One of several films that includes the infamous massacre of a peaceful Cheyenne village at Sand Creek, CO, simply because it was the most accessible location for the perpetrator: Colonel Chivington of the Colorado Territorial Militia(herein claimed to be of the US army). Other films include "Massacre at Sand Creek" and "Soldier Blue". Also, partway through the film, we switched from marauding Cheyenne to marauding Comanche, who would be more relevant to Texas. I'm sure there must be other films where a mass of women took over the usual duties of soldiers because the men were needed elsewhere. I'm familiar with "Wild Women", in which a group of women inmates of a fort prison cell are pressed into service in lower Texas, barricading an abandoned village to fight a Mexican patrol. Another example is "The Man from the Alamo", where Glenn Ford trains the women in a wagon train to fire on a Mexican patrol, after the men are called to join Sam Houston.Audie rides around the north Texas plains, convincing menless women to go to an old broken down mission for safety. Besides Audie, the only man in the mission was Kettle. He came to no good when he stole a horse and rode to his 3 buddies, who promptly strung him up after he told about the women. They came to the mission , but the women scared them off after it was obvious they were up to no good. But, they soon ran into a band of marauding Comanche. Telling them about the women, they rode together back to the mission. But the women had hidden themselves well, so that a superficial look by the Comanche failed to discover them. The 3 men were killed for leading the Comanche astray. Soon there after, a gun was accidentally discharged in the mission, alerting the Comanche that someone was there. The Comanche returned and fired on the fort, killing several women, until Audie sneaked out and killed their medicine man, in the rear, stringing up his body in front of the fort.In the finale, Audie is court martialed by his Union post for desertion and insubordination. But the women somehow got past the guards, into the interrogation room, corroborating what Audie said about their beating off the Comanche. The General decided to drop the charges, and instead served Chivington with a court martial for leading the massacre of Cheyenne. Historically, Chivington was not court martialed. However, he was roundly criticized. He claimed he killed around 200 warriors, but other witnesses said they were mostly women, children and old men. He claimed the massacre would cow the Indians into stopping their raids on settlers, but it had the opposite effect.See it in color at YouTube

When I first saw the movie title as a boy, I thought it might be something almost ridiculous, but now that I've seen it my thoughts have been somewhat amended. The storyline is brief: during the Civil War an army officer (played well by the veteran western actor Audie Murphy) leads a group of women from Texas against hostile, attacking Indians who want to destroy the old fort where the women are found. Again, I was ready to laugh when I saw the title, but I do not think that in real life I would have wanted to tangle with any of these women who, led by Murphy, became practically sharpshooters. They held off Indians and outlaws well. This cinematic piece was exciting and the action good, which is shown through the fact that the women were very emotional. In one point the matter of killing is addressed, so in one place the movie is controversial. Because of the beautiful scenery, exciting western action, and good story, this has become a favorite western of mine.

This film opens with Union Army officer Lt. Frank Hewitt encountering a group of Comanche; they are off the reservation without permission but as they are unarmed and peaceful he allows them to continue on their way. When his CO, Col. Chivington, hears about this he sets off to teach the Comanche a lesson about doing what they are told... this 'lesson' is Sand Creek Massacre. Hewitt knows that after such an atrocity the Indians will understandable go on the war path and one place they are likely to strike is his home in Texas. Knowing this he deserts and heads south. Wearing Union blue he is not too welcome when he arrives in Confederate Texas but after an attack leaves one woman dead the other people start to believe him. Since the war is on there is only one man left in town and he is clearly only out to save his own skin... if he is save the women he must get them ready to fight.B-western regular Audie Murphy puts in a fine performance as Lt. Hewett; the more I see him in films like this the more I'm surprised he better known. The women are a varied bunch and the actresses do well enough even though this is clearly Murphy's film. The action is fairly solid and if you are expecting the women to prevail without taking a single casualty you will be surprised as quite a few die. There were of course a few flaws; it did seem strange that Hewett went into Confederate Texas in his Union uniform, equally it seemed strange that all but one of the men would have left the settlement; I'd have thought there would be a few old men at the very least although accept that it was necessary for the narrative. The epilogue where Hewitt returns to his unit and avoids punishment when the women turn up to vouch for him did seem sill after the action that had gone before. Over all it was pretty entertaining though and I'm sure fans of B-westerns looking for something different will enjoy this. It is of interest to note that while this is obviously a work of fiction Col. Chivington was a real person and he was involved in the Sand Creek Massacre in Colorado, where his troops slaughtered numerous Indians; mainly women and children.

Very entertaining western from the late 50's ,Audie Murphy stars as a Texan who joins the Union side during the American civil war,much to the annoyance of his fellow Texans. The Union army then go on to attack a peaceful Indian settlement which he is very much against and because of this he deserts. Because he believes the Indians will want revenge he quickly goes back to Texas to warn the homesteaders of future Indian attacks.When he arrives home there is only women left as the men have all gone away to fight in the Civil war,the women all distrust him because he is wearing the Unionists colours and they only see him as a traitor. After the body of a young woman is found killed by an arrow he manages to finally convince the women that what he has been saying is true. They then all take refuge in an abandoned mission where he trains them to fight and shoot in anticipation of an attack,they also learn how to make bombs.The only other man at the mission runs off and joins up with a gang who after they kill him lead the Indians back to the mission. The women end up surrounded and outnumbered and very bravely fight off the final Indian assault with Murphys help of coarse.The Guns Of Fort Petticoat is a sort of what-if film thats very ahead of its time ,its the sort of storyline that you would expect to be made today and not back in the 50's.It has its amusing moments and it also has romance and some pretty interesting fight scenes.It may all sound a bit far-fetched but it does work especially when quite a few of the women get killed,which under the circumstances is bound to happen. The characters are interesting {if not a little clichéd}and Audie Murphy does give a very good performance and convinces us that this could have happened. This is a very entertaining little film that im glad has been forgotten.