Like "Broken Arrow", which came out four years earlier, "Apache" deals with the Apache Wars of the late nineteenth century and is loosely based on fact. It is, however, set at a rather later period of history than the earlier film. Geronimo, the last Apache chief to continue to resist the white settlement of the American South-West has finally been forced to surrender to the US Army. (Geronimo played a minor role in "Broken Arrow" as the main opponent of Cochise's peace treaty with the whites). Geronimo and his warriors are transported by train to a reservation in Florida. While they are passing through St Louis, however, one warrior, Massai, manages to escape and sets out to walk all the way to back his homeland.
Another similarity between this film and "Broken Arrow" is that both are made from a point of view sympathetic to Native Americans. Indeed, "Apache" goes further than the earlier film in this respect. In "Broken Arrow" the main Indian character, Cochise, and the main white character, Tom Jeffords, are both treated sympathetically and are given equal prominence. Here Massai is very much the most important character, more prominent than any of the white characters, none of whom are particularly sympathetic.
A key scene in the film comes when Massai, on his long trek back to the South-West, meets a Comanche farmer in Oklahoma. Hitherto Massai, like all Apaches, has seen himself as a proud hunter and warrior, scorning all those, be they whites or members of other Indian tribes, who earn a living by growing crops. Seeing, however, that the Comanche live in peace with their white neighbours, he reasons that a similar change of lifestyle could enable the Apache to do the same. Upon his arrival back in the Apache homelands, however, he discovers that the white settlers and the military have no intention of allowing him to live in peace, and he begins a one-man war against them.
As in "Broken Arrow" the main Indian characters, Massai and his wife Nalinle, are played by white actors, something which would today doubtless be condemned as politically incorrect but which in the fifties would have been regarded as quite acceptable. Burt Lancaster may have been attracted to the part by his liberal political convictions which were to become more important in his choice of roles later in his career. It must be said, however, that Lancaster is far less convincing as an Indian than Jeff Chandler had been in "Broken Arrow"; no attempt was made to hide the fact that both he and his co-star Jean Peters had blue eyes, something not normally associated with pure-bred Apaches. Another Indian character is played by a white actor, a young Charles Bronson in an early role. This was not, in fact, the first film in which Lancaster had played an American Indian; three years earlier he had played the title role in "Jim Thorpe- All American". Thorpe, however, although a member of the Sac and Fox nation, had European blood on both sides of his family, so Lancaster's looks were not such an issue in that film.
"Apache" is a frequently enjoyable Western adventure, but I would not rate it as highly as "Broken Arrow". Whereas "Broken Arrow" had tried to present a more balanced picture of life in the Old West than many traditional Westerns, which had simply portrayed Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages, "Apache" goes too far in the other direction, substituting for the old stereotype a new one of the American Indian as heroic noble savage. Burt Lancaster gets a chance to show off the athletic and acrobatic skills which were his stock-in-trade during the early part of his career, but this is not really one of his best performances or one of his best films. 6/10
Another similarity between this film and "Broken Arrow" is that both are made from a point of view sympathetic to Native Americans. Indeed, "Apache" goes further than the earlier film in this respect. In "Broken Arrow" the main Indian character, Cochise, and the main white character, Tom Jeffords, are both treated sympathetically and are given equal prominence. Here Massai is very much the most important character, more prominent than any of the white characters, none of whom are particularly sympathetic.
A key scene in the film comes when Massai, on his long trek back to the South-West, meets a Comanche farmer in Oklahoma. Hitherto Massai, like all Apaches, has seen himself as a proud hunter and warrior, scorning all those, be they whites or members of other Indian tribes, who earn a living by growing crops. Seeing, however, that the Comanche live in peace with their white neighbours, he reasons that a similar change of lifestyle could enable the Apache to do the same. Upon his arrival back in the Apache homelands, however, he discovers that the white settlers and the military have no intention of allowing him to live in peace, and he begins a one-man war against them.
As in "Broken Arrow" the main Indian characters, Massai and his wife Nalinle, are played by white actors, something which would today doubtless be condemned as politically incorrect but which in the fifties would have been regarded as quite acceptable. Burt Lancaster may have been attracted to the part by his liberal political convictions which were to become more important in his choice of roles later in his career. It must be said, however, that Lancaster is far less convincing as an Indian than Jeff Chandler had been in "Broken Arrow"; no attempt was made to hide the fact that both he and his co-star Jean Peters had blue eyes, something not normally associated with pure-bred Apaches. Another Indian character is played by a white actor, a young Charles Bronson in an early role. This was not, in fact, the first film in which Lancaster had played an American Indian; three years earlier he had played the title role in "Jim Thorpe- All American". Thorpe, however, although a member of the Sac and Fox nation, had European blood on both sides of his family, so Lancaster's looks were not such an issue in that film.
"Apache" is a frequently enjoyable Western adventure, but I would not rate it as highly as "Broken Arrow". Whereas "Broken Arrow" had tried to present a more balanced picture of life in the Old West than many traditional Westerns, which had simply portrayed Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages, "Apache" goes too far in the other direction, substituting for the old stereotype a new one of the American Indian as heroic noble savage. Burt Lancaster gets a chance to show off the athletic and acrobatic skills which were his stock-in-trade during the early part of his career, but this is not really one of his best performances or one of his best films. 6/10