Ulzana's Raid

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Western
Review: "The Wild Bunch" and the "The Searchers" are examples of very good westerns. "Ulzana's Raid" is underated.It has a lot of violence, most of it implied and not shown.Seing this film shows that many westerns are just people playng with guns.
J. E. Oliveira

Rating:
Summary: Violent adult western action
Review: Apache warrior, Ulzana, breaks treaty and takes a half-dozen braves on a final bloody killing spree. Young cavalry commander, Bruce Davison enlists the aid of aging scout Burt Lancaster to track the renegades and bring them to justice. The good and bad indians are wise and cruel, very serious and authentic portrayals. When I was a kid I was surprised by how violent the action was during the torture scenes. Richard Jaeckel is cool as the cavalry sargeant.

Rating:
Summary: Ulzana's Raid
Review: Being an author and Indian War researcher, I just have to take a minute and tell anyone interested in the Indian War conflicts in the 1867-1890 period of our western settlement to take note. This movie is a motion picture in real time action of what it was actually like in the southwest territory during the Indian War period. The Writer/Director and technical assistants have gone well above the Hollywood norm to bring to you the actual sights and sounds of small unit cavalry actions against Apache Indian hostiles, and have left no stone unturned. The panoramic scenery is a bonus in itself. The Apaches helped write the book on guerilla warefare and this is what this movie is about. The small Apache hostile band depicted in the movie were terrorists, make no mistake about it, and their acting is superb as well as their movement and presentation. Every scene in this movie and it's script is as if it were taken directly from official war department reports in the National Archives. Every still frame could be mounted on a wall as a portrait. Even the proper number of buttons on uniforms, horse equipment, and the exact firearms used (with the exception of a few Winchester model '92'rifles)are correct as well as the Army-Scout-civilian personal inter-action and relationships. The Apache warrior dress, mindset and demeanor is exact. Their knives and motives are razor sharp. Of all the motion pictures I have studied beginning with "They died with their boots on" to date, this one is the real thing. From the very first scene until the last, there are NO mistakes. It shares the absolute terror, fear and uncertainity of this type of warfare with it's viewer. You have no choice. This is not a "Hollywood Western" in anybody's book. It is a Classic. It is a brutal, no holds barred, brilliantly directed and performed production. It should be viewed in high school or college classes to drive home a very true and clear picture of the cultural clashes involving the settlement of the west and civilization everywhere. It would open some eyes. If you want an action filled evening's entertainment with popcorn, this is it. If you want to see what the Indian Wars were really like and ride in the saddle, Apache or Cavalry, this is it. The situations in the film can be just as easily repeated today. Please don't let this one pass by you, even if you only see it once in your life. It's a keeper. When it's finished, remind yourself as you turn off your system that things like this DID happen, and probably will happen again in our history. The Writer/Director did the homework for you on this one. It's a undusted classic. As for Burt Lancaster? Just watch it. Thank you.

Rating:
Summary: A Lot of People Missed This One
Review: Bob Clay covered the details. I want to second his review. This movie was missed on release. It is one hard, tough, violent, even brutal Western with a great cast, and an intelligent, uncompromising script. Ostensibly, a politically incorrect view of the Apaches, it does not spare the soldiers either. It presents a harsh land and time and the hard people that lived in it. It examines and gives explanation to the seemingly inhuman cruelties perpetrated on both sides. One of Burt Lancaster's best performances, he is matched by a fine cast. Excellent direction by Robert Aldrich builds tension and suspense. A dandy.

Rating:
Summary: Bitter struggle in a grim land.
Review: Burt Lancaster made an offbeat little group of western movies in the early seventies ("Lawman," "Valdez is Coming," and "Ulzana's Raid") that managed to transcend the typical western cliches of "a man, a horse, and a gun." "Ulzana's Raid" is a fine film of the culture clash between white people and the Apache. Movies typically make one group or the other the "good guys." For years, white people were portrayed heroically, and Native Americans were portrayed as murderous savages, only good for six-gun fodder. Later, some films (e.g., "Dances With Wolves") reversed the pattern and made Native Americans noble, brave, and admirable while white people were portrayed as cowardly, cruel, and shallow. Thankfully, this film cuts through the nonsense of personal biases and politically correct causes, and portrays both sides as three-dimensional human beings caught in a hopeless conflict.

An Apache named Ulzana leads a samll party of warriors off their Arizona reservation, and they launch a brutal campaign of murder and violence. A world-weary Indian scout named McIntosh (Lancaster) and the enigmatic Apache soldier scout Ke-Ni-Tay (Jorge Luke) are ordered to guide a cavalry detail in pursuit of the war party. Lt. DeBuin (Bruce Davison) commands the soldiers. The inexperienced Debuin has a modicum of military training, but doesn't understand the Apache and their seeming ruthlessness. Debuin comes from a religious background, and he initially struggles with the belief the Apaches should be extended the hand of Christian fellowship, and not hunted down as animals. Viewers of the film share a learning experience in Apache practices and motivations through Debuin's eyes. After the grisly victim of an Apache raid is found Ke-Ni-Tay explains to the bewildered lieutenant the Apache concept of personal power taken from a conquered enemy. As the story unfolds, we find there is little essential difference bewteen the two cultures. Both are capable of extreme cruelty, racial hatred, and cunning. Both cultures endure sorrow and suffering in warfare. The vaunted courage of the Apaches is portrayed somewhat ironically because much of the violence they commit is against defenseless homesteaders. The chicanery of the corrupt Indian agent at the reservation displays the doubtful integrity of many white Americans in their treatment of Native Americans. The U. S. Army's by the book approach of dealing with the "Indian problem" speaks volumes of the white man's insensitivity. Ironically, DeBuin's repugnance at the cruelty of the Apaches boils over in racist comments directed at Ke-Ni-Tay. McIntosh, the ultimate realist, knows hating the Apache for their cruelty is like "hating the desert because there is no water on it." Deal with it for it is without illusions or idealistic visions.

This film is an excellent portrayl of a bitter struggle in a grim land. There are no winners in this conflict, only losers. There is enough action to please outdoor fans. The intelligent script is thought provoking. The story is tightly drawn, and the movie doesn't waste time on unnecessary dialogue or sub-plots. The violence is realistically portrayed, but not glorified. Family viewing is not advised. For those viewers interested in an intelligent western movie that moves well beyond the typical cliches, this film is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Bitter struggle in a grim land.
Review: Burt Lancaster made an offbeat little group of western movies in the early seventies ("Lawman," "Valdez is Coming," and "Ulzana's Raid") that managed to transcend the typical western cliches of "a man, a horse, and a gun." "Ulzana's Raid" is a fine film of the culture clash between white people and the Apache. Movies typically make one group or the other the "good guys." For years, white people were portrayed heroically, and Native Americans were portrayed as murderous savages, only good for six-gun fodder. Later, some films (e.g., "Dances With Wolves") reversed the pattern and made Native Americans noble, brave, and admirable while white people were portrayed as cowardly, cruel, and shallow. Thankfully, this film cuts through the nonsense of personal biases and politically correct causes, and portrays both sides as three-dimensional human beings caught in a hopeless conflict.

An Apache named Ulzana leads a samll party of warriors off their Arizona reservation, and they launch a brutal campaign of murder and violence. A world-weary Indian scout named McIntosh (Lancaster) and the enigmatic Apache soldier scout Ke-Ni-Tay (Jorge Luke) are ordered to guide a cavalry detail in pursuit of the war party. Lt. DeBuin (Bruce Davison) commands the soldiers. The inexperienced Debuin has a modicum of military training, but doesn't understand the Apache and their seeming ruthlessness. Debuin comes from a religious background, and he initially struggles with the belief the Apaches should be extended the hand of Christian fellowship, and not hunted down as animals. Viewers of the film share a learning experience in Apache practices and motivations through Debuin's eyes. After the grisly victim of an Apache raid is found Ke-Ni-Tay explains to the bewildered lieutenant the Apache concept of personal power taken from a conquered enemy. As the story unfolds, we find there is little essential difference bewteen the two cultures. Both are capable of extreme cruelty, racial hatred, and cunning. Both cultures endure sorrow and suffering in warfare. The vaunted courage of the Apaches is portrayed somewhat ironically because much of the violence they commit is against defenseless homesteaders. The chicanery of the corrupt Indian agent at the reservation displays the doubtful integrity of many white Americans in their treatment of Native Americans. The U. S. Army's by the book approach of dealing with the "Indian problem" speaks volumes of the white man's insensitivity. Ironically, DeBuin's repugnance at the cruelty of the Apaches boils over in racist comments directed at Ke-Ni-Tay. McIntosh, the ultimate realist, knows hating the Apache for their cruelty is like "hating the desert because there is no water on it." Deal with it for it is without illusions or idealistic visions.

This film is an excellent portrayl of a bitter struggle in a grim land. There are no winners in this conflict, only losers. There is enough action to please outdoor fans. The intelligent script is thought provoking. The story is tightly drawn, and the movie doesn't waste time on unnecessary dialogue or sub-plots. The violence is realistically portrayed, but not glorified. Family viewing is not advised. For those viewers interested in an intelligent western movie that moves well beyond the typical cliches, this film is highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Fresh Perspective
Review: Director Robert Aldrich was always a movie maker with conscience, though conscience didn't always prevail. The Dirty Dozen, for example, fails to rise above commercial action-adventure, while Whatever Happened to Baby Jane stands as a nasty exercise in gothic grotesqurie. Nonetheless, Ulzana's Raid remains a lasting tribute to a gutsy, principled filmmaker more uncompromised than most within the mushy ranks of Hollywood liberalism.

In a nutshell: both cavalry and Indian emerge from Ulzana's Raid as authentic human beings, acting on motives consistent with their beliefs and disparate cultures. In the final analysis, neither side is shown as occupying the moral highground. Instead both are shown as capable of sometimes cruel sometimes noble acts, utilizing both uncommon resourcefulness and distinct codes of honor. Sort of like real people, which for the mythologized world of the Western, represents real departure. If the cavalry wins, it's not because of numbers or superior men at arms. It's because they've been able to bribe an Indian turncoat into acting as scout. This is not ignoble subterfuge. Instead it reflects the Darwinist world of one culture replacing another and doing whatever it takes to people the land with their own kind. Moral hindsight would--I believe--favor the Indian because of prior claim on the land, and that's what's subversive about a movie like this. By equating the two sides, the Indian stands as the white man's equal, thereby undercutting notions of cultural superiority. That's why Bruce Davison's callow lieutenant keeps insisting on Christian beliefs. He's not so much afraid of losing the batttle or his own life as he is of losing notions of inherent superiority. It's also why Lancaster's wordless nod to the Apache scout before expiring is so meaningful. Despite appearances, the film is not an exercise in moral relativism. Instead, it's a very moral movie, requiring us to look deeply within ourselves, before labeling others as evil or barbaric. It's also why the Burt Lancaster character is so affecting. He understands this simple truth in a profound way.The parallels with international politics in the new millenium are too obvious to be overlooked, and the lessons remain as valid now as in 1973.

This is a thinking person's Western, one of the very best, and deserves rediscovery on at least at a cult level.

Rating:
Summary: Over Priced DVD
Review: I have the VHS of this movie. I would rate the movie as outstanding. I have waited for the DVD to come out but in my opinion it way over priced and people like me who are retired and on a fixed income cannot afford to pay the price you ask. If it comes down, a lot, I will save up my money and purchase this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: FULL-SCREEN (ALAS...) VERSION OF A SUPERB WESTERN
Review: I really don't understand what's going on in the mind of the people who decide which movies may have the honor to be released in the DVD standard. Take Robert Aldrich's ULZANA'S RAID for instance. Everybody knows or at least should know that only the curious ones and the movie lovers would bought this 1972 movie and that this category of viewers prefers a wide-screen version than a butchered version of the movie they choose. Alas, it seems that our beloved DVD producers are the sole unaware of this fact. Shame on them.

As usual, Robert Aldrich doesn't present in this film what the majority of people would expect from a mainstream western. All the characters featured in ULZANA'S RAID have a good reason to act the way they did, even Ulzana, an apache parked in a reservation, almost starving and deprived from his pride. The scout Burt Lancaster (or the director Aldrich) doesn't judge nor hate Ulzana, he's just scared to death of what could do a bunch of bloody warriors to farmers lost in the Arizona desert.

Aldrich, like Samuel Fuller, is a punching-ball director who likes to shake his audience so let's enjoy this dreadful vision of the West when men were searching frontiers, geographical and ethical.

A DVD zone your library. And for the garbage can as soon as a wide-screen version is available.

Rating:
Summary: I'm On Their Side
Review: I've always been on the side of the Indians. As wonderful as this film is in terms of location and characterizations, I have one objection to it. Like so many other Westerns "fact based" or not the Indian always loses eventually and he's made the villain! Instead of portraying Ulzana as just jumping the rez, he's portrayed as someone out for "new smells" such as killing. What logical purpose would Ulzana have for taking settlers down when he'd make a whole lot better time by just running till they crossed out of the Army's jurisdiction? They made him that way to appeal to the villainous stereotype of the Indian. I'm sure if Ulzana was based on a real person, he was probably a whole lot different. I wonder if anyone remembers the first scene? Ulzana escaping the reservation WITHOUT taking any lives or burning. Even with the portrayed violence, how can anyone blame the Apache after what we've done to them? I was on the Apache side all the way.