Western

Ulzana's Raid

Universal Pictures

The Associates & Aldrich Company

De Haven Productions

United States of America

English

Burt Lancaster

Bruce Davison

Jorge Luke

Richard Jaeckel

Joaquín Martínez

Lloyd Bochner

Karl Swenson

Douglass Watson

Dran Hamilton

John Pearce

Gladys Holland

Margaret Fairchild

Aimée Eccles

Richard Bull

Otto Reichow

Dean Smith

Larry Randles

Hal Maguire

Ted Markland

R. L. Armstrong

John McKee

Tony Epper

Nick Cravat

Fred Brookfield

Jerry Gatlin

Walter Scott

William H. Burton Jr.

Richard Farnsworth

Henry Camargo

Larry Colelay

Gil Escandon

Marvin Fragua

Frank Gonzales

Benny Thompson

George Aguilar

Wallace Sinyella

Hal Baylor

Steve DeFrance

Ross Loney

Neil Summers

Alan Sharp

Robert Aldrich

Frank De Vol

James Dowell Vance

Joseph F. Biroc

Waldon O. Watson

Ernest B. Wehmeyer

Malcolm R. Harding

James R. Alexander

John McCarthy Jr.

Glenn Wright

Michael Luciano

Carter DeHaven

Harold Hecht

Tony Lloyd

Mike Moschella

Lorraine Roberson

Charles Clement

Jerry Grandey

Tom Joyner

Richard Leon

Gary Moreno

Ygnacio Sepulveda

Ward Welton

John Martinez

George Malley

Don Sharpless

Sass Bedig

William H. Burton Sr.

Chuck Courtney

Patty Elder

Alan Gibbs

Mario Luraschi

Ron Veto

Robert Aldridge

Larry Barbier

John L. Black

Ernest R. Eells

John Flanagan

Gilbert Haimson

Bill Hannah

Roy Hogstedt

Joe Jackman

Kenneth Peach Jr.

Paul Schwake Jr.

Frank Kennedy

James Gilmore

Buzz Newhouse

Nick Chiarolanzio

Robert Gary

Kelly Aldrich

Jack Lloyd

Howard Brandy

John Buckins

Maybe you don't want to think of the white man being savage like the Apache?

Apache renegade Ulzana goes on a murder raid, hot on his trail is a posse of cavalrymen. Led by the young and inexperienced Lt. Garnett DeBuin, the cavalrymen in order to survive and defeat Ulzana, must rely on the help of tough old scout McIntosh and his trusty Indian friend, Ke-Ni-Tay.

Directed masterfully by Robert Aldrich ("The Dirty Dozen" & "The Longest Yard"), Ulzana's Raid is just shy of being an uncompromising masterpiece. There is no pandering to political correctness here, this is showing the bitter hostility of the Indian War, torture and murderous inclination is the order of the day. The allegories to Vietnam are hard to ignore as our band of men are struggling out in the wilderness against Ulzana's hostile raiders, the sprawling mountainous landscape another tool to the already handily equipped Apache.

What lifts Ulzana's Raid high above many of its contemporaries is the on the money dialogue. A wonderfully complex script from Alan Sharp manages to make all the characters intriguing and deserving of further delving. The Apache are savage, and Aldrich doesn't flinch from showing this, but they are afforded respect, and crucially, understanding. This could quite easily have been a one sided blood letting exercise in Western folklore, but it isn't. The motives and attitudes of the white man party is there for all to scrutinise, with much attention to detail given as the many conversations bring rich and rewarding results to the discerning viewer. From the off it's evident that McIntosh & DeBuin have vastly different views of Ulzana's actions, but as the film moves forward - all manner of questions leap out, be it Christian values, racial hatred or merely imperialistic trust, all parties involved are hurtling towards the final reckoning.

Burt Lancaster is perfect as McIntosh, grizzled and carrying a frame made for such a rigorous terrain. Playing DeBuin is Bruce Davison, boyish charm fused expertly with unwanted bravado, while stealing the film is Jorge Luke as Ke-Ni-Tay. A performance of great depth that holds and binds the picture brilliantly. Sadly this film has been a victim of much interference over the years, (studio and Lancaster himself to blame), so much so there is thought to be about 6 cuts of the film out there in the home entertainment world. Thankfully we are now able to get a cut of the film that is almost complete, but still there remains to this day no definitive full cut of the film. German (the version I own) and Australian releases proclaim to have it uncut, but that's not accurate because there is still some three minutes missing from the very first cut of it - including a quite crucial sequence involving Sergeant and Trooper Miller (note at 49 minutes an intrusive  quick cut from a night scene to a day scene) Still, it has to be said that even with 3 minutes chopped out of it, Ulzana's Raid is still a grim and brilliant piece of work. Showing the savagery from both sides of the fence, Aldrich and his team refuse to cop out and pander to formula. 9/10

Ulzana's Raid (1972) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]

John Landis on ULZANA'S RAID

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Ulzana's Raid

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Cast

Burt Lancaster

Bruce Davison

Jorge Luke

Richard Jaeckel

Joaquín Martínez

Lloyd Bochner

Karl Swenson

Douglass Watson

Dran Hamilton

John Pearce

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