Begins on sepia photos of Native Indians - the Apache are at the heart of the story. Then an amazing silent scene featuring horses, which 'Indian' Paul Newman helps to catch. It turns out he's white but been raised by the Apache, which puts him out of favour with fellow passengers he's forced to travel with...
They are:
Shifty fraudster Fredric March and his lady Barbara Rush
Coarse roughneck Richard Boone
Tough boarding house lady Diane Cilento
Nice Mexican Martin Balsam
Young married couple Peter Lazer and Margaret Blye
...until, of course, they need him when they're held up. Bad guys are Cameron Mitchell, Frank Silvera, Skip Ward. Newman's stillness is well to the fore here.
It's beautifully shot in deep focus by Jimmy Wong Howe, who also collaborated with the director on Hud. Good story by Elmore Leonard, adapted by Irving Ravetch and Harriet Frank, in its characters and the critique of white oppression of Indians. Good score from David Rose. Edited by Frank Bracht.
20th Century Fox.
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