Chuka (1967)

A gunfighter (Rod Taylor) arrives at a besieged outpost of misfit soldiers guarding the fort. He is hoping to persuade the unbending commander (John Mills) and his men to overcome their hatred of the Indians in order to prevent an attack by the starving tribe. It is also there that he meets an old flame (Luciana Paluzzi) from his past. Based on the novel by Richard Jessup (who adapted his novel for the screen) and directed by Gordon Douglas (THEM!). A minor but solid western, well acted and with enough action to satisfy western fans. Alas, the movie fizzled at the box office but deserved a better fate. Its darker outlook (almost everybody's dead by the end of the film) served as a bridge between the traditional heroic westerns and the darker, more violent westerns like THE WILD BUNCH that would emerge at the end of the decade and into the 1970s. The film's prologue was cut prior to its release (reputedly because it "spoiled the ending") but the transfer I saw had the prologue restored. With Ernest Borgnine, James Whitmore, Michael Cole and Victoria Vetri.