Dragoon Wells Massacre

The most striking thing about this movie is just how splendid it looks ,thanks to the wonderful Technicolor photography by William Clothier .His credits also include Cheyenne Autumn and The Alamo(John Wayne version).He makes superb use of the rugged outdoors locations and does not neglect close-ups which also look very fine indeed .

The plot is pretty standard fare in the Western -a trek by wagon train across hostile Indian country .The train is being escorted by Captain Riordan (Dennis O'Keefe).Among its passengers is a US Marshall (Trevor Bardette) ,his prisoner ,a killer (Barry Sullivan) a lady of the night (Katy Jurado)a "nice girl"(Mona Freeman)and sundry others.They are forced to put aside their differences in the face of repeated attacks by hostiles and form a bond wrought by adversity .

The script gives each of the figures on the train a turn in the spotlight and the cast responds well with a string of strong performances well in evidence .Especially noteworthy is Jack Elam in a rare sympathetic role. Veteran action director Harold Schuster keeps things moving and the overall result is a strong ,well made Western that will please most genre lovers