''Escape from Fort Bravo'' is a 1953 American

Ansco Ansco was the brand name of a photographic company based in Binghamton, New York, which produced photographic films, papers and cameras from the mid-19th century until the 1980s. In the late 1880s, ANSCO's predecessor, Anthony and Scovill, bo ...

color

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 set during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

. It stars

William Holden William Holden (born William Franklin Beedle Jr.; April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American actor, and one of the biggest box-office draws of the 1950s. Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor for the film ''Stalag 17'' (1953) ...

Eleanor Parker Eleanor Jean Parker (June 26, 1922 – December 9, 2013) was an American actress. She was nominated for three Academy Awards for her roles in the films ''Caged'' (1950), ''Detective Story'' (1951), and ''Interrupted Melody'' (1955), the first ...

, and John Forsythe.

Plot

Fort Bravo is a Union prison camp with a strict disciplinarian named Captain Roper (

). A pretty woman named Carla Forester (

) shows up to help with a wedding of her friend but is really there to assist in freeing some prisoners including her previous beau Confederate Captain John Marsh ( John Forsythe). Roper falls in love with her (and she with him) and the escape happens after the wedding celebrations and Carla goes with the 4 confederate escapees. This gives Roper an additional motive to recapture the escapees. He does just that, but on the way back to the fort, they are attacked by fierce

Mescalero Apaches Mescalero or Mescalero Apache ( apm, Naa'dahéńdé) is an Apache tribe of Southern Athabaskan–speaking Native Americans. The tribe is federally recognized as the Mescalero Apache Tribe of the Mescalero Apache Reservation, located in south-c ...

who are hostile to both sides and the group ends up trapped in a shallow exposed depression. Roper frees and arms his prisoners, but even then, it looks like the Apaches will wipe them out. Bailey ( John Lupton), a proven coward, escapes when one of their loose horses returns in the night. One by one, the rest of the group are killed, including Campbell (

William Demarest Carl William Demarest (February 27, 1892 – December 27, 1983) was an American character actor, known especially for his roles in screwball comedies by Preston Sturges and for playing Uncle Charley in the sitcom '' My Three Sons'' Demarest, ...

), Young ( William Campbell), and the Kiowa guide. Marsh and Lieutenant Beecher (Richard Anderson) are wounded. The next morning, to try to save Carla, Roper makes it look like he is the only one left alive and walks out in plain view. He is wounded, but the cavalry comes to the rescue just in time. Roper thanks Bailey for coming with help, while Marsh dies after smiling at Bailey who has come through and shown he is not a coward.

Cast

as Captain Roper *

as Carla Forester * John Forsythe as Captain John Marsh *

as Sgt. Campbell * William Campbell as Cabot Young *

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 ...

as Alice Owens *

Richard Anderson Richard Norman Anderson (August 8, 1926 – August 31, 2017) was an American film and television actor. Among his best-known roles was his portrayal of Oscar Goldman, the boss of Steve Austin ( Lee Majors) and Jaime Sommers ( Lindsay Wagner) i ...

as Lieutenant Beecher *

Carl Benton Reid Carl Benton Reid (August 14, 1893 – March 16, 1973) was an American actor. Early years Reid was born in Lansing, Michigan. He used his full name professionally because when he worked in radio, four other people in the business were named Ca ...

as Colonel Owens * John Lupton as Bailey * Forrest Lewis (uncredited) as Dr. Miller * Howard McNear (uncredited) as Watson *

Glenn Strange George Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who mostly appeared in Western films and was billed as Glenn Strange. He is best remembered for playing Frankenstein's monster in three Universal films d ...

appears briefly (uncredited) as Sgt. Compton Several members of the supporting cast would have notable careers in television shows of the 1960s and ‘70s.

Production notes

The working titles of this film were ''Rope's End'' and ''Fort Bravo''. Production ran from April until late May-1953. Most of the film was shot on location in

Gallup, New Mexico Zuni: ''Kalabwaki'' , settlement_type = City , nickname = "Indian Capital of the World" , motto = , image_skyline = Gallup, New Mexico.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption ...

and

Death Valley National Park Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California–Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eurek ...

Reception

The film received a mixed review from Howard Thompson of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. While he found Sturges's direction full of "professional smoothness," he had many problems with Frank Fenton's "fuzzily defined" characters. The cast, he goes on, "seems confused throughout."

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

disagreed, calling the film "well-executed" and awarding it three stars in his independent movie review guide.Maltin, Leonard (2009), p. 420. Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. . Signet Books. Accessed May 7, 2012 The film serves as an inspiration for the fifth title in the Belgian comic book series ''

Les Tuniques Bleues ''Les Tuniques Bleues'' (Dutch: De Blauwbloezen) is a Belgian series of ''bandes dessinées'' (comic books in the Franco-Belgian tradition), first published in '' Spirou'' magazine and later collected in albums by Dupuis."Best of Belgium's Cart ...

'' (The Bluecoats) by

Raoul Cauvin Raoul Cauvin (26 September 1938 – 19 August 2021) was a Belgian comics author and one of the most popular in the humorist field. Biography Raoul Cauvin was born in Antoing, Belgium in 1938.De Weyer, Geert (2005). "Raoul Cauvin". In België ges ...

and Willy Lambil, a graphic novel titled "Les Déserteurs" (1975)

Box office

According to MGM records, the film earned $1,525,000 in the US and Canada and $1,633,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $104,000.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Escape From Fort Bravo 1953 Western (genre) films 1953 films 1950s prison films American Civil War films American Western (genre) films Films about prison escapes Films directed by John Sturges Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films 1950s English-language films 1950s American films