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RomanceWestern

Apache Trail

- The Apaches are Coming!...and a group of whites, joined by fate, battle for survival!

The brother of a notorious outlaw is put in a charge of a stagecoach line way station in dangerous Apache territory. A stagecoach arrives at the station with a valuable box of cargo, and the outlaw brother soon shows up, though denying that he's planning to take the cargo box. Soon, however, rampaging Apaches attack the station, and the station manager, his brother and a disparate group of passengers and employees must fight them off.

Release Date : 1942-09-01

Language :English

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Lloyd Nolan

Character Name : Trigger Bill Folliard

Original Name : Lloyd Nolan

Gender : Male

Donna Reed

Character Name : Rosalia Martinez

Original Name : Donna Reed

Gender : Female

William Lundigan

Character Name : Tom Folliard

Original Name : William Lundigan

Gender : Male

Ann Ayars

Character Name : Constance Selden

Original Name : Ann Ayars

Gender : Female

Connie Gilchrist

Character Name : Señora Martinez

Original Name : Connie Gilchrist

Gender : Female

Chill Wills

Character Name : 'Pike' Skelton

Original Name : Chill Wills

Gender : Male

Miles Mander

Character Name : James V. Thorne

Original Name : Miles Mander

Gender : Male

Gloria Holden

Character Name : Mrs. James V. Thorne

Original Name : Gloria Holden

Gender : Female

Ray Teal

Character Name : Ed Cotton

Original Name : Ray Teal

Gender : Male

Grant Withers

Character Name : 'Les' Lestrade

Original Name : Grant Withers

Gender : Male

Fuzzy Knight

Character Name : Juke

Original Name : Fuzzy Knight

Gender : Male

Trevor Bardette

Character Name : Amber

Original Name : Trevor Bardette

Gender : Male

Tito Renaldo

Character Name : Cochee

Original Name : Tito Renaldo

Gender : Male

Frank M. Thomas

Character Name : Maj. Lowden

Original Name : Frank M. Thomas

Gender : Male

George Watts

Character Name : Judge Keeley

Original Name : George Watts

Gender : Male

Hank Bell

Character Name : Man in Stage Office (uncredited)

Original Name : Hank Bell

Gender : Male

Joseph E. Bernard

Character Name : Tall Man (uncredited)

Original Name : Joseph E. Bernard

Gender : Male

Ed Brady

Character Name : Man in Stage Office (uncredited)

Original Name : Ed Brady

Gender : Male

Nora Cecil

Character Name : Passenger (uncredited)

Original Name : Nora Cecil

Gender : Female

Edgar Dearing

Character Name : Marshal (uncredited)

Original Name : Edgar Dearing

Gender : Male

Sarah Edwards

Character Name : Stagecoach Passenger (uncredited)

Original Name : Sarah Edwards

Gender : Female

Byron Foulger

Character Name : Clerk (uncredited)

Original Name : Byron Foulger

Gender : Male

Al Hill

Character Name : Shotgun Guard (uncredited)

Original Name : Al Hill

Gender : Male

Arthur Hoyt

Character Name : Meredith - Stage Passenger (uncredited)

Original Name : Arthur Hoyt

Gender : Male

Mitchell Lewis

Character Name : Bolt Saunders (uncredited)

Original Name : Mitchell Lewis

Gender : Male

Emory Parnell

Character Name : Mr. Walters (uncredited)

Original Name : Emory Parnell

Gender : Male

Walter Soderling

Character Name : Stage Station Clerk (uncredited)

Original Name : Walter Soderling

Gender : Male

Reviews

J

John Chard

@John Chard

2024-05-16

The Domino Judgement. Apache Trail is directed by Richard Thorpe and adapted to screenplay by Maurice Geraghty from a story by Ernest Haycox. It stars Lloyd Nolan, Donna Reed, William Lundigan, Ann Ayars, Connie Gilchrist and Chill Wills. Music is by Sol Kaplan and cinematography by Sidney Wagner. Ernest Haycox's "Stage Station" was put together as Apache Trail and ended up being a better than average "B" Western. Set essentially at the Tonto Valley Station, story finds Nolan and Lundigan as polar opposite brothers caught in the middle of the Apache's ire on account of Nolan's dastardly ways. Also at the station are a roll call of familiar 1940s Western characters, gruff men of honour, some lovely women causing sexual friction and a token Indian guy working for the whites. This small group of people will have to defend the Station (come Fort) against what seems like 300 Apache's; that is unless they agree to give up Nolan, who of course has "not" exactly endeared himself to the group during the siege. While there's naturally the "brother" angle hanging heavy in the air, something which almost detracts from the love triangle sub-plot as the "honest as apple pie" Reed (playing a Latino!) and "smoking hot but questionable in morals" Ayars conspire to put hero in waiting Lundigan in a choice situation. The production is a mixture of poor rear projection and stage work with gorgeous exterior location work (Tucson, Arizona), while the acting is exactly what it is, a group of actors either contracted to the studio, working for food or hopefully taking the first steps on the ladder to better opportunities. The photography is very nice, but the poor racist bravado of the era is not, while Thorpe's staging of action is indicative of his career in how he makes a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Accept it for the time it was made and this is a decent and enjoyable film. It was loosely remade in 1952 as Apache War Smoke, suffice to say that even then, ten years later, the material still didn't advance to anything out of the ordinary. 6/10