An interesting film, very well made, but with a weak script.
This is one of those old Western movies where the cowboy figure is glorified as the epitome of the common American hero, the women are helpless youths waiting for a gunslinger to keep them safe, the West is a lawless land where everyone does their own thing. whatever and the natives – in this case, the Comanche – are true terrorists, whom it is lawful to persecute and kill because they commit serial atrocities.
I'm not going to get into any thoughts about the moral of the film or how it views not only Native Americans but women as well. Nowadays, there is no shortage of moral police officers to rewrite books, defend “more inclusive” neutral languages, throw statues of historical figures into the mud for having done or said something that was not to the liking of “political correctness”. I am not like that, and I condemn anyone who is like that. Therefore, I want the introduction of this text to serve as a mere prophylactic warning of what the film is: a film made in the 1950s by people with the same and natural mentality of that time. A normal film, made according to the mentality of its time, and which we have no right to arbitrarily criticize.
John Ford did an excellent job as director and gives us a very elegant film that stands out, essentially, for its artistic aspects. Cinematography is worthy of study at any school of film arts, with magnificent lighting, a palette of bright, vibrant and somewhat cheerful colors, and an exquisite use of sets, costumes and filming locations. By the way, the sets and costumes are also good and give us what we can expect in a Western film (and the best thing is not to expect great historical rigor because that was a minor concern at the time). In addition to all this, we have a heroic soundtrack that harmonizes well with the film.
In the cast, the figure of John Wayne is unavoidable. He's not even close to an artist that I really appreciate, but he has undeniable charisma, and he's in good shape here. Jeffrey Hunter also gives us an interesting job, but much inferior to that of Wayne while, when it comes to female faces, we can only positively mention the effort, almost heroic, of Vera Miles, in a film that did not consider the female characters.
Where this film really gets lost is in the Franciscan poverty of its script. The story is more than lukewarm, it never really captivates us, and it just seems like a gigantic excuse for a cavalcade full of fights between Indians and cowboys.