Run of the Arrow (1957)

User Rating:

6.7/10   

Director:

Samuel Fuller

Writer:

Samuel Fuller (writer)

Release Date:

5 September 1957 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

A Rebel vet, O'Meara has refused to surrender when Lee does at Appomatox. O'Meara travels west and after escaping from...

Plot Keywords:

American Civil War | Beautiful Woman | Confederate | Shot In The Forehead | Native American

Cast

Rod Steiger	...	Pvt. O'Meara
Sara Montiel	...	Yellow Moccasin (as Sarita Montiel)
Brian Keith	...	Capt. Clark
Ralph Meeker	...	Lt. Driscoll
Jay C. Flippen	...	Walking Coyote
Charles Bronson	...	Blue Buffalo
Olive Carey	...	Mrs. O'Meara
H.M. Wynant	...	Crazy Wolf
Neyle Morrow	...	Lt. Stockwell
Frank DeKova	...	Red Cloud
Tim McCoy	...	Gen. Allen (as Colonel Tim McCoy)
Stuart Randall	...	Col. Taylor
Frank Warner	...	Banjo Playing Singer
Billy Miller	...	Silent Tongue
Chuck Hayward	...	Corporal with Saddle
Chuck Roberson	...	Sergeant who drowned in quicksand
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Roscoe Ates	...	Man on Pier (uncredited)
Emile Avery	...	Gen. Ulysses S. Grant (uncredited)
Frank Baker	...	Gen. Robert E. Lee (uncredited)
Angie Dickinson	...	Yellow Moccasin (voice) (uncredited)
Tex Holden	...	Peg Leg Man (uncredited)
Frank O'Connor	...	Man on Dock (uncredited)
Don Orlando	...	Pvt. Vinci (uncredited)
George Ross	...	Archer (uncredited)
Ray Stevens	...	Indian in Canoe (uncredited)
Bill White Jr.	...	Sgt. Moore (uncredited)
Carleton Young	...	6th Virginia Surgeon (uncredited)

Directed by
Samuel Fuller

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Samuel Fuller		writer

Produced by
Samuel Fuller	....	producer

Original Music by
Victor Young
Max Steiner		(uncredited)

Cinematography by
Joseph F. Biroc		(as Joseph Biroc)

Film Editing by
Gene Fowler Jr.

Art Direction by
Albert S. D'Agostino
Jack Okey

Set Decoration by
Bertram C. Granger		(as Bert Granger)

Makeup Department
Larry Germain	....	hair stylist
Harry Maret	....	makeup supervisor

Production Management
Gene Bryant	....	unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ben Chapman	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Audrey Granville	....	sound editor
Terry Kellum	....	sound
Bert Schoenfeld	....	sound effects editor
Virgil Smith	....	sound

Special Effects by
Norman Breedlove	....	special effects (uncredited)

Stunts
Chuck Roberson	....	stunts (uncredited)
George Ross	....	stunts (uncredited)

Music Department
Sidney Cutner	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Globe Enterprises

Distributors

• RKO Teleradio Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• Universal Pictures (1957) (USA) (theatrical)
• RKO Radio Pictures (1958) (West Germany) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Hot Lead (USA) (video title)
The Last Bullet (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | West Germany:12 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

St. George, Utah, USA

Company:

Globe Enterprises

Trivia:

The first film to use squibs to simulate realistic bullet impacts.

Quotes:

Walking Coyote: I coulda been a chief.
Pvt. O'Meara, 6th Virginia Volunteers Sharpshooter: Oh yeah? How come you're not a chief now?
Walking Coyote: Eh, I got no stomach for politics.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Dances with Wolves (1990)

Soundtrack:

Purple Hills

Interesting to watch....once

Watched this the other day and it was an interesting Cavalry vs. Indian (Sioux) film taking place before the establishment of Ft. Abraham Lincoln, and Custer. Steiger (who personally I think sucks at accents) plays a Confederate soldier with a weird Irish/Southern accent who fires the last shot in the Civil War, at Ralf Meeker, who he wounds.

He basically refuses to surrender after Appomattox and heads off to the Northern Great Plains along the way he befriends an old Sioux cavalry scout, and he undergoes the ritual "run of the arrow" and becomes accepted by the tribe, where he continues the fight against the US.

During the negotiations with the Sioux over establishing posts to separate settlers (keeping them off the hunting grounds) traveling West and the natives their chief, played by Charles Bronson, and the chief cavalry engineer played by Brian Keith they agree to select Steiger as chief Sioux scout for the expedition, not all of the Sioux are in concert with this. Keith and Steiger sort of hit it off but Meeker is a hot headed second in command who after Keith is hit by a renegade arrow decides to locate the new post in a different location than agreed, to igniting a war.

Its an interesting take on the subject and the film is worth a watch but its nothing outstanding.