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The movie depicts a fictionalized account of “The Bascom Affair” of 1861 and “The battle of Apache pass” of 1862. U.S. Cavalry officer Maj. Jim Colton(John Lund) is a sympathetic leader who has a working relationship with Apache leader Cochise(Jeff Chandler). Maj. Colton is undermined by corrupt and politically ambitious Indian agent Neil Baylor(Bruce Cowling) who sets up a false attack, and the abduction of a local farmer’s son. While Colton is away investigating the matter, Baylor convinces Lt. George Bascom(John Hudson) that Cochise’s band is to blame, and incites him to lead an expedition against the Apache band to return the boy. The expedition ends in disaster, with hostages executed on both sides. The Apaches and Cavalry later meet in a battle at Apache pass, the first time that the Indians meet modern (for the age) artillery
The Apache Indians have reluctantly agreed to settle on a US Government approved reservation. Not all the Apaches are able to adapt to the life of corn farmers. One in particular, Geronimo, is restless. Pushed over the edge by broken promises and necessary actions by the government, Geronimo and thirty or so other warriors form an attack team which humiliates the government by evading capture, whi
Ned Giles, an aspiring news photographer, joins the 1932 Great Apache Expedition on the search for a young boy, the son of a wealthy Mexican land owner who was kidnapped by wild Apaches. Ned finds himself on an unexpected and perilous journey through rugged terrain, when a captured wild Apache girl must be exchanged for the kidnapped boy.
Two Army officers, an alcoholic ex-Confederate soldier and a womanizing Mexican travel to Mexico on a secret mission to prevent a megalomaniacal ex-Confederate colonel from selling a cache of stolen rifles to a band of murderous Apaches.
While crossing the desert, a frontier scout, Jess Remsberg (Garner), rescues Ellen Grange (Andersson) from a pursuing band of Apaches, and returns her to her husband, Willard Grange (Weaver). He is contracted to act as a scout for an Army cavalry unit. Willard, Ellen, and her infant son are along for the ride, as is horse trader Toller (Poitier), a veteran of the 10th Cavalry (the “Buffalo Soldiers”). The party is trapped in a canyon by Chata, an Apache chief and grandfather of Ellen’s baby. Willard is captured and tortured. Jess sneaks away and brings reinforcements just in time to save the day. Jess learns that the man he has been hunting is none other than Willard Grange.
Will Lockhart (James Stewart) becomes entangled in the happenings of Coronado, an isolated western town, after delivering supplies there. He is especially involved with the Waggomans, an influential ranching family, and begins his search for someone selling rifles to the local Apaches, only to find out it is the son of the most powerful man in the area. It is at this point that his troubles begin.
During the last winter of the Civil War, cavalry officer Amos Dundee leads a contentious troop of Army regulars, Confederate prisoners and scouts on an expedition into Mexico to destroy a band of Apaches who have been raiding U.S. bases in Texas.
Indian scout Tom Jeffords (James Stewart) is sent out to stem the war between the Whites and Apaches in the late 1870s. He learns (through an uncomfortably close encounter) that the Indians kill only to protect themselves, or out of retaliation for white atrocities.