This is the story of Sgt. Emmet Bell (Jeff Chandler) who found his weakness in the arms of another man's woman (Dorothy Malone) and his strength in the power of another man's God . In Oregon Country , 1868 , numerous tribes of Native Americans with Biblic and Evangelist names have been placed on a reservation north of the Snake River . Here a priest called Holden (War Bond) , has constructed a church , and many of the tribes have accepted Christianity and Christian names such as Samuel , Aaron , Abraham , Jacob ; in fact , the three Indian chiefs hold Christian names : Elias , Isaias and Zacarias . But the White Men are building a bridge that across the river to Indian territory to areas north . When the cavalry, under the command of Col. Stedlow (Willis Bouchey) and Capt. Tom Gaxton (Keith Andes) arrive they intend to make peace but the tribal chiefs feel their treaty has been violated . As the cavalry column advances into the reservation , Kamiakin (Michael Ansara) carries out razzias against the US Cavalry and settlements . A-Universal-International-Picture gets Western action , shootouts , a triangular love story , breathtaking Indian raids on Yankees regiments and results to be quite entertaining . This moving movie is an epic portrait of the thrilling story about several tribal chiefs decide to unite their forces against the trespassing whites who open a road across the reservation and are building a bridge crossing their lands . It's a medium budget film with good actors , technicians , production values and pleasing results . At the ending , when takes place the Indian assault , possesses all the sweep , grandeur and noisy action of the greatest Westerns of an age long past . The picture contains spectacular charges of Indian riders , including an overwhelming final when the US soldiers are besieged at a church turned into a strongly defended fort . Nice acting from a great cast . As Jeff Chandler is good as a honorable and Cristian Sergeant who is in charge of maintaining order and attempts to keep the peace between US cavalry and Indians . Chandler gives stature to the role , providing sincerity and bravura . Chandler was famous , until his early death , for playing Indian chief Cochise , a dignified portrait well shown in : ¨Broken arrow¨ , ¨Battle of Apache Pass¨ and ¨Taza , son of Cochise¨ . Although Chandler also played all kinds of genres , such as : ¨Return to Peyton Place¨(drama) , ¨Flame of Araby¨ (adventure) , ¨Merrill's marauders¨ (wartime , in his last film) , until his early death at 42-year-old . Dorothy Malone as gorgeous and pleasant wife , proves to be a great actress , as usual . And support cast is frankly excellent , such as : Ward Bond , Keith Andes , Lee Marvin , Sydney Chaplin, Olive Carey and special mention for the veteran Willis Bouchey as well as Michael Ansara as violent Indian chief vowing to lead the tribes in battle against the encroaching white men . This exciting and stirring Western was beautifully photographed in Cinemascope , print in Technicolor by Harold Lipstein , Universal's ordinary cameraman. And an original and shining score from William Lava and Heinz Roemheld , though uncredited .This motion picture was professionally directed by George Marshall in colorful style , though has a few flaws . He realized a great number of films , especially Westerns . His first Western was ¨Wild Gold¨(1934) and he subsequently directed ¨Destry rides again¨ with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich in which years later he would make a remake titled ¨Frenchie¨ with Audie Murphy and Marie Blanchard . As George Marshal introduces hilarious elements and amusement in his Westerns , such as ¨Texas¨ , ¨Fancy pants¨, ¨Advance to the rear¨, and also directs Musical Westerns as ¨Red Garters¨ and ¨The second greatest sex¨ . Being particularly known for his co-direction of the epic Western ¨How the west was won¨ along with Henry Hathaway and John Ford .

You're always in for a treat when you watch a Universal made B western or B movie even,there's a lot to be said for films like THE BATTLE AT APACHE PASS,TOMAHAWK,WAR ARROW,WINCHESTER 73 and THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON,but Pillars of the sky(also known as The Tomahawk and the cross)is different from all the rest.Let me begin by saying it is one fantastic western,it has a brilliant storyline,wonderfully filmed scenes and brilliant action sequences,but what makes it unique is it's Christian undertones,which is a good thing as this works very well,George Marshall did an great job at directing some of the scenes,but i will talk about these later.But first,the plot. In Oregon in 1868,all the native American tribes living in that area have been moved onto reservations and are learning to live in peace with the white man,a preacher played by Ward Bond(whom some of you may remember as Burt the cop from It's a wonderful life)has converted many of the indians to Christianity and baptises them giving them biblical names,all is going well but Chief Kamiakin and some Indian braves want to return to ways of war and seize their chance when the army decides to build a road through the reservation for white settlers,breaking the treaty.Kamiakin persuades the other indians to renounce their Christian faith and fight alongside him against the white man and when they do,so beings killing and misery,Sergeant Emmet Bell(JEFF CHANDLER)is sent out to stop the bloodshed and prevent a war.So i'll come back to what i was saying earlier,some of the scenes are magnificently done,like the scene when Sgt Bell confronts the Indian chiefs and angrily berates them for renouncing their faith and killing needlessly and the final scene when he reads from the bible before praying is so powerful and moving and very well directed.Now you can see why this is different from all the other B westerns.But a B western wouldn't be a B western without a couple of excellent action scenes,and Pillars of the sky really does deliver in the action department,there are a few small shootouts but it's the epic battle scene in the middle of the film which is the highlight.It's stands out from a lot of the other battle scenes that i have seen,it's fantastic,the indians charge the soldiers but are in turn blasted into oblivion by a couple of Cannons,then all of the soldiers and their wagons race up a hill whilst being chased and shot at but the wagons tumble over and crash in the process and at the same time the soldiers engage the indians in swordfights and shootouts.Its one epic battle scene which must have taken great dedication and care to film.All in all one gem of a western,highly recommended,thanks to Pegasus it has been released onto DVD but it's extremely rare so if you ever see it buy it,but when you talk of all the great westerns,you will talk of Pillars of the sky.10/10.

Slow-paced story gets off to a ponderous start with too much talk and too little action, with only some gorgeous scenery for eye comfort. The fault seems to be George Marshall's sluggish direction of a uniformly bland cast.All of the actors go through their paces in rather standard roles, including JEFF CHANDLER, KEITH ANDES, WARD BOND and LEE MARVIN and for a western that promises some action when the plot thickens, it's a good half-hour before the conflict between cavalry and Indians provides any thrills.DOROTHY MALONE has the only substantial female role, as a woman no longer in love with her husband. In make-up and hairstyle, she looks and acts more as though she's a woman of modern times rather than frontier days. The romantic triangle (Malone, Chandler, Andes) is a weak one.The big set piece is the Indian attack that occurs an hour into the film and wipes out most of the command. It's well staged and vigorously mounted for western action. But it comes too late to alter the slow pacing of most of the story which is either Marshall's or the scriptwriter's fault.A minor quibble: All of the night scenes have a soundstage look to them, in sharp contrast to all the daytime locations.Summing up: Lackluster western needed the John Ford touch from George Marshall, with Lee Marvin and his Irish accent less than credible in the sort of supporting role Victor McLaglen usually played. Nothing more than average.

This fine western is a cavalry-Indian affair that has the usual treaty-breaking by the government as it builds a road and fort on Indian land that causes an uproar and leads to war. The military's action sets in motion cavalry-Indian hostilities and the tribes gather for an attack on the fort. Many of the Indians have been baptised and converted to Christianity by a white missionary and live in peace with the soldiers, many serving as scouts under a sergeant played by Jeff Chandler. Complicating matters are two white women the Indians hold as hostages who are at great risk should war break out. Chandler did some his best work in westerns and is the lieutenant whom the Indian soldiers respect and follow faithfully. Chandler's flirtation with a married woman, played by Dorothy Malone, doesn't have much to do with the story other than to give the leading man a romantic interest. Ward Bond, Michael Ansara and Keith Andes are good in supporting roles. Oregon's scenic beauty is on display in this CinemaScope film.