Revolt at Fort Laramie (1957) User Reviews

John Dehner In The Lead

[boblipton · 7/10 · 1 April 2020]

John Dehner gets a rare top billing in this interesting western. He's the commanding officer at the fort, just as Fort Sumter surrenders. The enlisted men, with mixed loyalties are ragging each other on with reprises of "Dixie" and "John Brown's Body", and he faces them down. He tells them they're soldiers of the US Army, and they'll behave that way. Then orders come from Washington to discharge every man of uncertain allegiance, so he resigns, planning to lead he other Southerners to Texas to enlist. He leaves his daughter, Frances helm, with the new, young C.O., Greg Palmer, saying that national loyalties may differ, but love conquers all. Then he heads out into hostile Indian territory.

Lesley Selander directs this one without much fuss. He focuses on the sense of honor and loyalty of the professional soldier instead, and Dehner's aristocratic presence makes this one to watch. Keep an eye out for Harry Dean Stanton, still uncredited in his third movie role.

"Major, you are in command of a troop of imbeciles!"

[classicsoncall · 7/10 · 2 January 2017]

I can't tell you how many Civil War films I've seen that pitted brother against brother, but this story had an interesting idea I haven't seen before. It had to do with a Cavalry outfit literally days before the start of the Civil War that's sent into turmoil when news is announced that Confederate forces have fired on Fort Sumter. I guess it's something you don't think about in history class, but here you had Southern soldiers ready to break with their Northern counterparts over their divided loyalties while serving together at a remote Western post. The kicker here is that a warring tribe of Sioux are waiting nearby to receive a ransom payoff to keep the peace, but now the Southern cohort has their eyes on a gold shipment that was intended for that purpose.

If all that weren't enough, you have your Northern soldier (Gregg Palmer), Southern belle (Frances Helm) romance that's threatened by the new circumstance. The Major in charge of the fort is himself a Virginian, and in a scene I wouldn't have expected, Seth Bradner (John Dehner) promotes Captain James Tenslip (Palmer) to the same rank in order to resign his post and lead the Southern sympathizers across Indian territory on their way to a Confederate assignment.

Sioux Chief Red Cloud (Eddie Little Sky, cool name!) doesn't quite know how to process this bit of information, so holds Major Bradner in exchange for the ransom they expected in the first place. Tenslip sees it as his duty to come to the rescue of his former brothers-in-arms, and leads his forces to battle the Sioux, but the film ends rather abruptly when the fighting's over, with the Southerners continuing to go on their way. It all ended rather anti-climactically, but at just over an hour, the story didn't leave much time to reflect on what just happened.

Not revolting at all.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 7 August 2017]

Revolt at Fort Laramie is directed by Lesley Selander and written by Robert C. Dennis. It stars John Dehner, Gregg Palmer, Frances Helm, Don Gordon and Robert Keys. Music is by Les Baxter and cinematography by William Margulies.

Upon watching this above average Oater one word kept coming to mind, brief! Be it the battle scenes, the finale and of course the running time, it'as all so brief. Which when you have such a powder-keg premise at the core of the pic, is hugely annoying.

We have the Fort of the title made up of Southern and Northern soldiers, all standing together to repel the Red Cloud led Sioux Army. Then the First Battle of Fort Sumter opens on April 12, 1861, and what was once a harmonious force is now divided. Into the mix is shifty shenanigans involving gold, a lovers relationship under strain and murder! If only we could have had a bigger budget, another thirty minutes run time, and someone to throw a firecracker over it and BOOM!

Still, it's an entertaining piece with well staged battles - one a siege and one on the river - good scenes such as the opposing soldiers singing against each other with their respective "homeland" anthems, and fun moments like Dehner's Major Bradner being restrained in leg irons to stop him sleepwalking to his doom! Baxter's score is mostly standard stuff but occasionally shows inspiration like incorporating the said North/South anthems, while the Kanab locations are beautifully utilised (so not Laramie then? So what).

If only everything wasn't so brief. Grrrr. 6/10

Average

[dougdoepke · 4 August 2009]

The premise is promising—a cavalry garrison divided evenly between Northerners and Southerners on the eve of the Civil War. That's inside the fort. On the outside is a riled-up Sioux nation looking for white-man scalps that the rebs will have to ride through if they want to get to Dixie. So who would want to be the commanding officer with killer complications of this sort. And if that's not bad enough, add a wagonload of gold due at the fort that the budding Johnnie-rebs want to take south. Poor Major Bradner, he has an oath to the army, but family roots in the South. So there's more than enough plot for any 70-minute movie. Then too, Bel Air Productions popped for scenic Kanab, Utah locations that produce a lot of commanding red rock scenery even if the terrain looks nothing like Laramie-area Wyoming.

So, with these promising ingredients, why aren't the results better than they are. In my book, the acting lacks the intensity that these conflicting cross-currents should realistically produce. Basically, the actors (even the great John Dehner) stand there and speak their lines, but without much feeling, so the drama never really gels the way it should. I guess director Selander's specialty is action and not acting. Still, there are a couple of good battle scenes— especially the unusual skirmish between soldiers on rafts and Indians on the riverbank. Anyhow, if you're not too expectant, this is a decent enough oater made at the peak of the Western craze of the 1950's.

Excellent grade B western

[searchanddestroy-1 · 7/10 · 12 November 2021]

And I had the habit not to ever miss a Lesley Selander's feature, though he has made so many of them, mostly grade Z, but I have never cared, on the contrary. So small budgets films have so much charm, precisely this lack of ambition, that I have an inner software that permits me to appreciate, love them for they are: not pretentious. I agree that the bulk of them are lousy, forgettable, but sometimes you may find some true gems, where screenwriters dare to show unusual stuff, ideas, schemes, characters. This is unfortunately not the case for this western. No surprise, but so much charm for western buffs.

Entertaining but run of mill western with potential

[bobwarn-938-55867 · 6/10 · 11 October 2021]

A reviewer considered ot a lost opportunity and suggested a remake, as the conflicts amongst the troopers against the background of a common enemy: the ethical conundrum between duty and the emotional call of home loyalties, at a frontier cavalry post, as the US Civil War begins, was fertile ground for a deeper examination.

I agree. A remake could be an allegory of the present deeply and bitterly racially and politically divided US, against the backdrop of circling enemies, China, Russia, Iran, Nth Korea, smelling 'blood in the water' from what they perceive as a declining and wounded power.

Not bad cavalry western

[coltras35 · 6/10 · 11 January 2022]

At the start of the Civil War, the soldiers manning Fort Laramie are split between Yanks and Confederates but the real threat is the warpath Sioux surrounding them all.

Fairly good western with all round performances, especially from John Dehner, who for once isn't a shady character but a conflicted major of a fort. The idea of North and South conflict plus Indians on the warpath is quite fresh, and the action scenes are well done, though I wish the script was sharper, there was a longer running time and a more famous lead hero. Such things would have fulfilled the film's potential.

A Civil War Cavalry Western

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 19 February 2024]

Trouble erupts for the U. S. Cavalry in director Lesley Selander "Revolt at Fort Laramie" when the troopers therein learn the American Civil War has begun and half of the garrison's soldiers quit the cavalry for the long ride home to the Southern Confederacy. Matters are aggravated considerably because Chief Red Cloud (Eddie Little Sky of "Apache Warrior") and his Sioux tribe are expecting to receive a gold payment from the government to the tribe. Fort Commandant Major Seth Bradner (John Dehner of "The "Chapman Report") has been worrying about the imminent outbreak of civil war while trying to maintain the peace in a remote cavalry outpost surrounded by a tribe of pugnacious Native Americans who are demanding their tribute from the government. Indeed, the major has suppressed news of the rebellion, but an inquisitive Cavalry Scout Jean Salignac (Don Gordon of "Bullitt") leaks the news of the war to the Confederate sympathizers. Once they learn about the impending rebellion, they plan to launch their attack on the fort and appropriate arms and ammunition. Before this happens, the Southern sympathizers send a three-man legation to Major Bradner at Headquarters and inform the Virginia-born West Point officer about their plans. Later, about the same time this happens, one of the Southern sympathizers sneaks away to warn Capt. James 'Jamie' Tenslip (Gregg Palmer of "Big Jake") about the conspiracy and Bradner's role in it. Predictably, Tenslip is incredulous, but he realizes his worst fears later after Bradner receives a message from the War Department authorizing any soldier who wishes to resign to join the Confederacy may do so without retribution. Naturally, Tenslip is alarmed when he learns Bradner has allied himself with the Southerners. Mind you, these revelations throw a wringer into Tenslip's plans to marry Bradner's Melissa daughter, (Frances Helm of "The Ugly American"), who wants to marry him.

Initially, the Confederates wanted to steal the gold that had recently arrived at the fort, but Bradner refuses to take it with the Southerners and they leave the fort to embark on their journey. Predictably, they cross paths with Red Cloud and his bloodthirsty warriors. When Salignac explains to Red Cloud that the men with Bradner are no longer Union cavalrymen and are leaving the territory, the chief refuses to believe him. Instead, he asks Bradner to surrender to him and the Sioux will take him as a hostage in good faith until Tenslip is prepared to exchange the major for the gold slated for the Sioux. The hostiles trap Bradner and his men in the middle of nowhere, but the major and his troopers drive them off after two attacks. Bradner dispatches Salignac to ride back to the fort and warn Tenslip. At first, Tenslip suspects Salignac is up to no good. Nevertheless, he organizes a patrol, and the ride out to rendezvous with Bradner. The Native Americans launch another attack on the troopers, but Tenslip and his men arrive in time to save the day. Sadly, Major Bradner doesn't fare as lucky as some of the other men in his command. Tenslip finds his former superior officer dead from wounds incurred by the Sioux during a second attack.

Clocking in at 73-minutes, this lean and mean military western doesn't beat around the boulder. There is one exceptional scene when the cavalrymen are forced to float down a stream on rafts while the Native Americans hurls lances and shoot arrows from the banks. Selander and scenarist Robert C. Dennis of "Crime Against Joe") have created a fairly routine cavalry versus the Native Americans on a low budget. "Revolt in the Big House" lenser William Margulies captures the gritty action in blazing color. Those blue uniforms stand out against the brown background of the mountains. Although it is a B-grade western, "Revolt at Fort Laramie" was shot on location in Kanab, Utah, where John Ford shot some of his classic westerns. However, despite its intriguing premise, "Revolt at For Laramie" qualifies as strictly average and does little with its provocative premise. Incidentally, Tenslip never gets to marry the Major's daughter.

Historical Fact Checking

[rrp4 · 8/10 · 20 December 2009]

In the run-up to Maj Bradner's fateful announcement, we are led to believe that there is a "tension" between Northern and Southern soldiers at this far west outpost. Also, the announcement that we are expecting is not forthcoming. Great movie but left me scratching my head when Maj Bradner said that Fort Sumpter had just been attacked by Confederate forces and that President Lincoln had called for an "intervention." This error is later repeated by Captain Tenslip. What the major and the captain should have said was that Fort Sumner, located in South Carolina, had been attacked. It was this attack that precipitated the Civil War. Fort Sumpter was fired on by the British during the Revolutionary War!