When the story began, I saw that Lyle Bettger was in the movie. I immediately turned to my wife and said "He'll being playing the big bad guy who is behind all sorts of evil" and, sure enough, this was the case. Bettger nearly always played slimy jerks in westerns...and it seems back in the day, audiences liked such type casting. However, this isn't always the case, as Morris Ankrum is also in the film. He mostly played the same sorts of roles though occasionally he DID play good guys, like judges. Here he plays an Indian chief. And, although I prefer such roles being played by Indian actors for realism sake, at least his son in the film, Jay Silverheels, was a real life Indian and he later played the chief.
As for the film, like many westerns mostly of the 1950s and 60s, it takes a more positive view of the various Indian nations. Like Audie Murphy's later film, "Apache Rifles", it has a rather sympathetic view of these people and also has Murphy evolve through the course of the story. At first, he sees these people as the enemy but over time he recognizes their plight and works to stop the jerks from starting a war with the Ute just in order to rob their land of gold. Their reasoning is that a war would force the US government to take action...hopefully displacing the tribe from their land. Stuck in the middle are Murphy and his father, played by Walter Brennan.
So is the film any good? Well, it's probably one of Murphy's best westerns...and he mostly made westerns. It helped that the cast was so good. In addition to the folks I already mentioned, Hugh O'Brian (in his first film) plays a real psycho gunslinger. Bob Steele (who used to star in B-westerns in the 1930s) plays a supporting role as does, of all people, Howard McNear...'Floyd' from "The Andy Griffith Show"! McNear plays a rather pusillanimous character early in the story.
By the way, after seeing the film, my wife asked me "Was that an A-list film". Well, I'd say A- (if there is such a thing). It has a great supporting cast, is in color and is an excellent story. It's just that Murphy, though popular, was not John Wayne nor Jimmy Stewart when it came to westerns.
