Redundant and unnecessary.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

I'm always curious about the casting of name actors in Native American roles. You had Chuck Connors as the title character in 1962's "Geronimo" and Paul Newman did a respectable job in 1967's "Hombre". The thing with me is, I don't have so much a problem with white actors cast as Indians, but more so in the fact that their celebrity serves as a distraction in watching the picture. That's the issue here as well, with Burt Lancaster in the role of Apache warrior Massai, most of the time I was watching Lancaster the actor while trying to pay attention to the story.About the only thing that's historically accurate in this film is the capture of Massai the first time and his escape from the prison train. All the rest is poetic license taken for the sake of the story, so on that basis you'll have to judge for yourself. The real Massai virtually disappeared once he returned to New Mexico-Arizona Territory, raiding along the border and occasionally seeking refuge in Mexico. He kidnapped and married a Mescalero Apache girl and had six children with her. The idea presented in the movie that Massai could walk away from the Cavalry after killing a number of soldiers and scouts is plainly laughable, but Hollywood in the Fifties wouldn't have drawn an audience without a feel good ending.The one thing the film does have going for it is the Indian dialog. There are some thoughtful conversations among the Native characters on screen, and one idea that intrigued me came from Santos (Paul Guilfoyle), father of Nalinle (Jean Peters). He stated that "even a hawk is an eagle among crows". I liked that imagery, it reminded me of a similar saying having to do with a one eyed man being king in the land of the blind.The other thing that got my attention had to do with the egotistical and vicious bounty hunter Weddle (John Dehner). That time he walked into the trading post for supplies, one of the things he asked for was 'saleratus'. I couldn't let that one go and had to look it up. Wouldn't you know, he could have made things a whole lot easier by simply asking for baking soda.

Burt Lancaster brings great dignity to the role of Massai, a fiercely proud Apache man who still thinks of himself as a warrior. Unwilling to be shipped off, along with other Indians, to Florida, he escapes his captors and makes life miserable for the white men in his midst. Eventually, he abducts a young woman, Nalinle (Jean Peters), and attempts to begin a life as a family man and a farmer. Meanwhile, Indian scouts such as Al Sieber (John McIntire) and Hondo (Charles Bronson) steadily track him down.In some ways, "Apache" is a product of its time, with an assortment of white actors playing Indians. If people are able to suspend their disbelief, they'll find that the acting is generally good. While Massai is stubborn and not all that sympathetic, Lancaster takes the role seriously, stressing the Indian warriors' pride at all times. At the same time, the film is rather progressive for having an Indian character in a leading / heroic role.Peters is appealing as the lady who helps to bring out more of his humanity. In addition to the robust McIntire and the typically low key Bronson, the very fine supporting cast includes John Dehner, Paul Guilfoyle (*not* the 'C.S.I.' co-star, but a different character actor), "High Noon" villain Ian MacDonald, Walter Sande, and Morris Ankrum.The action is first rate, with rousing music by David Raksin and lush colour cinematography by Ernest Laszlo and Stanley Cortez. The "happy" ending doesn't feel all that convincing, but at least getting there is somewhat interesting, with efficient direction by Robert Aldrich helping to keep things watchable.Six out of 10.

Like "Broken Arrow", which came out four years earlier, "Apache" deals with the Apache Wars of the late nineteenth century and is loosely based on fact. It is, however, set at a rather later period of history than the earlier film. Geronimo, the last Apache chief to continue to resist the white settlement of the American South-West has finally been forced to surrender to the US Army. (Geronimo played a minor role in "Broken Arrow" as the main opponent of Cochise's peace treaty with the whites). Geronimo and his warriors are transported by train to a reservation in Florida. While they are passing through St Louis, however, one warrior, Massai, manages to escape and sets out to walk all the way to back his homeland.Another similarity between this film and "Broken Arrow" is that both are made from a point of view sympathetic to Native Americans. Indeed, "Apache" goes further than the earlier film in this respect. In "Broken Arrow" the main Indian character, Cochise, and the main white character, Tom Jeffords, are both treated sympathetically and are given equal prominence. Here Massai is very much the most important character, more prominent than any of the white characters, none of whom are particularly sympathetic. A key scene in the film comes when Massai, on his long trek back to the South-West, meets a Comanche farmer in Oklahoma. Hitherto Massai, like all Apaches, has seen himself as a proud hunter and warrior, scorning all those, be they whites or members of other Indian tribes, who earn a living by growing crops. Seeing, however, that the Comanche live in peace with their white neighbours, he reasons that a similar change of lifestyle could enable the Apache to do the same. Upon his arrival back in the Apache homelands, however, he discovers that the white settlers and the military have no intention of allowing him to live in peace, and he begins a one-man war against them. As in "Broken Arrow" the main Indian characters, Massai and his wife Nalinle, are played by white actors, something which would today doubtless be condemned as politically incorrect but which in the fifties would have been regarded as quite acceptable. Burt Lancaster may have been attracted to the part by his liberal political convictions which were to become more important in his choice of roles later in his career. It must be said, however, that Lancaster is far less convincing as an Indian than Jeff Chandler had been in "Broken Arrow"; no attempt was made to hide the fact that both he and his co-star Jean Peters had blue eyes, something not normally associated with pure-bred Apaches. Another Indian character is played by a white actor, a young Charles Bronson in an early role. This was not, in fact, the first film in which Lancaster had played an American Indian; three years earlier he had played the title role in "Jim Thorpe- All American". Thorpe, however, although a member of the Sac and Fox nation, had European blood on both sides of his family, so Lancaster's looks were not such an issue in that film. "Apache" is a frequently enjoyable Western adventure, but I would not rate it as highly as "Broken Arrow". Whereas "Broken Arrow" had tried to present a more balanced picture of life in the Old West than many traditional Westerns, which had simply portrayed Native Americans as bloodthirsty savages, "Apache" goes too far in the other direction, substituting for the old stereotype a new one of the American Indian as heroic noble savage. Burt Lancaster gets a chance to show off the athletic and acrobatic skills which were his stock-in-trade during the early part of his career, but this is not really one of his best performances or one of his best films. 6/10

Burt Lancaster is Massai, an Apache who does not want to surrender as Geronimo and be deported to Florida. Jean Peters is his girlfriend, and Charles Bronson is Hondo, who has accepted life under the reservation. Lancaster is aiming to die as an hero to be an example to his tribe, but he has conflicting thoughts because he is also toying with the idea of planting corn, suggested by a Cherokee. Robert Aldrich was forced to accept a happy ending that was not originally intended. According to him, this distorted completely the meaning of the film which was built around the idea of Massai dying to maintain his dignity. Aldrich later on made Ulzana's Raid, also with Lancaster, with the same type of story, but doing it the way he wanted to.