''Warpath'' is a 1951 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Byron Haskin Byron Conrad Haskin (April 22, 1899 – April 16, 1984) was an American film and television director, special effects creator and cinematographer. He is best known for directing '' The War of the Worlds'' (1953), one of many films where he ...

and starring

Edmond O'Brien Eamon Joseph O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American actor and film director. His career spanned almost 40 years, and he won one Academy Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. O'Brien w ...

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan in '' The Helen ...

and

Dean Jagger Dean Jagger (November 7, 1903 – February 5, 1991) was an American film, stage, and television actor who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Henry King (director), Henry King's ''Twelve O'Clock High'' (1949). E ...

. The film was released as a Fawcett Comics Film #9 in August 1951.

Plot

John Vickers has spent eight years hunting for the three men who murdered the woman he loved. He finds one, Woodson, and kills him in a gunfight, but not before learning that the other two men have joined the U.S. Cavalry. En route to

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

, where Vickers plans to join the men under the command of

George Armstrong Custer George Armstrong Custer (December 5, 1839 – June 25, 1876) was a United States Army officer and cavalry commander in the American Civil War and the American Indian Wars. Custer graduated from West Point in 1861 at the bottom of his class, b ...

to continue his search, he sees a sergeant named O'Hara physically manhandling a woman. Molly Quade is grateful for his intervention, but O'Hara gets even when Vickers ends up serving under him at the fort, giving him the most unpleasant duties. Molly has come to the fort to help her father Sam Quade run a general store. He is opposed to her attraction to Vickers. On an assignment, soldiers are badly outnumbered by a band of Sioux until being rescued by Custer and his troops. Vickers is recognized by Custer as a former Union officer and is promoted to first sergeant. O'Hara realizes that Vickers suspects him to be one of the killers of his fiancée. An ambush attempt fails, so he deserts the Army and flees. A wagon train is formed to evacuate civilians while Custer prepares to do battle at Little Big Horn, but along the way, Molly, her father and Vickers are taken captive. O'Hara is a prisoner, too, and when he learns Custer's men will be hopelessly outnumbered and slaughtered, he tries to go warn the general and sacrifices his own life, distracting the Sioux until the others can escape. Molly becomes aware that Sam, her father, is the third killer Vickers has been seeking. Before she can persuade Vickers not to kill him, Sam rides off to warn Custer, which will certainly lead to his own death.

Cast

as John Vickers *

as Sam Quade *

Forrest Tucker Forrest Meredith Tucker (February 12, 1919 – October 25, 1986) was an American actor in both movies and television who appeared in nearly a hundred films. Tucker worked as a vaudeville straight man at the age of fifteen. A mentor provided fund ...

as Sgt. O'Hara * Harry Carey Jr. as Capt. Gregson *

as Molly Quade *

James Millican James Millican (February 17, 1911 – November 24, 1955) was an American actor with over 200 film appearances mostly in western movies. Millican was the son of Fred S. Millican, a circus owner, and Dorothy Millican. Millican was a clos ...

as Lt Col

Wallace Ford Wallace Ford (born Samuel Grundy Jones; 12 February 1898 – 11 June 1966) was an English-born naturalized American vaudevillian, stage performer and screen actor. Usually playing wise-cracking characters, he combined a tough but friendly-fac ...

as Pvt. 'Irish' Potts * Paul Fix as Pvt. Fiore *

Louis Jean Heydt Louis Jean Heydt (April 17, 1903 – January 29, 1960) was an American character actor in film, television and theatre, most frequently seen in hapless, ineffectual, or fall guy roles. Early life Heydt was born in 1903 (not 1905, as many sou ...

as Herb Woodson * Chief Yowlachie as Chief *

Walter Sande Walter Sande (July 9, 1906 – November 22, 1971) was an American character actor, known for numerous supporting film and television roles. Films Born in Denver, Colorado, he was one of those stern, heavyset character actors in Hollywood no pe ...

as Sgt. Parker *Charles Dayton as Lt. Nelson *

Robert Bray Robert E. Bray (October 23, 1917 – March 7, 1983) was an American film and television actor known for playing the forest ranger Corey Stuart in the CBS series ''Lassie'', He also starred in ''Stagecoach West'' and as Mike Hammer in the mo ...

as Maj. Comstock * Monte Blue as First Emigrant * John Hart as Sgt. Plennert *

Ethan Laidlaw Ethan Allen Laidlaw (November 25, 1899 – May 25, 1963) was an American film actor. He appeared in more than 350 films and made more than 500 appearances on television, mainly uncredited in Westerns, between 1923 and 1962. Laidlaw was bor ...

as Trooper (uncredited)

References

External links

* {{Byron Haskin 1951 films 1951 Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films Western (genre) cavalry films Paramount Pictures films Films directed by Byron Haskin Films adapted into comics Cultural depictions of George Armstrong Custer Films scored by Paul Sawtell 1950s English-language films 1950s American films