Outguessing the enemy was the key to survival

tmwest

During years I avoided seeing  `Ulzana's Raid' because the title gave me the idea that it was a spaghetti western of which I had seen my share. I saw it a couple of  days ago and was impressed. This is a film that goes into the mind of the Indian , and also of the Lieutenant whose father is a minister and has strong Christian feelings. The two of them live in two different worlds and for the officer to understand  Ulzana is a  very hard task, it does not relate to anything his father taught him. Nevertheless figuring out Ulzana  is essential for his mission and he is coached into that by Burt Lancaster and Ke-Ni-Tay, an Indian scout. Ulzana kills every homesteader he finds, he must know that ultimately he is going to be caught, it is just a question of time. Lancaster is a master in strategy, but so is Ulzana, who at times seems like a maestro orienting his men. The brains here count more than the weapons.  This is Aldrich's best film, he redeemed himself from `The Last Sunset.'

score 9/10

tmwest 19 April 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0126517/