Distant Drums (Raoul Walsh, 1951)

With all due respect to Mr. Walsh, but this is not very good. It starts quite complicated - there’s this lieutenant arriving to some god forsaken parts of Florida on a mission to find one weird captain and deliver him a boat that will carry his men to ultra secret and very important mission. When you see that boat you wonder what is special about it that it cannot be built on the spot. But anyways, let’s continue. Captain is of course Mr. Cooper and he’s kind of Brando in Apocalypse (sort of eccentric, widower with half-Indian kid, living on secluded island etc) and they are soon off to the mission and you are not quite sure if they are gonna fight Indians or Mexicans or some gunrunners or what the fuck!? Before you know it, they storm a Mexican stronghold, rescue few prisoners (one of them is “Lady of quality” which figures since Cooper is widower) and find themselves in Everglades swamp, for some reason chased by Seminoles Indians.

And this is where movie really begins, because – mind you – we are still only in 10^th minute or so! It then turns from western into adventure and soon I was just bored instead of confused. So let's just skip to the end which is particularly idiotic. Because you see, these poor stupid Indians were chasing our crew entire movie through the swamp for 150 miles and when they finally corner them, they just settle for duel between their leader Okala and Gary. You don’t need to second guess about its outcome and mighty warriors just leave disappointed (and leaderless). To make things sure, cavalry comes at the same time of course. And yes, Gary gets the woman.

It was probably created for Gary Cooper and he’s its main and sole vehicle. I find this strange because he was 50 and it unfortunately shows. Or better said, it doesn’t show at all because every time there’s an action sequence, he turns away or hides his face below the hat and then camera just cuts and he’s replaced by stunt man. This is quite funny but it also gets a bit sad on few occasions. There’s a sequence where he carries a woman through the river and you can tell how much he’s physically struggling. 

So the basic question for me is why the hell he chosed to take this role in the first place. Why not play an elegant ageing playboy that he was (Love in the Afternoon was shot five years later and he’s superb there!) or at least more vulnerable, down to earth kind of law-man (like in High Noon shot following year). Instead he goes for this ridiculous imitation of John Wayne together with Davy Crockett outfit. It’s hilarious at the beginning when he first appears with Max Steiner’s roaring music in the background and narrator voice describing him as “Soldier, Swamp-man, Savage, Gentleman” but as movie goes further it’s just pathetic.

I also had a problem with a manner how Indians were depicted. True, this was 50s, but still I would like to think Raoul Walsh had more common sense and not portrait them as total clueless savages. But then again, this is a routine western/adventure/romance flick and they were just used as a background for our ageing hero.

3/10