Best movie ever!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

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

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

The more desperate his fight on the desert's scorching sands , the more adored he was in her arms ¡ . Gregory Peck as captain Lance who gave Fort Invincible his name ¡ . Richard Lance (Peck) is a honorable cavalry officer to roust renegade troopers and a tribe of Indians Apaches . Cavalry captain is saddled not only problems with Native American but irritability among his own undisciplined troops . Lance is wrongfully framed by his girlfriend (Barbara Payton) and underlings of killing lieutenant Holloway (Gig Young) massacred along with a patrol by Indians . Richard Lance eventually puts the bridle on tight and struggles to win his soldiers respect while warding off violent Indians. Richard along with a group of soldiers have to defend a left fort surrounded by Indians until arrival reinforcements who are using a Gatling machine gun . The angry Apaches (led by Michael Ansara, usual in Indian roles) are out on a rampage of killing , seeking vengeance against the white intruders, and with the aim for eliminate them.This is an acceptable , conventional tale with action galore about a hard-bitten officer who goes to hell and back while assembling a detail of misfit cavalrymen to hold-off rampaging Indians and later on regaining the respect of his soldiers and his sweetheart . Gregory Peck and a top-notch all-secondary-star-cast as Ward Bond, Steve Brodie , Warner Anderson , Neville Brand , Jeff Corey and Lon Chaney Jr as the Arab ; all of them shine in this gripping story about a surrounded garrison . Furthermore as protagonist girl appears Barbara Payton ( who acted in important films as Dallas, Drums in the deep South , Kiss Tomorrow) , she turned to be one of the saddest stories from dark chronicle Hollywood . Attractive blonde sexpot and her life eventually disintegrated,mostly by her own doings . She was the subject of a spread in Confidential Magazine in the early 1950s when then fiancé Franchot Tone allegedly caught in bed with Guy Madison . Tone later married her , despite the indiscretion, besides she had a tempestuous relationship with Tom Neal. But happened the downfall , her once enticing countenance now blotchy and once sensational figure now bloated,Barbara sank deeper into the bottle and had several brushes with law , among them public boozy , bad checks and ultimate prostitution . The 39 years former star was found on the bathroom floor. Director takes a fine penned screenplay creating a cavalry-Indians tale that is far from ordinary , exploring the anguish of soldiers and including jarring burst of violence , however it packs a predictable ending . It's the habitual theme about an unit stranded by enemies and their grueling efforts to break the siege, issue imitated many other times . Gritty and passable written Western from Edmund H. North and Harry Brown , based on the novel by Charles Marquis Warren ,also Western filmmaker .The picture contains nice moments though partially unsatisfying and disappointing for the reason of the deeply claustrophobic environment . Well produced by William Cagney , James Cagney's brother , this Western is predictable and conventional but entertaining. Thrilling and stirring musical score by the classic Franz Waxman . Cinematography by Lionel Lindon enhances the dark tones especially on the besieged fort .The motion picture is professionally directed by Gordon Douglas . He's an expert on adventures genre as ¨Black arrow¨ and ¨Fortunes of Captain Blood¨ , both starred by Louis Hayward ; but he's mainly specialist filmmaking Western , his first was ¨ Girl rush (1944)¨ and in the 40s directed ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ and ¨The Nevadan¨ for duo Harry Joe Brown-Randolph Scott . He went on directing Alan Ladd's (as Jim Bowie) vehicles as ¨Iron Mistress¨ and ¨The fiend who walked west¨ which resulted to be a Western rendition to ¨Kiss of death¨. In the 50s he proved his specialty on Western in the films starred by Clint Walker as ¨Fort Dobbs¨ ,¨Yellowstone Kelly¨, ¨Gold of seven Saints¨ and about legendary bandits as ¨Doolins of Oklahoma¨ and ¨Great Missouri raid¨ . After that , he filmed ¨Chuka(1967)¨ that bears remarkable resemblance to ¨Only the valiant¨ , the remake ¨Stagecoach (1966)¨ , ¨Rio Conchos¨ with Richard Boone and considered the best Western and finally ¨Barquero(1970)¨with Lee Van Cleef and realized in Spaghetti style.

I would suggest that Only the Valiant is one of the most original and intriguing and in some ways weird movies that Peck ever did; daring , surprising and one of his few best westerns (--no, no, of course, not a western really, but a military chronicle, which sometimes is better--). It's quite low—budget, but, oh, very original and striking. It's one of those treats a true buff sometimes gets; movies that no one yet told you they exist. You say—'that sounds intriguing, or interesting'—and it surpasses your expectations.All in all, the script shows a level of maturity unusual for the westerns—and it somehow reminded me, obliquely, of ULZANA; it's also straight no—nonsense suspense.Peck looked dashing as a young and tough, somewhat gloomy and stoic officer; and there are many unexpected touches—like the blonde babe kissing and flirting with the one she's decided not to marry, perhaps a feeling of hers for justice and retribution ….Even genre—wise, ONLY … is so much more than a military tale—it is as well an action drama, a suspense movie, a commando/ action thriller—the weirdest combo imaginable; a bunch of soldiers in a special mission to counteract and stop a possible Native's attack …--the insane decision not to take all the available troops to the place where those Natives could be stopped—but only a handful of people …--and this plot never takes a crap route—as most would and did …. The interest for humans, for people and their reasons and actions never falters.A due word about Peck himself; he performs with brio, and though I usually find his famous movies to be rather insipid and boring, in such small outings I find intact all Peck's somber and even chilling glamor. He was an unusual star.I gladly recommend this extraordinary movie.

Contains spoilers'Only the Valiant' is an example of the 'cavalry film', that sub-genre of the Western that tells the story of the conflict between the US Army and the native Indians of the American West during the second half of the nineteenth century. The central character, Captain Richard Lance, is an Army officer known as a stickler for discipline and for doing everything by the book. Lance is already unpopular with the men under his command, and becomes even more hated when a popular subordinate, Lieutenant Holloway, is killed while leading a dangerous mission to escort Tuscos, a captured Apache chief, to prison. The rumour spreads among the men that Lance deliberately nominated Holloway for the mission because the two were rivals for the hand of the same woman. In fact, Lance wanted to undertake the mission himself and was prevented from doing so by a direct order from his commanding officer, but he never explains this to the men. The Apaches, led by the rescued Tuscos, are preparing for war against the white man, and it looks as though Fort Winston, the fort where Lance is based, will be attacked in overwhelming numbers. Lance volunteers to lead a small detachment of men to hold another fort, Fort Invincible, abandoned after being damaged in an earlier Apache raid. Fort Invincible commands a strategic pass through the mountains; Lance believes that if he and his men can hold it for a few days, this will gain enough time to allow a relieving force to reach Fort Winston. He is allowed to hand-pick the men who will accompany him on this mission, but instead of picking the best men available, he picks the worst, what he calls the 'dregs' of the unit. Each of these has a particular weakness- one is a coward, one a drunk, another a deserter, another a brawler, and so on. Even before the Holloway incident, Lance seems to have had the knack of making enemies and alienating people, and all of these men have good reason to hate both him and one another.The aim of the filmmakers was presumably to produce a 'character-driven' film in which a motley collection of men learn to work together, the idea being that the tale of how a bunch of misfits learn to work and fight together is more interesting than a similar story told about a well-disciplined and motivated crack unit. The film's main weakness is that this concept, as told here, is not really credible. Lance tells the men quite bluntly that he has chosen them for the mission because they are the worst soldiers in the fort, and explains that he has done so because they are the men who can most easily be spared. The whole point, however, is that Fort Invincible must be held for long enough to allow the relieving force to arrive. If this plan succeeds, the whole garrison may be saved. If it fails, Fort Winston is likely to be overrun and the garrison massacred, regardless of the caliber of the men left behind. It therefore follows that Lance would want the best possible men under his command in Fort Invincible, not the worst. It is also unclear why it is never explained to the men that Lance was not responsible for sending Holloway on the fateful mission. If military etiquette would have prevented Lance from disclosing the contents of a conversation with a superior officer, the Colonel himself should have made this clear in order to defuse a situation that was becoming prejudicial to good discipline.Another weakness lies in the character of Lance himself, who is too cold to arouse the viewer's sympathy, even though he eventually turns out to be the man who saves the day and wins the girl. His tactlessness, arrogance and gift for making enemies make him an unlikely leader of men. It seems unlikely that a military unit so riven by feuds and hatred and led by such a martinet could ever accomplish the simplest task, let alone succeed in a highly dangerous mission. I also disliked the way the Indians were portrayed as bloodthirsty, whooping savages, with no attempt made to present their point of view or to understand why they felt such hatred for the white man. The only Indian we hear speak is Tuscos, who makes boastful speeches about how the 'dog soldiers' will be dust beneath the hooves of his horses. This stereotypical view of the American Indian was perhaps not uncommon in films of this period, although even in the early fifties there were movies that took a more liberal view. 'Broken Arrow', for example, had been released a year before 'Only the Valiant'. (Stereotypes, incidentally, are not confined to the portrayal of the Indians. Ward Bond's drunken, garrulous, belligerent Irishman seems to be a character lifted straight from the pages of a music-hall joke book). There are some better features of the film; the stark black-and-white photography, for example, is effective, and some of the battle scenes are well done. On the whole, however, the film is too lacking in credibility and the characters too unsympathetic. This is not one of Gregory Peck's better efforts. 5/10

I saw this film twice, both by accident. It is one of those movies that only gets shown at 3:00 am because it is so intense. After seeing this you can understand why John Huston picked Gregory Peck to play Captain Ahab in his version of "Moby Dick". This is a character you can only hate until he redeems himself. The Indians are a serious force of nature whose periodic attacks you fear because the aftermath of each one is so bloody you cringe instinctively which is why I am glad the movie is in Black and White. Gordon Douglas, who also directed one of the greatest monster movies of all time, "THEM", really understands the art of building tension and the pain of violence. Lon Chaney Jr's character goes through some of the same sadistically disturbing drama that Gene Hackman went through when his character was shot in "Bonnie and Clyde". A real nail-biter.