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about 2 years ago

Bugles in the Afternoon

a review by CinemaSerf

Ray Milland ("Shafter") is cashiered out of the military after an altercation with "Garnett" (Hugh Marlowe) but struggles with civilian life, so re-enlists with a frontier regiment. At his new posting, he discovers that it is not just the marauding Sioux he has to worry about; his nemesis is also at the same fort, and outranks him. It doesn't help their openly displayed animosity, that both fancy the same - from what I could see, only - gal "Josephine" (Helena Carter). It seems that "Shafter" has a shred of decency to him, but the same cannot be said for "Garnett" and with Indian attacks looming, and the Battle of the Little Big Horn only round the corner, the story is riddled with peril both in front and behind his back. This is a competently produced western adventure with loads of action, a minimum of romance and plenty of duplicity from the really rather unlikeable Marlowe. The ending feels a bit hurried, but Milland is on decent form and director Roy Rowland focuses on keeping the story on track well enough. Not great, no - but I did quite enjoy it.