Escape from Fort Bravo *** (1953, William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Forsythe) – Classic Movie Review 10,269

Director John Sturges never lets the tension sag in the 1953 film Escape from Fort Bravo, a complex, superior MGM Western that is too little known.

There are some familiar situations in the screenplay by Frank Fenton, from a story by Philip Rock and Michael Pate. During the US Civil War, Confederate prisoners escape from an Arizona fort only to run slap bang into the Mescalero Apaches, Indians on the warpath, and there is the problem of the pursuing Union troops too.

William Holden is very fine as the tough, easily-riled cavalry captain, Captain Roper, Eleanor Parker is good as Carla Forester, the woman who helps to engineer the escape, and John Forsythe is entirely okay as Captain John Marsh, the posh Confederate prisoner who comes between them.

But there are a few surprises among the familiar situations, as well as well-handled bursts of action, and a tough edge to proceedings that undercuts a glossy exterior. Best of all is Robert L Surtees’s Anscocolor cinematography, especially of the terrific Death Valley National Park, California, backdrop. There is also filming at Gallup, Ford Butte, Rattlesnake, Sanostee, Little Water, and Huerfano, all in New Mexico, as well as at Corriganville, Ray Corrigan Ranch, Simi Valley, California.

Also in the cast are William Demarest, Polly Bergen, William Campbell, Carl Benton Reid, Richard Anderson, John Lupton, Glenn Strange, Harry Cheshire, Michael Dugan, Frank Matts, Alex Montoya, Charles Stevens, Eloise Hardt and Forrest Lewis.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,269

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