There's plenty of action in this one, but there's a lot of talk too. Basically, the movie is an anti-Apache harangue, complete with a large cast, actual location filming in Technicolor, and plenty of action. Maybe too much action. Maybe too much talk too. Certainly the movie would benefit from astute cutting but what to cut is the problem. Cutting Katy Jurado's scenes is the obvious method of attack, but she is not in the movie all that much anyway. Mary Sinclair could also go, but she has only one or two brief scenes. Throwing them away, is not going to make any difference. Besides, Mary Sinclair was actually a prolific TV actress who made only two movies (the other, playing herself briefly in 1974's Alice Goodbody), so it would be a shame to cut her brief role in Arrowhead. And it would also be difficult to cut Jack Palance's footage as just about all of it is essential to the plot. So the scissors would have to be sharpened for Charlton Heston. Although he's the good guy (the character was actually based on a real army scout named Al Seiber) and he's always in the right, this role is actually a bit of a liability as he often tends to rub the audience – as well the people on the screen – the wrong way! Available on an excellent Paramount DVD.

This is for me the most racist western of all time. At least, one of the most, because perhaps some are missing in my movie buff memory...It tells the terrific face too face between a racist white man, raised among Indians - Charlton Heston - who HATES Indians to death, and an authentic Indian, raised among white people, in white schools - Jack Palance - who HATES White ones...So their only purpose is to destroy each other. It's exciting at the most, not for the squeamish filled with good intentions. This is really a war monger western. Charlton Heston is here tall, handsome, strong, the authentic hero as American are used to show in their features. But he is a f...racist, and some people in the audiences may be influenced by his feeling about Indians. We can say it's somewhere disgusting. The same thing about Jack Palance. He is tall, handsome, strong, wild, attractive at the most, and he preaches war and destruction for the White people...Get what I mean? Nothing to do with James Stewart and Jeff Chandler in BROKEN ARROW....But, even if it is nasty, it remains a very good feature, a great western. It changes from anti racist or pro Indian ones.And I LOVE being surprised !!!There have been some films with their leads who were racists or bad ones, but the audiences got very quickly that the heroes were actually anti heroes, and they finally understood that they were on the wrong way. The audiences were not confused about that. Those movies denounced racism or something else...Take CROSSFIRE, for example, starring Robert Ryan.But that's for another comment...

Considering the vast amount of Cavalry-vs.-Indians Westerns made during the genre's heyday, this emerges as a reasonably engaging entry – thanks to the pleasant Technicolor hues but, even more so, the scenery-chewing antics of its two stars (Charlton Heston and Jack Palance). I'd owned a copy of the bare-bones Paramount DVD for quite some time, but found the perfect opportunity to check it out now in tribute to Heston's recent passing.He plays a maverick scout who, in the past, had spent some time with the Apaches; he knows them inside out and is, therefore, indispensable to the Cavalry because he can anticipate what their next move will be. The tribe has ostensibly capitulated and is heading towards the reservation but, when the current chief's son (Palance) arrives on the scene – having undertaken an education merely to fulfill a prophecy which would make him the savior of his people! – the attacks start anew, thus confirming Heston's skepticism of the whole deal (and which had practically ostracized him from his office). The film, whose title remains unexplained throughout, generally delivers in the action stakes (even if Heston and Palance's long-awaited showdown, the 'war' being resolved in single hand-to-hand combat between them, is a disappointingly hasty affair) – but is let down by a couple of obligatory romantic rivalries: Heston is torn between half-breed Katy Jurado, who's wasted, and Mary Sinclair, the widow of the Fort Commander who's also desired by his successor (Brian Keith).Heston made a number of such minor genre fare (which, I have to admit, I had all but ignored all these many years) – including another Western penned by Charles Marquis Warren, PONY EXPRESS (1953) – before carving a niche for himself playing larger-than-life roles in a myriad big-budget spectaculars. Having mentioned the writer/director, I recently acquired another Western of his – the well-regarded and, reportedly, noir-tinged LITTLE BIG HORN (1951) which, naturally, revolves around Custer's infamous Last Stand.

Paramount had a box-office hit with this fine cavalry-Indian adventure starring Charlton Heston. The dry, dusty adobe country of southwest Texas comes to life as the soldiers battle the Indians in several hit-and-run skirmishes until the troopers are forced to rely on a disliked army scout to rescue them from disaster. The picture doesn't explain why the scout, who was raised by the Apaches, hates them so much. The movie's theme of racial animosity against the Apaches is unpleasant for many viewers although the picture claims to be based on the life of an army scout. The film has great action scenes, believable characters, beautiful color cinematography and a brooding score by Paul Sawtell. Heston as the scout is well-matched against Apache leader Jack Palance and the supporting cast is solid, namely Brian Keith and Milburne Stone. In spite of its subject matter, this western was one of the best of the 1950s.