Westerns, as well as sci-fi, often serve as iconic genres that allow filmmakers to make social comments they would be unable to make in a straight-forward fashion. HIGH NOON was about the Red Scare and THE INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS was about communism.
ULZANA’S RAID tells the story of a renegade Apache named Ulzana (Joaquin Martinez, DIE ANOTHER DAY) and the military party, led by Lt. Harry Garnett DeBuin (Bruce Davison, X-MEN), that are set out to capture or kill him. Aiding DeBuin on his first mission are white Indian expert McIntosh (Burt Lancaster, ATLANTIC CITY) and Indian tracker Ke-Ni-Tay (Jorge Luke, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER).
DeBuin is a minister’s son who doesn’t understand the savageness of what the Apache are doing. However, the young soldier is hard pressed to admit what the white man does to the Indians. At one point McIntosh says “To be mad with the Apache’s for what they do is like being made at the desert for not having water.” Sharing screen time with the emotional story is also the intelligent action, which drives the tale. McIntosh and Ke-Ni-Tay’s planning and strategy on what Ulzana will do next is fascinating.
As a grander metaphor, the film can easily be viewed as a comment on the Vietnam War. What makes the film still retain its power today is that it can as easily be viewed as a comment on terrorism. Two other points of note are that the film isn't simplistic with its moral issues and it presents violence in a brutal fashion. To some degree the only problem with the film is its music, which is very typically Western adventure. It doesn’t fit the darker tone of the material, however it doesn’t ruin the film because in some ways it adds an eerie feel. It makes us really think about the way we have told the story of cowboys and Indians in the past. This is an emotionally complex film that still retains its poignancy more than 30 years after it was made.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
