Apache (1954)

In Robert Aldrich's stirring film, an indominable Apache fighter, Massai (Burt Lancaster), refuses to accept the defeat of his people signaled by the surrender of his legendary chief, Geronimo (Monte Blue). Likewise, he will not swallow the pronouncement of a foe, Indian scout Al Sieber (John McIntyre), who tells Massai (with the latter securely bound in chains), "You're not a warrior, just a whipped Indian." Massai escapes a train headed for a reservation in Florida and resumes his quest to find a way of life beyond the suffocating subjugation of the white man. Sieber comes after him, as does a fully assimilated Indian, Hondo (Charles Bronson), who has been whipped into a murderous rage because Massai has stolen the heart of his woman, Nalinle (Jean Peters). Lancaster delivers a passionate performance, and Aldrich girds his tale of the defiant warrior with powerful, iconic imagery worthy of myth, making for a film that ventures into the genre of the Western but stakes out a spacious territory all its own.