Low budget and it shows
Chuka (pronounced with a short u, like the polo boot) is a man, one of
those brave, savvy tough types, a man who knows Indians, smoldering you might
say, taciturn but with deep passions beneath. Portrayed by Rod Taylor, who also
produced the picture, he is a Shalako-like scout in buckskin, wise in the ways
of the West. Mr. Taylor, who heads the cast, was an Australian, quite famous as
George in The Time Machine and Mitch
Brenner in The Birds, but he was in
fact a good actor, as John Ford understood (he was Young Cassidy), and an intelligent and thoughtful person. He didn’t
do a lot of big-screen Westerns but his rugged looks suited the roles. He
started with a small part in Top Gun
in 1955 and Chuka was his second
(true) Western and first as lead. Later he would be the star of The Oregon Trail and Outlaws on TV. He is more than competent
in Chuka, it must be said, and probably
the best thing about the movie.
The rest of the casting is verging on
the bizarre. A very isolated US Army fort lies in the middle of a plain in
Spain, besieged by Arapahos, and its commandant is posh Brit Sir John Mills. South
African Louis Hayward is an unpleasant and corrupt major who secretly keeps an
Indian girl as a sex object. Italian actress Luciana Paluzzi is a Mexican
countess (well, Italian, Mexican, it’s all the same; they’re both Latin, ain’t
they?) and Ernest Borgnine is a German sergeant. Only James Whitmore as the
post scout really convinces.
Whitmore's good anyway
It’s one of those traditional plots were
the knowing Westerner comes up against the rigid by-the-book martinet commander
from the East (in this case very far East), a bit like John Wayne and Henry Fonda
in Fort Apache, except that Fort Apache was a good film. This
commandant is impotent and a drunkard (they are related matters) and also pretty
damn stupid. (It’s one of those Roger Ebert ‘Idiot Plots’ where the whole mess
could have been avoided if only the characters hadn’t acted like complete imbeciles.)
He tries in vain to convince idiotic by-the-book commandant to do the right thing
It’s a flashback movie which starts with
an officer dictating a letter to his superiors recounting the mystery of the
burned, empty and abandoned fort. Then the screen goes all blurry, you know how
they do, and we get the events which caused the disaster.
Rod as the Shalako-ish man-who-knows-Indians
The very improbable story was written by
Richard Jessup from his own novel, his only big-screen Western screenplay. The
budget was minimal and the fort looks like a papier maché toy. The director was
Gordon Douglas, who did direct a few fun Westerns. I like Yellowstone Kelly, The Nevadan, Fort Dobbs and Rio Conchos, and of course his The Fiend who Walked the West was an epic. His Only the Valiant with Gregory Peck in 1951 had certain aspects in common with Chuka. But Douglas also churned out some pretty low-grade ore, and I
fear this one belongs in the latter category.
You could watch it – well, you gotta –
but probably only once.
This is one strange movie. What is Hayward doing in this film, for instance, and why does he vanish during the middle, only to reappear at the end? Was Mills supposed to have lost his testicles, and, hence, his ability to command? And how does Taylor and Borgnine actually survive that fight...?
ReplyDeleteA muddle.
Yes, I think we have to blame writer Richard Jessup.
DeleteJeff
You blame Rod Taylor. Richard Jessup wrote a wonderful screenplay that was improved by Rod as the shooting progressed. And why is Hayward a South African? Is Olivia de Havilland Japanese, or Nigel Bruce Mexican? Just happens their parents were abroad for whatever reason. Louis was born in Johannesburg because his father, a mining engineer, had a job in that vicinity. And how do I know? I was Louis Hayward Personal manager for years., and involved with Chuka, at least on the periphery, from the time jack Jason developed the project and ultimately lost control of it.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting. I am sure it's different when you are closely associated with a movie, rather than just being a neutral viewer.
DeleteI think you make a fair point about nationality, a notoriously shifting concept. Furthermore, many non-Americans made good actors in that most American of genres, the Western.
Thanks for your comment.
Jeff
Follow up: Richard Schickel, writing in Life Magazine, gave Chuka a top notch notice, generally at odds with many others. Worth tracking down for a somewhat different point of view.
ReplyDeleteFurther reviews: On Friday April 14, 1967 both The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety reviewed Chuka, and of course Louis Hayward, most favorably. Well worth checking out, if possible.
Delete