LAUGHABLE STORY -
Insulting Romantic Subplot
Conquest of Cochise (1953)
directed by William Castle
This was a mixed bag at
best. The writers took a page from the 1950 motion picture "Broken
Arrow" in that they at least portrayed the Indian people in a mostly respectful
way, even going so far in a few scenes to introduce a few Apache customs
(such as when Cochise describes the mother-in-law avoidance custom to
his newly acquired hostage, a beautiful Mexican woman with whom he soon
falls in love -- yes, you read that right.) There are
shamelessly Hollywood-ized war dances, a reference or two to Cochise's
inbred sense of honor and insistence on truth in all matters, and a moderate
measure of success in demonstrating the Apache's love of family.
I found John Hodiak's
portrayal not as bad as those of the other actors so far featured here,
but he completely lacked the presence and the stateliness one would expect
of an actor taking on the role of Cochise. In fact, it was downright
embarrassing to watch Cochise become starry-eyed and moonstruck over his
pretty Mexican captive.
. .
. . .
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