Just what I expected

As Good As It Gets

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This may be the first non-"Ride the High Country" Joel McCrea western I have ever seen. I realize now that I wasted my youth. He is great in this movie. I've seen a lot of Randolph Scott westerns and he's good, but McCrae had a meanness in this movie I did not expect. The rest of the cast is very good too. There some typical western clichés in this movie but that never really bothers me if they're done well. This movie constantly surprised me.It's also beautiful to look in its widescreen glory. It does run out gas after a while but it doesn't stall for very long. I'm sorry it took me so long to catch up with this one. I've just become a big Joel McCrae fan.

A cavalry troop navigates through a remote territory while trying to overcome repeated Indian attacks. This looks very much like the second feature on a B-movie double-bill. The plot is somewhat meandering and the characters are nothing more than stereotypes. The flat direction doesn't help matters. There is intermittent philosophical discussion, but much of the dialog is amateurish. For example, McCrea says something like this about his late wife: "She wasn't much to look at, but she was kind. She would catch a fly with her hands and release it outside the house. I would swat." Goldsmith wrote such hard-boiled yarns as "Detour" and "The Narrow Margin" but seems to be out of his element with this Western.

If you've stuck through at least a season of just about any western television serial, you'll be familiar with FORT MASSACRE's plot, involving a troop crossing Apache territory. As a fan of RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, I expected Joel McCrea would be the sole reason for reinvesting myself in this film's well-trodden set-up. While McCrea's performance is certainly a draw (especially given his character's hard edge, usually reserved for a supporting or villainous character) the real standout here was John Russell as Private Travis. I've never encountered a character like his--in this or any other film genre--solely driven by his indecision. You might expect that this is because such an arc wouldn't make for a compelling lead, but damn if FORT MASSACRE doesn't become his film by the end. Thanks to some interesting and revealing exchanges between McCrea and Russell, as well as superb cinematography by Carl Guthrie (BACKFIRE, THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL), this obscure "B" western deserves more recognition than it currently receives.

With the officers killed, Sergeant Joel McCrea finds himself in command of a patrol that's supposed to meet up with a larger column of men at a water hole. McCrea and his patrol find that larger group of men, but they turn out to be hostile Apaches. That's the beginning of Fort Massacre, a tough and brutal western about an army patrol trying to get back to their lines. The problem they have isn't just the Indians, it's McCrea. He lost his wife and children to the Apaches a few years before and it's unhinged him and clouded his judgment. At least that's the considered opinion of most of the men.The main problem with Fort Massacre is the miscasting of Joel McCrea who usually made it point of always being an upright hero in his films. In fact when his swan song picture was originally being cast, Ride the High Country, McCrea insisted on being the hero Steven Judd because he knew it would be better on him instead of the original casting of Gil Westrum the former deputy who was turning bad. Randolph Scott agreed to the switch and it worked out all for the better.In fact Fort Massacre would rate a lot higher with me if Randolph Scott had done the lead. In his later westerns Scott's heroes had a real edge to them, the film would have worked better with him. I'm not sure producer Walter Mirisch didn't send this script for Scott to McCrea by mistake. McCrea's sergeant had a lot of similarities to the revenge crazed character Alan Ladd played in One Foot In Hell. The rest of the cast does nicely in parts that fit them. Denver Pyle, Forest Tucker and John Russell are other troop members. Anthony Caruso is a laconic Pawnee Indian scout for the patrol who's full of a lot of wisdom. Susan Cabot and Francis McDonald are a Paiute cliff dweller and his granddaughter with whom the troop take refuge and Irving Bacon and Claire Carlton are a pair of Indian traders.Fort Massacre is a grim western with no frills, it could have been a lot better if Randolph Scott had done this one though.