Dan Duryea is Captain Brad Turner, a riverboat captain who is hauling supplies up the river to a U.S. Army fort in the Dakotas. Unknown to him, Major Luke Daniels (Charles Cooper) the fort commander is inciting a Sioux Indian uprising by cutting the hair from the head of two 16-year old Sioux females.
Major Daniels is a megalomaniac, or perhaps a typical Army officer, seeking fame at the expense of his men. His unit has lost 35 of the 50 men stationed at the fort. Daniels "impresses" Turner and his men into service so he can annihilate the Sioux and then hopefully win a promotion to Washington DC.
For those who do not know, this is the story of Charlie Beckwith, who commanded U.S. Army Special Forces Delta Recon in Viet Nam and sacrificed two Delta Recon teams just to impress Arnaud deBorchgrave, a Newsweek magazine editor visiting Beckwith.
Separately, Charlie was slugged in the mouth by Lieutenant Bob Berry, the executive officer for the SF A-team at Camp Plei Me during October 1965, after Beckwith left Berry and his soldiers unprotected. He had promised to provide support.
Charlies Beckwith is now in the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame (or Shame). Anyway, fictional Major Luke Daniels is an earlier version, proving that life imitates art or vice-versa.
I won't reveal the ending but it is not what you usually get in Westerns. Kudos to the writers for rising above standard story lines.
Major Daniels is a megalomaniac, or perhaps a typical Army officer, seeking fame at the expense of his men. His unit has lost 35 of the 50 men stationed at the fort. Daniels "impresses" Turner and his men into service so he can annihilate the Sioux and then hopefully win a promotion to Washington DC.
For those who do not know, this is the story of Charlie Beckwith, who commanded U.S. Army Special Forces Delta Recon in Viet Nam and sacrificed two Delta Recon teams just to impress Arnaud deBorchgrave, a Newsweek magazine editor visiting Beckwith.
Separately, Charlie was slugged in the mouth by Lieutenant Bob Berry, the executive officer for the SF A-team at Camp Plei Me during October 1965, after Beckwith left Berry and his soldiers unprotected. He had promised to provide support.
Charlies Beckwith is now in the U.S. Army Ranger Hall of Fame (or Shame). Anyway, fictional Major Luke Daniels is an earlier version, proving that life imitates art or vice-versa.
I won't reveal the ending but it is not what you usually get in Westerns. Kudos to the writers for rising above standard story lines.