The Indian Fighter

Rip-roaring 50’s Western shot in the heart of Oregon with Kirk Douglas

A frontiersman who functions in the region of the Bozeman Trail & Oregon Trail (Kirk Douglas) assists a wagon train and tries to keep the peace between a tribe of Lakota Sioux living in the area and the new Americans, including a fort of soldiers nearby.

"The Indian Fighter" (1955) is similar to "The Last Frontier" (aka "Savage Wilderness"), released earlier the same month of December. They’re both Fort & Indians Westerns taking place in the Northwest with Red Cloud & his braves as the antagonists. The assault on the fort in the movie recalls Red Cloud’s real-life siege of Fort Phil Kearney in the shadow of the Big Horn Mountains in the Wyoming Territory where attacks were launched against troops & settlers for two years from 1866-1868.

One great thing about this Western is the character played by Kirk Douglas, Johnny Hawks. He’s a robust individualist who refuses moronic sectarianism in the wilderness conflict. He sees beyond mere skin color & culture and focuses on character and mutual benefit while driven by self-interest, albeit not in an ignoble way. He’s brave & confident, yes, but he’s neither a blind hero nor a sullen antihero out for revenge; he’s a nonconformist loner brimming with joie de vivre that doesn’t care if people hate him (unjustly) and absolutely refuses social manipulations.

The exciting Oglala attack on the Fort is one of the highlights. It reveals the most practical way to assault a stronghold made of lumber in the wilds. Regrettably, the key Native characters are played by Caucasians, but there weren’t many quality actors of Amer-Indian descent back then. Thankfully, the peripheral Natives appear to be real Amer-Indians. Basically, just pretend that Red Cloud, Grey Wolf and Onahti look more Amer-Indian than they do. Problem solved.

This was the first film produced by Kirk and he allowed his ex-wife, Diana Douglas, to play the settler woman from the wagon train who clearly wants him for a husband (obviously an inside joke). This shows that Kirk and Diana had a good relationship despite their divorce in 1951. Meanwhile tall Italian Elsa Martinelli plays the native girl that Johnny aggressively woos, the aforementioned Onahti. Make no mistake, Onahti was attracted to Johnny and he knew it; thus he goes after what he wants.

The film runs 1 hour, 28 minutes, and was shot in the area of Bend, Oregon, including Smith Rock State Park and also the Deschutes National Forest.

GRADE: A-