fort later in the story. Overall however, his role in the story makes him a much more even handed character, someone who values the Native way of life as more honorable than most of the white brothers he has to deal with throughout the picture.

MartinHafer With a title like THE Indian FIGHTER, you'd think that this was the standard "let's kill all the Indians" type movie so typical in the 1940s and 50s. However, like some of the better cowboy and Indian films of the era (such as the great FORT APACHE and the not so great CHEYENNE), the reason for the Indians hating the Whites is explained--they are not just unreasoning savages or idiots, but people justifiably angry at their mistreatment by the invading Whites. Because of this, I appreciated the film and was also happy that it also wasn't like some of the newer breed of films that paint the Indians and completely noble and the Whites as the epitome of evil! It did seem well balanced AND featured mostly Indians in Indian parts (though, oddly, they chose an Italian lady to play the female leading Indian!).The rest of the film, while entertaining and having the usual great performance by Kirk Douglas, also is very simplistic and poorly thought out at times. For example, the motivation for why Douglas saved Walter Mathau's sorry butt at the beginning of the film is unclear. It defied common sense not to just let the Indians kill Mathau. Plus, at the end of the film, Douglas' confrontation with Douglas and Lon Chaney, Jr. was a long time coming but was resolved awfully quickly--making it seem very anti-climactic. Still, overall it does stand out from the HUGE number of look alike Westerns and it is worth your time.

Bob-45 Kirk Douglas turns in another of his wonderfully flamboyant performances as Johnny Hawks, `The Indian Fighter'. The movie is humorous and action picked. It even has a terrific performances from Diana Douglas, Kirk's ex-wife. However, for whatever reason, Kirk Douglas has populated his movie with some ridiculous casting choices: Eduard Franz as a Sioux chief(?), Harry Landers as Grey Eagle(??), Hank Worden as Crazy Bear(?!!!!?) and Elsa Martinelli as an Indian maiden(??!!!!!!!???). The first time Martinelli delivers that thick Italian accents, I started giggling. Come on, Kirk; you produced this. Couldn't you have found some REAL Indians, or at least an actress that didn't sound as if she's just come off the boat at Ellis Island. Hank Worden also plays a white character, making things seem even more ridiculous.Hey, my wife is Italian, so I wouldn't dare take cheap shots at Martinelli. Actually, when she keeps her mouth shut, Martinelli is pretty darn good. Had the script be rewritten so she only spoke Sioux, Martinelli would have been MUCH more believable. Oh well.To it's credit, the movie neither exploits or downplays the interracial relationship between Douglas and Martinelli. That's daring and commendable on the part of producer Douglas, particularly given the era of both the story and race relations in 50s America.No one seems to have commented on the Douglas-Martinelli courting ritual. It looks more like rape than romance. I thought feminist reviewers would be outraged. However, I've been told this ritual was common among the Plains Indians, though it is not clear to me whether this applies to the Sioux. Some comments should be made about the performances of Walter Matthau and Lon Chaney. Matthau comes across as WAY too contemporary and Chaney still seems to be playing Lenny from `Of Mice and Men'. Elisha Cook seems to have wandered over from the set of `Shane.' Nonetheless, Cook is still pretty watchable. Michael Winkelman (`The Real McCoys'), who played Diana Douglas's son, is terrific.The Technicolor photography is very good, the editing only OK. For example, the wagon train has traveled at least one full day, but seems to get back to the fort in a couple of minutes. The Oregon landscapes are spectacular.Given its shortcomings, `The Indian Fighter is STILL a pretty decent western. I give it a weak `6'.