Former ranch hand, rodeo performer and stunt double Ben Johnson had just come off a string of John Ford films (3 Godfathers, 1948; She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, 1949; Wagon Master, 1950; Rio Grande, 1950) and one very popular fantasy adventure (Mighty Joe Young, 1949) when he took the second lead in the lower budget Western Fort Defiance (1951). Although not as prestigious as his previous work with stars like John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara, it offered him the opportunity to play a more complex character, the sole survivor of a Civil War battle lost due to the cowardice of deserter Johnny Tallon. Johnson's character, Ben Shelby, whose brother was killed in the battle, has come to Arizona seeking to kill Tallon. There he encounters Tallon's blind brother Ned. The story has the typical elements of Westerns of its time, including the obligatory Indian attacks and bank robberies, but is enriched by the extra thematic elements of revenge, forgiveness, and redemption.

The part of Tallon is played by Dane Clark, a Brooklyn-born actor better known for roles in crime dramas set in contemporary cities. Clark made his film debut in 1940 and got his first big break in the Cary Grant-John Garfield war movie Destination Tokyo (1943). Over the next few years he got lead roles in B pictures and good parts in major productions supporting such stars as Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, and Ida Lupino. He also went into television early, appearing on both The Chevrolet Tele-Theatre and The Ford Theater Hour in 1949. Clark's career continued solidly through the 1980s, frequently on television crime dramas in his later years. He also directed a few TV episodes between 1958 and 1960. Clark died in 1998 at the age of 86.

The role of the sensitive blind brother went to Peter Graves, his third film in a busy career that lasted up until his death in 2010 at the age of 83. Graves, the younger brother of James Arness of Gunsmoke fame, also did the bulk of his work on the small screen, notably as Jim Phelps on the long-running Mission: Impossible series, which won him a Golden Globe Award in 1971 as Best TV Actor in a Drama, and as the host of Biography from 1993 to 2006. But movie audiences will always remember him as the loopy pilot Captain Clarence Oveur of Airplane! (1980) and Airplane II (1982), who constantly asks inappropriate questions of his young passenger Joey.

Fort Defiance was filmed on location in Gallup, New Mexico. The production's headquarters was at the legendary Hotel El Rancho, built in 1937 by R.E. Griffith, brother of pioneer director D.W. Griffith who encouraged many productions to use the facility because of the hotel's rustic elegance and its proximity to photogenic Western landscapes. The El Rancho was a popular location and home-away-from-home for many Hollywood stars, directors, and crews from its inception until sometime in the mid-1960s. The historic hotel has been well maintained and restored and is today a popular Gallup tourist spot.

The chief Navajo role, Brave Bear, is played by Iron Eyes Cody, arguably the most famous of all Hollywood "Indians," thanks largely to his appearance as the weeping Native American surveying a polluted landscape in a long-running series of "Keep America Beautiful" public service spots on national television. Ironically, Cody was not Indian at all. He was born Espera DeCorti in Louisiana in 1907, the son of Italian immigrants. In 1924 he moved to California, changed his name, and started seeking work as a Native American actor. He made his debut between 1927 and 1930 and worked fairly steadily for about 60 years. He married an Indian woman, Bertha Birdie Parker, and they adopted two Indian sons. According to publicity materials for Fort Defiance, Bertha made all the Navajo costumes for the film. Although not a true Native American himself, Cody worked tirelessly to promote his adopted community's causes and was honored by Hollywood's Native Americans in 1995. He died in 1999.

The film's director, John Rawlins, is mostly unknown today. He helmed a number of B pictures from 1932 on and was the editor of dozens of pictures between 1924 and 1938. This was one of his last projects. He stopped working in 1958 but lived for almost 40 more years. Fort Defiance does have a substantial pedigree, however, in its cinematographer, Stanley Cortez. One of the top craftsmen in his field, Cortez was nominated for Academy Awards for Since You Went Away (1944, shared with Lee Garmes) and Orson Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). He also shot the Samuel Fuller films Shock Corridor (1963) and The Naked Kiss (1964). His most notable work is probably the stunning imagery of The Night of the Hunter (1955), and he did some uncredited work on Chinatown (1974). Cortez was given the American Society of Cinematographer's Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990.

Director: John Rawlins
Producer: Frank Melford
Screenplay: Louis Lantz
Cinematography: Stanley Cortez
Art Direction: Lucius Croxton
Original Music: Paul Sawtell
Cast: Dane Clark (Johnny Tallon), Ben Johnson (Ben Shelby), Peter Graves (Ned Tallon), Tracey Roberts (Julie Morse), George Cleveland (Uncle Charlie).
C-83m.

by Rob Nixon