jeremy3 A trapper, played by Victor Mature, ends up at a Union Army fort confronted by Red Cloud and his army. The trapper falls for the wife of the colonel of the fort. The colonel is a very dedicated and brave soldier, but not very diplomatic and smart when it comes to choosing battles. The trapper lures the colonel out into the woods and gets him entrapped in a pit and leaves him to die. The trapper in his delusions hopes that the colonel's wife will be impressed and want to be with him. Instead, her Christian sensibility is horrified by his actions. The trapper goes back and rescues the colonel. The movie is "war weary". The soldiers at the fort are sick of fighting the local Native Americans and not happy about going out to fight a battle they will inevitably lose. The trapper becomes a hero to them, because he is an excellent fighter and much shrewder than the colonel. The colonel is both liked and disliked. He is a loyal soldier, but the soldiers are not happy about having to go out and fight to their inevitable deaths. I think this was the best thing about this movie. It was not a typical western. It was a rare 50s movie that was more cynical about war and the point of war.

Jeff (actionrating.com) This is by no means a bad western. In fact, most would call it a classic. It is however, a bad action movie. Instead of battle scenes, the film chooses to focus on a fur trapper's struggle with fast-approaching civilization. When the trapper, played by a visibly aging Victor Mature, pays a visit to a cavalry fort, the officer in command convinces the trapper and his buddies to join up as scouts. With the Civil War raging back east, the cavalry is in need of soldiers out west to control Indian trouble. I've always liked Victor Mature, but he's better when he has a co-star to help him carry the movie. The final battle is pretty good, but for a cavalry movie, this is a snoozer.

RanchoTuVu Victor Mature, as a barely civilized and mostly out of control mountain man and trapper, may be on the poster, but Robert Preston as a failed Union colonel who led his men to get "cut to ribbons" by Confederate artillery at Shiloh, and is sent to a fort in Oregon for his incompetence, has the most interesting part, married to a young and hard to recognize at first Anne Bancroft. The uncivilized Mature lusts for the colonel's wife, giving the film an interesting and even dark subplot which goes so far as to reference coveting another man's wife at one point by James Whitmore who plays Mature's older and wiser mountain man father figure. Directed by Anthony Mann, this film is lost among his more famous westerns with James Stewart, but even so you really don't need the Indian menace to make this a film worth seeing, although Preston gets to prove his bad judgement as a commanding officer again in a failed expedition to finally bring the Indians under submission, in a well staged attack among the forest that quickly turns into a rout.

cockerspaniels3 Very enjoyable 50's Western. I have it in my collection and recommend it to Western fans.Mostly Victor Mature's movie and quite well done in my estimation.He's a trapper who joins a frontier post as a scout. Red Cloud caught three of them on their land and took their possessions. They all joined as scouts after their loss.Victor has set his eye's on the Colonel's wife and lives life on the post without much regards to regulations.Action done quite convincingly but no great depth or much feeling to other characters.50's Westerns are my favorites and this slides easily to a satisfaction. A Western of this kind is in the pages of the past and perhaps never to be made much again. One to enjoy. Gave it a 7 rating. Likely 6.8 worthy but films like these become more precious over time.For film-noir fans..."The Big Steal" "They Live By Night" "Side Street" are most wonderful movies to be enjoyed. Bought and viewed. Noir seems to resemble Westerns in a way. Some long ago and never forever.