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
Phil Karlson
Phil Karlson (born Philip N. Karlstein; July 2, 1908 – December 12, 1982) was an American film director. Karlson directed ''99 River Street'', ''Kansas City Confidential'' and '' Hell's Island'', all with actor John Payne, in the early 1950s ...
May Wynn
Donna Lee Custer ( Hickey, January 8, 1928 – March 22, 2021), better known as May Wynn, was an American dancer, singer, and actress.
Early life
Wynn, who grew up in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, was descended from a line of performers. Her ...
and
Philip Carey
Philip Carey (born Eugene Joseph Carey, July 15, 1925February 6, 2009) was an American actor.
Early life and education
On July 15, 1925, Carey was born in Hackensack, New Jersey.Leo Katcher, it was filmed at the
Corriganville
__NOTOC__
Corriganville Movie Ranch was a working film studio and movie ranch for outdoor location shooting, as well as a Western-themed tourist attraction. The ranch, owned by actor and stuntman Ray "Crash" Corrigan, was located in the foothi ...
movie ranch
A movie ranch is a ranch that is at least partially dedicated for use as a set in the creation and production of motion pictures and television shows. These were developed in the United States in southern California, because of the climate. The ...
.p. 366 Schneider, Jerry L. ''Corriganville Movie Ranch'' Lulu.com, 30/08/2007
Plot
Returning from a patrol, a well liked officer of the 14th Cavalry is wounded in the leg by a renegade
Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
's arrow. Brought back to the post, their incompetent surgeon kills him through a lack of knowledge of stopping bleeding. As the three previous post surgeons were an alcoholic, a drug addict and a surgeon whom the soldiers regarded as being a "butcher", a new surgeon is requested who is competent. Surgeon Lieutenant Seward arrives at the post with the wife of Colonel Waters, commanding the regiment, and his flirtatious niece Laurie.
Waters and Captain Peter Blake are concerned with recovering ten stolen repeating rifles and preventing the so far peaceful
Kiowa
Kiowa () people are a Native American tribe and an indigenous people of the Great Plains of the United States. They migrated southward from western Montana into the Rocky Mountains in Colorado in the 17th and 18th centuries,Pritzker 326 and e ...
from leaving their reservation to join up with the warlike Comanche. Both treat the Kiowa roughly as enemies without concern for their welfare as government wards and human beings. Doctor Seward accompanies Blake to the reservation to recover the rifles and meets a white woman who has become Manyi-ten, and the tribal medicine man, Isatai, gaining compassion for the Kiowa. The woman's son has
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. ...
; Blake tries to prevent Seward from treating him, but Seward does so anyway.
Seward tries to prevent an epidemic and suggests that the Kiowa move off their fetid reservation to the high country. An angry Colonel Waters at first places him under house arrest but then sends him on a combat patrol that is ambushed when the two tribes combine against them. With a number of troopers killed and wounded, the command turns on Seward as a "wood hawk" (traitor). Only Laurie, with a growing compassion for the Kiowa, remains loyal to Seward.
Manyi-ten brings warning of a combined attack on the fort by both the Comanche and Kiowa. The fort is besieged and half of the garrison comes down with malaria. Seward leaves the post to persuade Isatai into making peace but Blake follows in the dark to kill him as a traitor. Instead he shoots Spotted Wolf, the warrior son of chief Satanta. Seward brings Spotted Wolf back to the fort to operate on him and possibly stop the war. Despite his enmity, the colonel acquiesces in the face of the threat of overwhelming attack. Seward saves Spotted Wolf's life and Satanta calls off the war. Colonel Waters, in turn, vows to do all he can to allow the Kiowa to continue to live peacefully in the high country.