| Apache | |
|---|---|
_poster.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Aldrich |
| Screenplay by | James R. Webb |
| Based on | novelBroncho Apache byPaul Wellman |
| Produced by | Harold Hecht |
| Starring | Burt Lancaster Jean Peters John McIntire |
| Cinematography | Ernest Laszlo |
| Edited by | Alan Crosland Jr. |
| Music by | David Raksin |
Production companies |
|
| Distributed by | United Artists |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1,240,000[1] or $1 million[2] |
| Box office | $10 million(US/Canada) 1.2 million tickets(France)[3] |
Apache is a 1954 AmericanWestern film directed byRobert Aldrich and starringBurt Lancaster,Jean Peters andJohn McIntire. The film was based on the novelBroncho Apache byPaul Wellman, which was published in 1936.[4] It was Aldrich's first color film.
Following the surrender of the great leaderGeronimo,Massai — the lastApache warrior — is captured and sent on a prison train to a reservation in Florida. But he manages to escape in Oklahoma and heads back to his homeland to win back his woman and settle down to grow crops. His pursuers have other ideas, though.
In April 1952Burt Lancaster announced he would star in a film based on the novel, to be produced by himself and Harold Hecht. Lancaster had previously played an American Indian inJim Thorpe – All-American.[5] Both Lancaster and his love interest, played byJean Peters, appeared inbrownface in the film.
In June 1953, Lancaster and Hecht announced they would make two films withUnited Artists, starting withApache.[6][7] The film would be the first in a series of movies Lancaster made forUnited Artists.[2] It was originally budgeted at $742,000.[8]
In July 1953 the producers hiredRobert Aldrich as a director.[9] Aldrich says this was on the back of his second feature as director,World for Ransom, along with the fact that he had previously worked for Hecht-Lancaster on other movies as an assistant and had tried to buy the original novel himself.[10]
The ending of the novel featured the leading character killed by US troops. "Of course, United Artists and Hecht became apprehensive of that so called down-beat ending," said Aldrich. "I made noise but they didn't hear me; then you go through the steps but you know they're going to use that happy ending."[10]
Filming started October 19, 1953, in Sonora, after a week of rehearsal.[11] Lancaster tore a ligament while filming a horse scene on the film.[12] He returned to filming relatively quickly.[13]
The film was a big hit, earning over$3 million intheatrical rentals during its first year of release and $6 million in overall North American rentals. Aldrich subsequently directed Hecht-Lancaster's next film,Vera Cruz.[14]
The film earned$3.25 million in American and Canadian rentals during 1954,[15] and it went on to generate total gross receipts of$10 million in the United States and Canada.[3] In France, the film sold 1,216,098 tickets at the box office.[16]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 64% of 11 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.5/10.[17] At the time,Clyde Gilmour praised the film as "one of the most exciting and entertaining westerns Hollywood has produced,"[18] while theNew York Times criticized it as "slow and dull."[19] Retrospective reviews have praised the film for its "acceptance of the alien nature of the Apache"[20] and "more than the standard revisionist bromides."[21]
