Le fort de la révolte

A reviewer considered ot a lost opportunity and suggested a remake, as the conflicts amongst the troopers against the background of a common enemy: the ethical conundrum between duty and the emotional call of home loyalties, at a frontier cavalry post, as the US Civil War begins, was fertile ground for a deeper examination. I agree. A remake could be an allegory of the present deeply and bitterly racially and politically divided US, against the backdrop of circling enemies, China, Russia, Iran, Nth Korea, smelling 'blood in the water' from what they perceive as a declining and wounded power.

At the start of the Civil War, the soldiers manning Fort Laramie are split between Yanks and Confederates but the real threat is the warpath Sioux surrounding them all. Fairly good western with all round performances, especially from John Dehner, who for once isn't a shady character but a conflicted major of a fort. The idea of North and South conflict plus Indians on the warpath is quite fresh, and the action scenes are well done, though I wish the script was sharper, there was a longer running time and a more famous lead hero. Such things would have fulfilled the film's potential.

And I had the habit not to ever miss a Lesley Selander's feature, though he has made so many of them, mostly grade Z, but I have never cared, on the contrary. So small budgets films have so much charm, precisely this lack of ambition, that I have an inner software that permits me to appreciate, love them for they are: not pretentious. I agree that the bulk of them are lousy, forgettable, but sometimes you may find some true gems, where screenwriters dare to show unusual stuff, ideas, schemes, characters. This is unfortunately not the case for this western. No surprise, but so much charm for western buffs.