Post by kijii on Oct 5, 2018 18:43:52 GMT
Run of the Arrow (1957) / Samuel Fuller
Rented from Amazon Prime
Continuing on with my Sam Fuller viewing project, this are my latest entry---
While I am generally not a great fan of Western movies, I find something new and interesting here.
To me, this movie is about a defeated Rebel from the American Civil war (an infantryman from Virginia) who was so demoralized by the South's loss to the Union that he wanted to escape the USA and go somewhere else and start over over rather than continuing to face life as a defeated soldier while being governed by those who had defeated him.
But, there is a story purposely inserted into this movie that draws a somewhat parallel analogy to his problem. The inserted story was "The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale, first published in The Atlantic in December 1863. I remember first reading this story in my high school English class: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_a_Country.
Back to the movie---
An Confederate soldier of Irish decent, O'Meara (Rod Steiger) witnesses the defeat of Lee to Grant on Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865 at Appomatox, Virginia. After witnessing the surrender, he almost assassinates Grant, but is discouraged by bystander who tells him that if he assassinates Grant, he might as well assassinate Lee too. The shame to Lee would be more than he could tolerate.
Not being able to tolerate defeat, O'Meara travels far to the West which is not yet part of the US. There, he meets and befriends a renegade Sioux Indian scout, Walking Coyote (Jay C. Flippen). Over some time, Walking Coyote teaches O'Meara the language and customs of the Sioux. When the two are captured together, by a local Sioux chief, Blue Buffalo (Charles Bronson). Walking Coyote saves their lives by proclaiming that they could win in the Run of the Arrow. They are challenged and O'Meara survives the challenge and is adopted by the tribe as a Sioux.
O'Meara is then married to a Souix "squaw," Yellow Moccasin (Sara Montiel), and adopts a mute boy, Silent Tongue. However, his loyalty is challenged when he is chosen to lead American cavalryman to the site of a new American fort to be established outside of the Souix buffalo hunting grounds (the agreement for establishing such a fort was agreed to by the Souix and the American government)......
This is a winning story for me. My only complaint is that the Souix refer to the American cavalryman as "Americans" rather than "white men," which is what I think American Indians actually called them.
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter (Rod Steiger) : [Sick with fever, approaches the tribe] I wish... I wish to speak to your chief Blue Buffalo...
Blue Buffalo (Charles Bronson) : [Rising from the ground where he was squatting] I'm Blue Buffalo!
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter : I've lived the Run of the Arrow!
Blue Buffalo : [Blue buffalo has a warrior check O'Meara's feet and addresses Crazy Wolf] Is this the man that out ran you?
Crazy Wolf (H.M. Wynant) : Yes.
Blue Buffalo : [Addressing O'Meara] You are the first to outlive the Run. You will never die by the hand of a Sioux for this. Give him back his horse and everything else that belongs to him. I don't understand. you speak Sioux like Sioux not like a white man.
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter : My teacher was Walking Coyote.
Blue Buffalo : That poor renegade.
[as Blue Buffalo says this ,O'Meara collapses and faints]
Crazy Wolf : [Crazy Wolf checks on him] He's sick with the fever!
Blue Buffalo : [Addressing the village] Our law prevents us from killing any man who lives the Run. But we have no law to help him live. The choice is yours. Who among you will help him thru the night?
Yellow Moccasin (Sara Montiel): I will. I will help him thru the night.
Pictured above its the back of Rod Steiger as he is challenged by Ralph Meeker, the soldier Steiger had previously shot and missed at the end of the War Between the States and now faced as an opportunistic American cavalryman ----(Does anyone notice that Sam Fuller often has a character in his movie chomping on a cigar? It almost seems like a trademark of a Fuller movie.)
Rented from Amazon Prime
Continuing on with my Sam Fuller viewing project, this are my latest entry---
While I am generally not a great fan of Western movies, I find something new and interesting here.
To me, this movie is about a defeated Rebel from the American Civil war (an infantryman from Virginia) who was so demoralized by the South's loss to the Union that he wanted to escape the USA and go somewhere else and start over over rather than continuing to face life as a defeated soldier while being governed by those who had defeated him.
But, there is a story purposely inserted into this movie that draws a somewhat parallel analogy to his problem. The inserted story was "The Man Without a Country" by Edward Everett Hale, first published in The Atlantic in December 1863. I remember first reading this story in my high school English class: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Without_a_Country.
Back to the movie---
An Confederate soldier of Irish decent, O'Meara (Rod Steiger) witnesses the defeat of Lee to Grant on Palm Sunday, April 9, 1865 at Appomatox, Virginia. After witnessing the surrender, he almost assassinates Grant, but is discouraged by bystander who tells him that if he assassinates Grant, he might as well assassinate Lee too. The shame to Lee would be more than he could tolerate.
Not being able to tolerate defeat, O'Meara travels far to the West which is not yet part of the US. There, he meets and befriends a renegade Sioux Indian scout, Walking Coyote (Jay C. Flippen). Over some time, Walking Coyote teaches O'Meara the language and customs of the Sioux. When the two are captured together, by a local Sioux chief, Blue Buffalo (Charles Bronson). Walking Coyote saves their lives by proclaiming that they could win in the Run of the Arrow. They are challenged and O'Meara survives the challenge and is adopted by the tribe as a Sioux.
O'Meara is then married to a Souix "squaw," Yellow Moccasin (Sara Montiel), and adopts a mute boy, Silent Tongue. However, his loyalty is challenged when he is chosen to lead American cavalryman to the site of a new American fort to be established outside of the Souix buffalo hunting grounds (the agreement for establishing such a fort was agreed to by the Souix and the American government)......
This is a winning story for me. My only complaint is that the Souix refer to the American cavalryman as "Americans" rather than "white men," which is what I think American Indians actually called them.
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter (Rod Steiger) : [Sick with fever, approaches the tribe] I wish... I wish to speak to your chief Blue Buffalo...
Blue Buffalo (Charles Bronson) : [Rising from the ground where he was squatting] I'm Blue Buffalo!
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter : I've lived the Run of the Arrow!
Blue Buffalo : [Blue buffalo has a warrior check O'Meara's feet and addresses Crazy Wolf] Is this the man that out ran you?
Crazy Wolf (H.M. Wynant) : Yes.
Blue Buffalo : [Addressing O'Meara] You are the first to outlive the Run. You will never die by the hand of a Sioux for this. Give him back his horse and everything else that belongs to him. I don't understand. you speak Sioux like Sioux not like a white man.
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter : My teacher was Walking Coyote.
Blue Buffalo : That poor renegade.
[as Blue Buffalo says this ,O'Meara collapses and faints]
Crazy Wolf : [Crazy Wolf checks on him] He's sick with the fever!
Blue Buffalo : [Addressing the village] Our law prevents us from killing any man who lives the Run. But we have no law to help him live. The choice is yours. Who among you will help him thru the night?
Yellow Moccasin (Sara Montiel): I will. I will help him thru the night.
Pictured above its the back of Rod Steiger as he is challenged by Ralph Meeker, the soldier Steiger had previously shot and missed at the end of the War Between the States and now faced as an opportunistic American cavalryman ----(Does anyone notice that Sam Fuller often has a character in his movie chomping on a cigar? It almost seems like a trademark of a Fuller movie.)