Le fort de la dernière chance

As every Audie Murphy buff knows, his best western was the near-classic No Name On the Bullet, with perhaps Destry a close second. But in the top three (setting the short but brilliant Red Badge of Courage and the autobiographical To Hell and Back, an A movie, aside), Guns of Fort Petticoat is at the top of the list, owing to splendid outdoor action sequences, a smart sense of humor that doesn't allow anyone to take this all too seriously, and . . . to put it bluntly . . . sex appeal. Also, a political consciousness, with Murphy a) going north, despite his being a southwesterner, to fight in the civil war because he's against slavery, and b) his attempt to try and stop the Sand Creek Massacre and save Native American lives. (One historical error: The massacre was not perpetrated by 'regular U.S. army,' as the film suggests, but by a self-styled civilian-soldier group called a 'militia outfit' though really noting more than racist vigilantes.) Knowing that an Indian war is impending, Murphy returns to the war torn southwest and, with men absent, trains women to fight and defend themselves. Something of a feminist western, way ahead of its time, but (thankfully) no polemics, only action, romance, and surprisingly effective comedy. Kathryn Grant makes an adorable female lead for Audie.

The title of this film almost sounds like it will be a comedy.....sort of like "F Troop" meets "Petticoat Junction". It is, however, a relatively serious affair with some decent action sequences and some (sometimes unintentional) amusing moments. Murphy stars as a Cavalry Lieutenant who deserts his post in order to go a warn the people of his nearby hometown of an impending Indian attack. Unfortunately, virtually every man is gone from the area and the remaining women all resent him for wearing the blue instead of the gray uniform. Once the Indians start to make their mark, the ladies begin to change their mind and Murphy rounds them all up in an abandoned mission, determined to convert them into soldiers for their own sake. An already slightly campy film (check out the Indian grandma doing a child's hair at her camp right before a marauding cavalry unit appears), gets even loonier at this point. The mere idea of women brandishing guns and fighting physically must have been otherworldly in 1957. The enterprise is treated with all the expected attention and detail for the curio that it is. Murphy refers to the ladies as "men" and appoints sergeants, etc... He drills them in target practice, hand to hand combat and skirt-tucking (turning skirts into makeshift pants!) Naturally, there is every type of woman imaginable.....the old love, the new love, the haughty rich bitch, the one "in trouble", the religious fanatic, the tart, etc... What gives the film a great boost in the arm is the irascible, irreplaceable presence of burly, sarcastic Emerson as the leader of the women. Always intriguing to watch, she gets a plum role here as a bossy, tough, but good-hearted pioneer woman. It also helps that the film isn't dumb enough to suggest that this sort of thing wouldn't lead to casualties. So the unusual aspect of seeing women holding a fort with guns is accented and enhanced by seeing some of them take a fall as well. This adds to the realism of a film which is, at heart, pretty trite and coy. There are some fairly tough scenes and the Indian attack is actually pretty tense. (And it's awful nice of the Indians to wait and WAIT before coming until Murphy has trained all the gals, drained the water from the well, taught them how to make "bombs" and ammunition and solved various other problems!) Maley as a saloon singer and Elsom as a society matron help push the camp envelope. A few other ladies (like the one who gets upset and literally gobbles like a turkey with her face in the ground) take it even further, but Nolan rips it open. She is downright embarrassing as a devout Christian who clutches her Bible and spouts messages of nonviolence. However, when push comes to shove and arrows come to necks, she has a freak-out scene that is one for the books! Even with the pat situations and mundane dialogue, there's a certain curiosity value to the film and scattered laughs throughout (Wade, as Elsom's maid, has a real zinger of a closing line for her character!) Grant would later become better known as Mrs. Bing Crosby.

Lt. Frank Hewitt absconds from the Union Army to warn fellow Texans that Indian attacks are inevitable due to a massacre at Sand Creek. What he finds is that all the men are away fighting in the Confederate Army so the homesteaders are mainly made up of women. Having to first earn their respect and trust, he convinces them to prepare for an Indian attack at a dilapidated mission station, teaching the majority of them to shoot and fend for themselves in hand to hand combat. Badly outnumbered when the day comes, it will take more than the hand of god to stop this from being another massacre to further darken the South.

What an absolute blast this picture is, for sure it's steeped in "B" movie tropes, but led by the amiable Audie Murphy as Hewitt, the picture is certainly most engaging and never lets the discerning viewer down. Perhaps struggling to shake off the need to be overtly serious, it is none the less dramatic at times and not without serious moments that put the ladies of the piece firmly in a good light. It's not a feminist picture of course because the characters still need their men to be with them, while Hewitt naturally creates a little pitter-patter amongst some of the women. What the picture chiefly portrays is that these gals can step up to the plate when required, and more crucially, the film doesn't rely on sentimentality to raise the story's worth.

Kathryn Grant (soon to me Mrs Bing Crosby), Hope Emerson, Jeanette Nolan, Peggy Maley and Patricia Tiernan are just some of the female cast that brighten up the play. From the intriguing training sequences as Hewitt gets tough with the gals, to the thrilling rush of the Indian attack on the mission, The Guns Of Fort Petticoat is a very enjoyable Western that most certainly doesn't waste the time of the viewer. 7/10

On the sacred ground where were shot El Dorado, Walk the Proud Land, The Badlanders, the Deadly Companions, just named a few, also served to Guns of Fort Petticoat, plainly an unusual western in every sense, when a bold southern Texan Lt. Frank Hewitt (Murphy) joined in the Union Army during the Civil war, sounds contradictory, however when a Indians uprising took place, he willfully defects to return to Texas at Sand Creek to warning all settlers in time, which have only women, due their husband still fight on the war, notwithstanding he was treated overtly as renegade, all these inhabitants avoiding his degrading presence, although after farm's woman has been killed by the Comanche, they finally are convinced that have to join under orders of the Lt. Frank at small Church, also added and strengthened by passing through prostitutes, together they are strong to face the Comanche attack, meanwhile each one has to stare your own matters, as the missing husband, the pregnant and unwanted single woman, the religious woman who refuse to kill anyone and the brave woman the Sergeant Hanna Lacey (Hope Emerson) in outstanding performance, finally Lt. Frank having side by side with the boy Bax Leatham working as cupid between he and the pretty girl Anne Martin (Kathryn Grant), awesome and charming Columbia production!!!

Resume:

First watch: 1999 / How many: 3 / Source: Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 7.75.

When I first saw the movie title as a boy, I thought it might be something almost ridiculous, but now that I've seen it my thoughts have been somewhat amended. The storyline is brief: during the Civil War an army officer (played well by the veteran western actor Audie Murphy) leads a group of women from Texas against hostile, attacking Indians who want to destroy the old fort where the women are found. Again, I was ready to laugh when I saw the title, but I do not think that in real life I would have wanted to tangle with any of these women who, led by Murphy, became practically sharpshooters. They held off Indians and outlaws well. This cinematic piece was exciting and the action good, which is shown through the fact that the women were very emotional. In one point the matter of killing is addressed, so in one place the movie is controversial. Because of the beautiful scenery, exciting western action, and good story, this has become a favorite western of mine.