In the hands of other performers, the story might have come across better. Also, if it had been filmed as an independent production that was allowed to take a few substantial risks, they might have been able to overcome the studio formula and turn out an insightful motion picture.

With Piper Laurie suddenly not available, the role of Murphy's wife was given to Patricia Crowley who was more identified with romantic comedies at her home studio Paramount. Unfortunately, Crowley doesn't register much in the story and she is not given anything significant to do in her limited scenes.

See also

COMMENT: In the present=day climate of racial tolerance, integration and understanding, it's a big surprise that this screen biography of a true-life Indian agent who blazed this particular trail, is not constantly revived. Admittedly, next to its patent earnestness, the picture's main virtue is its expansive CinemaScope location cinematography. I confess to not knowing the real story of Clum, so I was not distracted by how factually accurate this account was (or wasn't, as the case may be). I watched it purely for its entertainment value and walked away completely entertained. Yes, the script has some rather heavy-handed messages we are beaten over the head with throughout, but I feel most of society could stand to be beaten over the head with some positive messages regarding friendship, loyalty, family, and race relations, so that didn't bother me.

Walk the Proud Land is a 1956 American CinemaScope Technicolor Western film directed by Jesse Hibbs and starring Audie Murphy and future Academy Award winner Anne Bancroft. Filmed at Old Tucson Studios, [2] it recounts the first successful introduction of limited self-government by John Clum (1851–1932), Indian agent for the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in the Arizona Territory and is based on the 1936 biography Apache Agent by his son Woodworth Clum (1878-1946).Geronimo comes to the reservation to recruit warriors. Eskiminzin flatly rejects his efforts yet tells his men they may join Geronimo if they wish; none do. Clum tells Geronimo that he and his people are welcome to live at San Carlos if they agree to certain rules, including being unarmed while on the premises. Geronimo agrees to discuss it with his people. Tianay marvels at Clum's bravery, telling Mary he is the first white man to have spoken to Geronimo and lived. Indeed, the role of a pacifist would have worked better with a liberal actor like Henry Fonda or Burt Lancaster. Perhaps Murphy was anxious to spread his wings and show people what he could do with a different sort of heroic character, but contemporary audiences did not buy it. Walk the Proud Land is one of the few western films to have a choreographer in the person of Tommy Rall. Rall, a well known Broadway dancer, plays a young Indian warrior who becomes Murphy's friend. There is a lengthy sequence involving the Apaches entertaining some white VIPs at Murphy's wedding to Crowley with some tribal dances. A nice mix between the real deal and what you might see in Rose Marie's Totem Tom Tom number. It's a pity that the direction of this worthy script should be so flatly pedestrian. Less than talented directors like Jesse Hibbs (former football star) welcomed CinemaScope because it relieved them of the burden of having to think in terms of visual excitement. Now simply the scope itself is the thing. No dramatic compositions, no effective cutting, no pointed camera movement necessary. The film was not a success at the box office, something attributed to the fact that Murphy played a pacifist rather than an action hero. This ended Murphy's plans to make his dream project, a biopic of painter Charles Marion Russell. [5] See also [ edit ]