Tomahawk (1951)

“The White Man’s promises are written in water.” That’s the view of the veteran Sioux chief who has had enough of their false promises that try to appease whilst they simultaneously build more forts and drive his people from their traditional territory. “Bridger” (Van Heflin) has been drafted in by fair-minded colonel “Carrington” (Preston Foster) to try and facilitate the construction of a new fort. He has a Cheyenne wife and is known and trusted by “Red Cloud” so he manages to get their reluctant consent, so long as no one from either side harms the other. Arrogant young trouble maker “Lt. Dancy” (Alex Nicol) isn’t one to care about the niceties of their treaty and when he guns down a young lad whom he assumes was trying to steal an horse, all bets are off. Can “Bridger” manage to broker some sort of truce before all hell breaks loose? Heflin holds this together quite well as the arrows fly, and there is also more of substance to a story that illustrates the duplicity of the “white man” as his never-ending expansion and his bigotries make fertile ground for conflict with tribesmen who really just wanted to be left to get on with things as their ancestors had done. It does fizzle out a bit at the end, but there is still enough action to keep it engaging enough for eighty minutes and you might spot an early outing from Rock Hudson too.