War Arrow

1953 "Indian tomahawk and cavalry saber fighting side-by-side for the glory of the West!"
5.9| 1h18m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 26 December 1953 Released
Producted By: Universal International Pictures
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Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
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A thrilling Cavalry-versus-Indians adventure starring Jeff Chandler as an Army official recruiting Seminole allies, against his superior's wishes, to stop a planned Kiowa attack.

Genre

Western, Romance, War

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War Arrow (1953) is now streaming with subscription on Starz

Director

George Sherman

Production Companies

Universal International Pictures

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War Arrow Audience Reviews

Scanialara You won't be disappointed!
GrimPrecise I'll tell you why so serious
Acensbart Excellent but underrated film
ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
mark.waltz An army sergeant comes across an arrow while on his way to a fort within Seminole territory. The sergeant is thrilled by the discovery, but is told by another member of the party that pretty soon, he'd be able to collect them from his back. That sets up the plot for this lighthearted and easy going western that top bills gorgeous redhead Maureen O'Hara over army officer Jeff Chandler, heading to the fort to make sure that the Seminoles and their rivals, the Kiowas, are kept in line. "Conquest in the face of the American army always seemed so civil", I once heard in an analysis of the American takeover of the west, and if the gentility of a birthday party filled with discussions of their determination to keep the natives down seems one sided and a re-write of the truth in history, then this movie gives its viewer to check out what facts exist for themselves.What is good here is the efforts it shows between the peaceful Seminoles and the brutal Kiowa's. The script makes it clear that they only laid down their weapons was because of a treaty and promise of protection, although it's obvious how they lost their land. Suzan Ball is unbelievable as a Seminole maiden who is treated with kindness by O'Hara and only looks on her with contempt. O'Hara proves once again her ability to take on any man, here more verbally than physically, and certainly able to survive in the wilderness with the soul of any man without even cringing over the presence of a rattler found in her living room.For the romantic story between Chandler and O'Hara, this is certainly worth watching, and for the beauty of the land, really stunning. It makes an effort, at least half heartedly, to treat the natives with compassion, but reminds me of the wicked past of a part of American history that doesn't put it in the shining light that the history books pretend to proclaim as necessary.
Bob_Zerunkel You can always tell a bad Maureen O'Hara movie. If she is top billed, it's P U Stinky. Her main acting skills involve a mane of red hair and large bosoms.In this movie, O'Hara, once again, plays a fiery redhead who likes to tell the man she loves that she wants nothing to do with him. This was her sole role in movies until she got too old. Then she just got cranky with everybody.Jeff Chandler was second billed. The movie revolves around his character. He gets more screen time and all the action, but he is sadly lacking in the mammary department.They have plenty of Indians in this movie. Too many perhaps. It looks like they didn't all get outfitted in the same wardrobe department. Perhaps some of them simply wandered over from another movie.The plot is solid as a rock. There are a bunch of Indians who always attack in small groups. And there is another bunch that are peaceful. So the Army teaches the peaceful bunch how to fight in small groups like the other bunch. And then there is a big battle where everybody forgets their roles and just attacks everybody else en masse.And finally Maureen O'Hara gets to model a cool outfit.The end.This movie gets two stars: One for Ms. O'Hara's physical qualities, and one for her lack of screen time.I almost deducted a star for Dennis Weaver's portrayal of an Indian, but it was a relief to see the man walk around without a stick tied to his leg.
bkoganbing In War Arrow, Major Jeff Chandler is sent west with two trusty sergeant sidekicks, Charles Drake and Noah Beery, Jr., to implement some ideas of his own about fighting the Kiowas. His answer is to recruit some reservation Seminoles as a fighting force against the Kiowa. Seems as though the Kiowas like to raid their villages as a warm up before attacking whites and the Seminoles have no weapons to resist.These Kiowas led by Henry Brandon are devilishly tricky lot, almost as if they are led by someone who studied army military tactics. Turns out they are.In her memoirs Maureen O'Hara dismisses both of her films with Jeff Chandler, this film and Flame of Araby which makes this one look good. She said he was a nice man, but they had no chemistry together at all. Chandler probably was not terribly interested in the project, he was just beginning to fight for better roles than the action programmers he was doing under his Universal contract.Chandler is operating independently out of the fort commanded by John McIntire. Of course McIntire is obtuse and jealous because Chandler is romancing O'Hara who he has eyes for. Forgetting the jealousy angle, McIntire has every right to be put out about Chandler operating independently. The army chain of command is a sacred thing and any commander worth his salt wouldn't put up with it.Of course why the Seminoles would possibly want to go to war on behalf of the white man against other Indians is not satisfactorily explained, even with the Kiowas. It certainly would seem far more likely to team up with the Kiowas.On the plus side, War Arrow has some nice battle scenes, especially the climatic battle when the Kiowas come real close to capturing McIntire's fort. It also has some nice performances by Dennis Weaver and Suzan Ball playing Seminole lovers.But it sure won't be ranked as one of the great cinema westerns.
Nazi_Fighter_David "War Arrow" opens with major Jeff Chandler arriving at Fort Clark, Texas, and discovering that Colonel John McIntire openly opposes the government endorsed plan to make use of displaced Seminole Indians to stop the bloody Kiowa uprising on soldiers and settlers...In fact, the only person at the fort who is friendly to Chandler is Maureen O'Hara, the attractive widow of Captain James Bannon...All the action leads to a tidy end: Chandler discovers Bannon is very much alive (at least at the climax of the movie) and is really the renegade white chief of the Kiowas...In the small assigned action-packed moments in this slight entrance, the pillaging Kiowas are totally controlled... For a rare change Maureen had some harsh competition in the fascinating department, which was supplied by Suzan Ball as the passionately sensual daughter of the Seminole chief...The film is more of an excuse to show that excellent guys, always end up with excellent girls—even when the best guy resists authority and tries to match one tribe of Indians against another... All right! But not very imaginative... don't you think?