Just perfect...

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

I found this film so disappointing that it moved me to write my first review.I enjoy the western genre and was particularly looking forward to watching it as it is one I haven't seen before. Firstly, there is really some odd casting in this movie - Rod Taylor is completely unconvincing as a tough gunslinger, John Mills as a terribly English upper class officer in charge of a US fort(!), Louis Hayward as a lecherous womaniser with a weakness for young natives, James Whitmore as a drunken Indian scout, Luciana Paluzzi as Taylor's superfluous love interest, and Victoria Vetri who is just superfluous. Lastly, there is Ernest Borgnine as a bullying American/German army sergeant who shouts a lot and also we are led to believe served with Mills in the Sudan!There is very little in the way of action until the climax apart from one brutal and overlong fight scene between Taylor and Borgnine which ends with them being friends - isn't that sweet?! I won't bore anyone with the 'plot' mainly because I couldn't find one suffice to say that thankfully the injuns eventually turn up and kill all of these thoroughly unpleasant people.I can honestly say this film has no redeeming features - I can't really fault the acting but the story such as it is has more holes than a tea bag and also leaves many unanswered questions. I give it a generous 2/10.

Chuka is a strangely written film with some strange characters, all of whom need to have some tedious expository background scene whilst the audience twiddles its thumbs waiting for the Indians to attack (that they win is revealed in the opening scene so there's no suspense here).Writer Richard Jassup creates some bizarre people who are unlikely to have existed in real life. His army fort is populated by a collection of what is described as the 'scum of the Earth'. As if a USA army fort in Indian territory would ever be (or ever could be) populated with 'disgraced' people. The officer in charge is a disgraced (and, it is implied, castrated) former British officer who, for reasons understandably unexplained, is now a colonel in the USA army. Not only that, but his German sergeant who served with him in the British army in the Sudan (?!) is also with him at the fort. Another character explains that he hates battles because horses get killed (!). With such bizarre creations as these, there is little one can do really but sit it out for the full 105m whilst these people all reveal something 'significant' about their backgrounds and hope that the end action justifies the wait (even know you know it won't).The real star of the film is not Rod Taylor but the most unconvincing fort set that I have ever seen (and I must have watched over 400 westerns including all 13 of AC Lyles' films). It is so small you only ever get to see one small part of the wall. The inhabitants must number about 30 at most - only about 20 can fit in the non-existent 'parade ground' - and there is room in the stable for about 10 horses. Apart from Taylor, none of the main actors seem to have left this set for the duration. Consequently, the film has a cramped, claustrophobic, artificial look throughout and I was half expecting the source material to be a stage play. The constricted set causes several Indian arrows to defy the laws of physics and gravity - one army officer gets one in the back when his back was up against a wooden wall ! Other highlights include a long fight between Taylor and Ernest Borgnine which ends, following kidney punches and the banging of Taylor's head against a wooden post, with the two simply laughing and seemingly unharmed. Plus a somewhat incomprehensible ending that tries to strain for significance (would a grave really not be dug-up due to 'sacrilege' if a relative was after the body?).

This is a movie that constantly teeters on the brink of being awful, yet somehow continually proves itself to be interesting and entertaining. Here's what I liked:Rod Taylor pulls off the role of charismatic "pistolero" loner quite well.I don't know how plausible it is for a former British army officer to be commanding U.S. troops, but John Mills character adds a unique texture to the Western setting.The characters in the movie were very well developed in terms of complexity. Ernest Borgnine and James Whitmore provide excellent supporting acting.I liked the fact that a strong Mexican theme was introduced through the love interest. It was nice to see a Mexican aristocrat portrayed and not the usual ragged, barefoot street vendor/flunkie.Although the Indians were presented as stereotypical murderers threatening the heroes, they were given legitimate cause for their extreme actions.I enjoyed a couple of "super macho" scenes, one involving a extended fist fight between Taylor and Borgnine and the other involving an extended Tequila drinking bout by Taylor and Whitmore.A shout out to lovely Bond girl Luciana Paluzzi. She's very effective as a complex love interest for Taylor.Here's some things I didn't like:There's maybe too much time spent developing the back stories of the main characters. The movie needed more action oriented subplots, especially since it was told as a flashback i.e. We already knew the ending.I found the general pacing too slow, starting with Chuka's long pony ride through the snow at the beginning.Maybe the Arapahoes were starving, but Rod Taylor sure wasn't. Hard to imaging getting that pudgy wandering around the desert on a horse. You think the guy could have worked out a little for this part.I don't know how to shoot a pistol, but I'm sure Taylor's firing technique is extremely poor. Hard to believe he never misses.This was shot almost entirely on set. I like Westerns to have significant location shoots in the West, not in Burbank.The Burbank set itself was very cheap and the whole movie had a cartoonish feel. This was dissonant with its rather grim and violent plot.Was it necessary to reveal that Colonel Valois is no longer a "complete man" because he was sexually mutilated by natives in the Sudan? This was a bizarre non-sequitur introduced late in the movie.There is zero comic relief, at least intentional comic relief.

An unfortunate veneer of artificiality hangs over this otherwise rugged western, giving it a cheap feeling despite its impressive cast. Taylor plays the title character, a drifter and a gunman, who comes upon a distressed stagecoach and escorts it to a nearby fort. On the coach is a former love of his (Paluzzi) and her ward Vetri. Once inside, rather than finding the relief of security, Taylor and the others discover that the fort is actually manned by inept, almost mutinous soldiers and run by a stubborn tyrant with esteem issues. The colonel in charge (Mills) is about to incite an attack from local Indians because he reuses to aid them with food or supplies. Taylor urges him to desert the fort before everyone in it is slaughtered, as they are mightily outnumbered, but Mills is steadfast in his decision. Soon enough, Indians are attacking with rage as the fort's inhabitants options dwindle. Taylor, a reliable and appealing actor, was co-producer on this film. He clearly saw it as an opportunity to essay a serious, deep character. Unfortunately, his inherent amiability makes his tough character a harder sell than it might be for another actor. Still, he does a decent job. Oddly, his character's name comes from the fact that, as a boy, he could always be found around the "chuck wagon", hence the pronunciation "chuck-a" which looks like it would be "chew-ka" (why not just spell it "Chucka"?? Why not "Chuckie" or "Chuck-O" for that matter?) This is stupid and makes viewers glad that Taylor didn't hang out at the "sh*t hole" as a boy. Borgnine is pretty good as one of Mills devoted flunkies who clashes with Taylor in an extended fight sequence. Mills has a badly written role to play and comes very close to embarrassing himself at times. Thankfully, he had an Oscar with his name on it just around the corner for "Ryan's Daughter". Paluzzi, best known as a Bond girl from "Thunderball" is mostly made to stand around and stare, which she does attractively. Vetri barely registers. Her initial scenes are distracted by having a huge crueller stapled to her head. Later, she's basically furniture. If she'd been allowed to show any type of skin besides her face and hands, maybe she'd have been more memorable. Speaking of clothing, this must be a low point for the legendary costume designer Edith Head (if she even, in fact, had anything to do with the dull, non-evocative costumes.) A few other actors pop up in supporting roles including Whitmore as a boozy scout, Hayward as a jaded major and Cole (soon to be one of TV's "The Mod Squad") as a rebellious soldier. Noted voice-over actor Sirola appears as the stage coach driver and a pal to Taylor. Apart from Taylor and, to a lesser degree Borgnine and Mills, the only creative or arresting acting comes from the ever-reliable Whitmore. The script, derived from a novel by the novel's author, is not cohesive enough and really should have been streamlined in order to retain a particular focus. It allows too many characters and subplots to chip away, to no great effect, at the primary story. Even so, the movie is nearly undone by the horrendous lack of authenticity in the settings. A key outdoor scene features plainly artificial snow made up from chipped tissue paper. The fort is almost entirely constructed (obviously) indoors. All the distress to the set, such as char, aging, etc..., is done with all the skill of 4th grade art students. Time and again, the cheapness and confining restriction of an indoor set takes the viewer out of the moment. There is also an atrociously bad matte painting of an Indian camp. These things brand the film as being just above a TV show, if even that! Most of the action occurs at the tail end of the film and it isn't staged in any grand way. This is for die-hard Cavalry and Indian buffs or for fans of the stars only.