Ulzana's Raid Ulzana's Raid

Report reaches the US cavalry that the Apache leader Ulzana has left his reservation with a band of followers. A compassionate young officer, Lieutenant DeBuin, is given a small company to find him and bring him back; accompanying the troop is McIntosh, an experienced scout, and Ke-Ni-Tay, an Apache guide. Ulzana massacres, rapes and loots across the countryside; and as DeBuin encounters the remains of his victims, he is compelled to learn from McIntosh and to confront his own naivity and hidden prejudices.

Burt Lancaster Bruce Davison Jorge Luke Richard Jaeckel Joaquín Martínez Lloyd Bochner Karl Swenson Douglass Watson Dran Hamilton John Pearce Gladys Holland Margaret Fairchild Aimée Eccles Richard Bull Otto Reichow Dean Smith Richard Farnsworth Walter Scott

Universal Pictures The Associates & Aldrich Company De Haven Productions

western action drama

103 mins   More details at IMDb / TMDb

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  • moviemiser

    Review by moviemiser ★★★★

    This belongs in the canon of Western classics. Aldrich is a hard nosed S.O.B. with his approach to story and character, and the film is literally boiling with hate and spite. The story plays out as one long horse ride (the Apaches are always 3-4 hours ahead on the trail), both parties continually progress, never gain or lose a bit of ground, but both continue to press on. It's a great existential metaphor, and Aldrich plays it like a master. If you though Ford's The Searchers toyed with racism and xenophobia, give this bastard a spin.

  • Reid Volk

    Review by Reid Volk ★★★

    A cat and mouse Western featuring Burt Lancaster as a grizzled old man out for some Apache blood. Along the way he not only finds blood, but also scorched entrails. A real treat in the western genre if you ask me.

  • Jonathan Hutchings

    Review by Jonathan Hutchings ★★★½ 1

    The Western genre was in full revisionist mode in 1972, when the underrated Robert Aldrich made (the fittingly underrated) Ulzana's Raid. This stark, brutal depiction of a minor Indian War is remarkably unique, avoiding pompous posturing for an honest depiction of a nasty time and place. Largely viewed as an allegory for the United States' involvement in Vietnam, this film automatically stands out for how alarmingly violent it is (scalpings, mutilations, and a first for me: playing catch with a man's innards). If Peckipah paved the wave for unflinching violence in the genre, Aldrich blew right down the road here.

    Apache Ulzana (Joaquin Martinez) escapes an Indian reservation with a handful of followers, and begins a reign of terror massacring…

  • Jeremy Poulos

    Review by Jeremy Poulos ★★★

    Honestly, without knowing that this film is an allegory to the war in Vietnam, my rating would be lower. I wasn't alive during Vietnam, but I know my fair share about it and I get the message. I'm guessing the generation after me would have no clue what this movie is really about and perhaps that's why it's not a very well-known movie. I hadn't even heard of it before it popped up in my Netflix cue and I'm a huge fan of Lancaster and Westerns in general.

    I'm having trouble putting my finger on it, but there was something about the movie that just didn't work for me. Perhaps it was the uninspired cinematography and editing. Maybe Lancaster's apathetic…

  • Peter Zingg

    Review by Peter Zingg ★★★

    Ulzana's Apache, representing the 1972 NVA in the Slotkin view of things, are brutal and very smart, but can our fresh Green Beret officer, Bruce Davison, and his tactical adviser who understands the enemy's strategies, Burt Lancaster, outsmart them? Or will another My Lai be the result when the two sides meet?

  • Thomas Ringdal

    Review by Thomas Ringdal ★★★½ 5

    I love the nihilism in this!
    Claims of racism is a bit far fetched in my opinion, as it doesn't depict either side as any better than the other.
    Lancaster is solid, again, and I really liked the guy playing the indian scout.

  • anne_f_

    Review by anne_f_ ★★★

    I think I should stop watching Westerns for a while as I'm not enjoying them. This was a bore, and that probably says more about me than the film. (And I didn't pay attention all the way through).

  • Peter Labuza

    Review by Peter Labuza ★★★½

    Note to self: Bilge Ebiri recommendations never go wrong. At least in Western as exploration of racism department.

  • Matt Noller

    Review by Matt Noller ★★★½

    [B+]