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Amazon.co.uk Review
Robert Aldrich pulls no punches in his unrelentingly brutal story of a reign of terror perpetrated on Arizona settlers by a bitter Apache warrior and the cavalry's frustrated attempts to stop him. Burt Lancaster, a longtime Aldrich collaborator and star of the similar 1954 Western Apache, brings his laconic, quietly authoritative presence to the role of McIntosh, a blunt-speaking, introspective old army scout with more respect than hate for his enemy. A very young Bruce Davison is the green-as-a-sapling Lieutenant DeBuin, fresh from West Point and filled with Christian ideals, thrown into the field against the vicious, tactically brilliant Ulzana. DeBuin is shocked and appalled at Ulzana's brutality--torturing male homesteaders to death, raping the women, leaving a trail of mutilated corpses--and as he struggles to understand Ulzana his values of Christian charity soon melt into racist hatred. Ulzana's tactics were familiar to Americans in 1972 who followed the war in Vietnam and the guerrilla attacks of the Vietcong. Like The Wild Bunch before it, Ulzana's Raid removes the sentimentality of Western ideals in its harsh portrayal of the violent world, though unlike Sam Peckinpah, Aldrich leaves the violence off-screen and allows the audience to see only the horrific aftermath. (These scenes are often graphic and not recommended for the squeamish.) It's a disturbing and powerful film, where the concept of good guys and bad guys becomes meaningless and the battle between cultures ultimately comes down to survival in a harsh world. --Sean Axmaker
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Region 2
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
One of the best films of the 1970s, ULZANA'S RAID works on many levels - western drama, character study, Vietnam allegory. Unfortunately, this UK DVD release has been heavily cut - and re-edited - to remove all shots of horses being trip-wired. According to the BBFC, this technique falls foul of the 1937 Cinematograph Act, which forbids the ill-treatment of animals during film-making. For the record, many stunt co-ordinators claim the technique can be used safely. Cuts aside, this is the American version of the film, supervised by director Robert Aldrich, rather than the overseas version prepared by Burt Lancaster.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Well I promise not to mention the editing which seems to have been well covered. Instead I will tell you why I like this film. I like my films to have an air of authenticity and if you wish to know what it was like as a US Calvalry Officer to fight the Apache on their home ground in the American South West then this is the film to watch.
The film is based on a true event when the Apache leader Ulzana broke out of San Carlos Indian Reservation with a handful of warriors and caused widespread panic among the civilian population, to say nothing of leading the US calvalrys best a merry dance in the process. General Crook who spent years hunting down Geronimo described them as the best guerilla fighters to have lived. In that he was not far wrong. They could survive in the most inhospitable terrain and had been fighting the Mexicans their natural enemies for hundreds of years. They could ride a horse into the ground and then eat it and use the intestines for water carriers. No wonder they were such a will o the wisp enemy to fight against. History lesson over.
This film faithfully depicts that raid. Burt Lancaster plays the veteran scout ably assisted by his Apache tracker. This too was accurrate. The US troops found the best way to catch an Apache was to use an Apache. They were expert trackers. Trying to close in on this enemy was a tough task. They did not wait around to wage a battle. No, if the odds were against them they simply dissappeared like ghosts into their desert fastness. The psychological warfare carried out and the juxtaposition of the raw Officer and the seasoned scout all work well. The director Robert Aldrich had done his research and gave us the first really accurrate film about the war against the Apache.
The good points are many. Burt Lancaster is excellent as the scout and it is certainly one of his better if lesser known roles. Frank DeVols music is perfect for the film. Richard Jaekel that stalwart support actor gives a good performance. Be warned it can be a bit visceral but that I am afraid is how it was. This is not gratuitous violence but simply part of the story based on those true events in the late 1880s. I would highly recommend this film to you despite the cuts.
The film is based on a true event when the Apache leader Ulzana broke out of San Carlos Indian Reservation with a handful of warriors and caused widespread panic among the civilian population, to say nothing of leading the US calvalrys best a merry dance in the process. General Crook who spent years hunting down Geronimo described them as the best guerilla fighters to have lived. In that he was not far wrong. They could survive in the most inhospitable terrain and had been fighting the Mexicans their natural enemies for hundreds of years. They could ride a horse into the ground and then eat it and use the intestines for water carriers. No wonder they were such a will o the wisp enemy to fight against. History lesson over.
This film faithfully depicts that raid. Burt Lancaster plays the veteran scout ably assisted by his Apache tracker. This too was accurrate. The US troops found the best way to catch an Apache was to use an Apache. They were expert trackers. Trying to close in on this enemy was a tough task. They did not wait around to wage a battle. No, if the odds were against them they simply dissappeared like ghosts into their desert fastness. The psychological warfare carried out and the juxtaposition of the raw Officer and the seasoned scout all work well. The director Robert Aldrich had done his research and gave us the first really accurrate film about the war against the Apache.
The good points are many. Burt Lancaster is excellent as the scout and it is certainly one of his better if lesser known roles. Frank DeVols music is perfect for the film. Richard Jaekel that stalwart support actor gives a good performance. Be warned it can be a bit visceral but that I am afraid is how it was. This is not gratuitous violence but simply part of the story based on those true events in the late 1880s. I would highly recommend this film to you despite the cuts.
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I saw a rated 15 version of this film with appro. running time of 99 minutes. The Amazon version is 96 minutes and rated 18, and Halliwell's is 103 minutes. More about this shortly.The film concerns the escape from a reservation of an Apache leader (Ulzana) who gathers some men (Apaches) and some horses (captured) and raids the area with the objective of killing MEN in order to get their 'strength'. This is done by horrid torture designed to keep them alive and suffering as long as possible for the longer it takes the stronger were the men and thus greater strength was absorbed. The Fort Commander sends out a green lieutenant whose father was a priest and the white scout is Macintosh (Lancaster). It is a very neat study of guerrilla warfare based on horses. The objective is to catch up with the Apache band without losing the cavalry mounts through excessive chase, the objective of the cavalry is to catch the Apache by initially killing their horses. 'The first to make a mistake will be digging holes.' The killing of horses though not the essence of the film is an important aspect. And the filming of Lancaster chasing a group of horses led by only two Apaches... bringing down the riders' horses first and then killing the riders who charge at him on foot, his own horse having now been brought down, is in my view one of the seminal 'western' scenes of the genre. And they CUT every sequence which showed the horses actually being shot down in the chase. Unbelieveably stupid editing. A man is riding a horse, next shot he is rolling on the grouund. The film was 3 minutes shorter than the Halliwell version... so God knows what else was cut. I suspect it was cut for the British audience (who love animals more than people - the tortured settlers were shown) which indicates the innate stupidity of American (or English)(or DVD) editors. I hate editing and the assumption that someone knows better than I do what is right for me. I think it was Montgomery or it could have been Wellington who said something to the effect that a horse in its stables should be treated as worth a hundred guineas, a horse in the chase should be treated as if it is not worth twelve pennies. So much for our view of horses. The Amazon version is a further 3 minutes shorter, perhaps they cut the smoking scenes. I shall buy one and let you know.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
WARNING: This DVD is the cut version - Scenes showing forses falling...
I have been looking for an uncut version of Ulzana's Raid for a long time, and took a chance on this one hoping it would be OK.
However, it is not. Read more
However, it is not. Read more
Published 11 days ago by Subculture
The Hills Have Eyes
Ulzana's Raid stars Burt Lancater and Bruce Davison(X-Men) and is directed by Robert Aldrich. There's no denying this is a very well made film but at the same time very harsh. Read more
Published 4 months ago by j.r
Speaking up for the horses
I'm writing this primarily in answer to that of Michael Round and others like him. The absurd notion that the British viewer is more comfortable with human torture scenes compared... Read more
Published 5 months ago by The Silver Fox
Good Flawed Western
When this controversial western came out in 1972, it had many critical reviews, because native indians in the film were represented as bloothirsty savages, especially the scene... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mrs. Marilyn A. Rice
A stark and brutal Western
Directed by Robert Aldrich, Ulzana's Raid presents a detailed account of a platoon's hunt for a group of Apaches who have escaped their reservation and committed acts of rape,... Read more
Published 10 months ago by Pyke Bishop
CUT BUT STILL BRILLIANT.
this film has lost a few minutes but it is still an exceptional western ,you see some horse's being shot at then in the next scene the horse is dead ,so you only need a little... Read more
Published on 28 Feb 2010 by BUBS.
Half of what they say is lies - the rest ain't true.
This is probably a great movie. I say probably because I seem to have seen about 4 different versions of it with various bits cut out or put in (sounds like the Apaches having a... Read more
Published on 20 Dec 2009 by A. Willard
BEWARE THE OBJECTORS
Bonkers and sheer stupidity, bullets flying everywhere, a human being raped, (suggestive), torture, (visual) and killings/shootings, (visual), oh, also Lancaster and Co lighting up... Read more
Published on 21 Aug 2009 by S. Mcneelance
Overlooked but superb allegorical western .
Considered, quite rightly , to be a classic period for cinema, the seventies may be a joke decade in many respects but it gave us some landmark films like The Godfather I [DVD]... Read more
Published on 14 May 2009 by russell clarke
Well worth tracking down
Ulzana's Raid follows a cavalry patrolled by Bruce Davison's idealistic but inexperienced West Pointer and guided by Lancaster's scout in their pursuit of a small band of Apaches... Read more
Published on 29 Nov 2007 by Trevor Willsmer
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