ESCAPE FROM FORT BRAVO (Blu-ray Review)
FROM WARNER ARCHIVE COLLECTION
Review by Mr. PawsđŒ
Even though John Sturges is one of my favorite directors from the classic era, Iâll be the first to concede he was sometimes inconsistent and Escape from Fort Bravo doesnât rank among his best. He knows his way around a horse and as westerns go, itâs certainly watchable, but we sure ainât talkinâ The Magnificent Seven, here.
Time hasnât been quite so kind to this one, either, and not just because of its depiction of Native-Americans as screaming, bloodthirsty savages. Plenty oâ westerns are guilty of that, though this one tends to abuse the practice more than most. Serving âem up as a common enemy for Union and Confederate armies to team-up against is a pretty archaic concept. If this were remade today, the South would likely be the bad guys.
But hey...context...I get it. What really dates the film is primarily aesthetic. There are some fine Death Valley locations (especially during the final act), but all-too-often, itâs obvious much of the film was shot on studio sets and the visual disparity between the two is jarring. I dunno...maybe thatâs partially due to the Blu-ray transfer, or that it was shot in âAnsco Color.â Whatever the case, it sometimes sucks our attention from the story, which actually ain't half bad.
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"Shootin' blanks again, honey?" |
Though the two end up falling in love, Eleanor, Marsh and a few other Confederate soldiers manage to escape to the desert....a monumentally bad idea because - all together now - itâs Indian Country! Roper sets-out to bring them back, but once he finds them, they all become trapped in a small gully, surrounded by gobs of whooping, hollering Indians (who are mostly just faceless cannon fodder).
The resulting stand-off is the highlight of the film, mainly because weâre never sure whoâs gonna live or die. Elsewhere, the performances and direction are decent, though everyone on both sides of the camera have done far better work elsewhere. Ultimately, Escape from Fort Bravo is a product of its era...watchable, but not particularly memorable.
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