Drum Beat (1954)

In 1872, President Ulysses Grant (Hayden Rorke) orders Indian fighter Jim MacKay (Alan Ladd) to negotiate a peace treaty with the Modoc tribes. This will prove difficult as their renegade leader (Charles Bronson) has no interest in peace. Delmar Daves directed a string of excellent westerns in the 1950s: BROKEN ARROW, 3:10 TO YUMA and THE LAST WAGON among them. This offering is not on their level but it has its compensations. Robustly shot in CinemaScope in Arizona by J. Peverell Marley (HOUSE OF WAX), the film has an impressive early performance by Bronson that would take several more years to fulfill its promise. Alas, Ladd looks quite tired next to the vigorous Bronson. The film itself, loosely based on an actual historical incident, seems somewhat schizophrenic toward the Indians in its attempt to balance the "good" Indians as personified by a peace loving Indian maiden (Marisa Pavan, THE ROSE TATTOO) and her brother (Anthony Caruso) and the blood thirsty "bad" Indians as embodied by Bronson. The score is by Victor Young. With Audrey Dalton, Robert Keith, Warner Anderson, Perry Lopez, Isabel Jewell, Frank Ferguson, Frank DeKova, Edgar Stehli and Elisha Cook Jr.