Mention director William Castle, and many movie buffs will fondly remember his horror thrillers of the late '50s and early '60s, replete with their attendant, ballyhooed audience participation gimmicks, each one more outlandish than the last. Relative obscurity, though, has been the fate for his efforts during the generation he spent honing his craft on the Columbia lot, first as a bit player and dialogue coach, and then a prolific helmer for the studio's B unit. Indicative of the latter days of that career phase is Conquest of Cochise (1953), a modest but entertaining sagebrusher rendered in a surprisingly lush Technicolor palate.

The screenplay from DeVallon Scott and Arthur Lewis, which admittedly played fast and loose with historical fact, opens in post-Mexican-American War Tucson, where Mexican ranchers are striving to cope with regular raids on the part of both the Apache and Comanche nations. General Gadsen (Guy Edward Hearn), eager to salvage the land transaction bearing his name, selects strategist/ladykiller Major Tom Burke (Robert Stack) to lead forces to secure the region and broker a peace with Apache chieftain Cochise (John Hodiak). The Apache leader, for his part, recognizes the toll in blood that continued aggression with the American military will bring; against the wishes of his council, he sets out for a one-on-one with Burke.

Troops bring the warrior chief before the major in the midst of his making a social call at the hacienda of the prominent local rancher Don Francisco de Cordova (Edward Colmans) and his lovely daughter Consuelo (Joy Page). Burke is impressed with the chance Cochise has taken, and a mutual vow for peace is struck. This development galls Comanche renegade Running Cougar (Joseph Waring), who leads a raid on the de Cordova ranch; Cochise aids the military in rebuffing the assault, and Running Cougar is among the casualties. His brother, the chief Red Knife (Rodd Redwing), vows vengeance on the Americans, Mexicanos, and, unless they join sides, the Apache as well. Cochise returns to Tucson with his bride Terua (Carol Thurston) to try and calm the situation; she gets gunned down on the trail by an unknown assailant. Cochise thereafter kidnaps Consuelo for the purpose of drawing Burke out, delivering a four-day ultimatum for the major to prove his protestation that the military wasn't responsible.

Page, best remembered from Casablanca (1942) as the young wife who Bogie lets beat the house, so she can bribe Claude Rains with cash rather than her virtue, had actually been previously teamed with Stack to better effect in director Budd Boetticher's semi-autobiographical drama Bullfighter and the Lady (1951). Sadly, Hodiak's career would only last a handful of pictures--and years--after he completed Conquest of Cochise. The actor had longtime issues with his blood pressure, a fact that actually contributed to the breakout he enjoyed in the early to mid-'40s; he was rendered unfit for military service, and opportunities were plentiful when many of Hollywood's leading men were off fighting World War II. Unfortunately, however, his condition led to a fatal heart attack when the actor was only forty-one years old.

Producer: Sam Katzman
Director: William Castle
Screenplay: Arthur Lewis; DeVallon Scott (screenplay and story)
Cinematography: Henry Freulich
Art Direction: Paul Palmentola
Film Editing: Al Clark
Cast: John Hodiak (Cochise), Robert Stack (Maj. Tom Burke), Joy Page (Consuelo de Cordova), Rico Alaniz (Felipe), Fortunio Bonanova (Mexican Minister), Edward Colmans (Don Francisco de Cordova), Alex Montoya (Jose Antonio Felicisimo de la Vega y Garcia), Steven Ritch (Tukiwah, Cochise's Lieutenant), Carol Thurston (Terua, Cochise's Wife), Rodd Redwing (Red Knife, Comanche Chief), Robert E. Griffin (Sam Maddock, Tucson Bar Owner), Poppy del Vando (Senora de Cordova).
C-70m.

by Jay S. Steinberg