Apache Drums

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Apache Drums
Apache Drums Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Hugo Fregonese
Screenplay byDavid Chandler
Story by Harry Brown
Based onHis original story "Stand at Spanish Boot"
Produced by Val Lewton
Starring Stephen McNally
Coleen Gray
Cinematography Charles P. Boyle
Edited byMilton Carruth
Music by Hans J. Salter
Color process Technicolor
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release dates
  • May 6, 1950 (1950-05-06)(New York) [1]
  • June 20, 1950 (1950-06-20)(Los Angeles) [2]
Running time
75 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$395,000 [3]
Box office$1.4 million (US rentals) [4]

Apache Drums is a 1951 American Western film directed by Hugo Fregonese, produced by Val Lewton and starring Stephen McNally, Coleen Gray and Willard Parker. The film is based on the story Stand at Spanish Boot, written by Harry Brown. [1]

Contents

Plot

A notorious gambler is evicted from the town of Spanish Boot, New Mexico, but he quickly returns when he discovers that the town is threatened by the Mescalero Apaches, led by Chief Victorio.

Cast

Production

The film is based on the Harry Brown story Siege at Spanish Boot, which was purchased by Universal Pictures in May 1950. [5] The film's working title was War Dance. [6]

The film was shot in Apple Valley, California and in the Mojave Desert.[ citation needed ]

Universal wanted producer Val Lewton to produce additional films, but he accepted an offer to work for Stanley Kramer just before Lewton's death from a heart attack in 1951. [3]

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler wrote: "It's true, of course, that the boys in blue take an awful long time in coming to the aid of the beleaguered party, but the late Val Lewton, who produced, and Hugo Fregonese, who directed, have trained their Technicolor cameras so as to capture majestic stretches of multi-colored, towering buttes and shimmering desert wastes. ... 'Apache Drums' is tense and exciting fare when its green and red-painted Indians, yelping and keening, ride to attack or literally bite the dust with authentic thuds. When it is loquaciously appraising its principals, it is, to quote one of them, 'kind of dull and tame.'" [1]

Critic John L. Scott of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "There's nothing new or halfway startling about this shoot-'em-up tale of life in a settlement called Spanish Boot, N.M., except, perhaps, the premise that Spanish Boot is made up of law-abiding, God-fearing villagers who will not tolerate gamblers or female camp followers. ... Western devotees will get their fill of action in this one as bodies of white and redskin pile up." [2]

The film was successful at the box office. [7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Weiler, A. H. (May 7, 1951). "The Screen in Review: Cavalry Arrives in Nick of Time". The New York Times . p. 22.
  2. 1 2 Scott, John L. (June 21, 1951). "Dramas of Early West and Hollywood Coupled". Los Angeles Times . p. 8, Part II.
  3. 1 2 Siegel, Joel E (1973). Val Lewton: the reality of terror. Viking Press. pp. 96–98. ISBN   978-0-670-74231-8.
  4. ↑ "Top Grossers of 1951". Variety. January 2, 1952. p. 70.
  5. ↑ "Briefs From the Lots". Variety . 178 (9): 16. May 10, 1950.
  6. ↑ "Briefs From the Lots". Variety . 179 (10): 20. August 16, 1950.
  7. ↑ "$13,427,000 Gross For 1st Qtr. Reflects Big Payoff to U on Comball Pix". Variety . 186 (4): 7. April 2, 1952.
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