Run of the Arrow (1957)

Too much of everything

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Idont like this movie , i saw this movie only because sarita montiel was in it , she play an Indian and some of the review said the pretty Mexican actress please She was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of Castile-La Mancha in 1928 as María Antonia Abad (complete name María Antonia Alejandra Vicenta Elpidia Isidora Abad Fernández). After her unprecedented international hit in Juan de Orduña's El Último Cuplé in 1957, Montiel achieved the status of mega-star in Europe and Latin America. She was the first woman to distill sex openly in Spanish cinema at a time when even a low cut dress was not acceptable.sarita was not Mexican and she became the biggest European star of the cinema after Brigitte Bardot and today she make fun of American she said back in the 50s the American were so ignorant they don't know the different between Spain and Mexico they don't even know where Spain was located,Sarita thank god went back to Europe and the rest is history, BY THE WAY BACK THEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO ANTHONY MANN

If proof was needed that Rod Steiger could be the proverbial ham, then simply watch an early scene from Run of the Arrow (1957) where he talks to his mother about honour. This scene encapsulates everything that was wrong with Steiger as an actor unrestrained by the guiding force of a strong director.Rod Steiger yet again gives us another dodgy accent that sounds like his character spent the American Civil War years vacationing in Pakistan.This is not the first time Steiger has ruined a movie by using his assumed talent for accents. Napoleon comes to mind. I for one, believe Rod Steiger ruined Sergio Leone's Duck, You Sucker (1971) with another irritatingly dodgy accent. Had Eli Wallach been given the role of Juan Miranda as was originally intended, the film could have been regarded as yet another undisputed Leone classic.The problem with Steiger as an actor was that he was uncharismatic. He had no natural charm, so it was hard to empathise with any sympathetic character he played.Rod Steiger's talent was for playing larger than life characters with unpleasant characteristics such as Gilespie in "In the Heat of the Night" (1967) or Komarovsky in "Doctor Zhivago" (1965). Playing a hero and a charming one at that was not within Steigers' range.This film might be the first to use "squibs" but so what? It still used painted-up Caucasians as the featured Indians, so I don't think it was that ahead of its time.This is a terrible movie that becomes unwatchable as soon a Steiger opens his mouth.

Think Western and Rod Steiger doesn't come to mind. But producer-director Fuller needed a first-rate actor for his complex story. So the New York trained Steiger got the part and is quite good too. Though I don't buy him out-racing the powerfully built Crazy Wolf (Wynant). This is an excellent Western, expertly cast and wonderfully staged. In fact, some of the scenic shots resemble Frederick Remington landscapes. It's also a story of ideas. I like the way writer Fuller prepares us for O'Meara's (Steiger) act of mercy by having him cling to Christian beliefs though every other part of him has become Sioux Indian. Thus, when he shoots Lt. Driscoll (Meeker) to spare him further pain, we understand why. It's also the point at which O'Meara realizes he's inescapably American, Johnny Reb or not. On the other hand, why the Indian girl rashly saves O'Meara is never made clear. The movie's about alienation and belonging, and though I don't agree with all Fuller's points, he does get beyond the Western clichés of the period. Note, for example, how the tribe decides rather democratically whether to accept O'Meara as a Sioux. And though there are the usual plot contrivances to generate action, both peoples are shown as deserving respect.Too bad the movie's so obscure. It's as broad in scope (first-rate locations and large cast, including real Indians), and is more thoughtful than John Ford's celebrated cavalry trilogy. I suspect one reason for the neglect is the unfortunate releasing tangle when the scheduled RKO went suddenly belly-up. The film ended up being released by low-budget Universal who likely dumped it without much promotion; at least, I don't recall any fanfare at the time. Thus, this independent production slipped into underground obscurity. Still and all, Fuller's film can also be seen as an important step on the way to such counter-cultural Westerns as Ulzana's Raid (1972), Little Big Man (1970), and the bloody The Wild Bunch (1969). Nonetheless, significances aside, it's still a darn entertaining movie.

This oater is a rather gory affair of a bitter ex-rebel's quest to put the Civil War behind him. The Confederate soldier heads west and decides that life among the Plains Indians is preferable to being a citizen of the United States after the war. Rod Steiger was probably the best actor to play the unreconstructed southerner in this grim cavalry-Indian western. The unhappy southerner finds companionship with an Indian maiden in his adopted tribe and harbors as much hatred for the soldiers as do the Indians. The film starts slowly but finds its own groove and delivers fine action sequences although some scenes are not for the squeamish. Brian Keith, Ralph Meeker, Charles Bronson and Frank de Kova are good in supporting roles. Pretty Mexican actress Sarita Montiel pairs up with O'Meara's but her overall effect is diminished by the obvious dubbing of her voice.