Before Maureen O'Hara got spanked on film by John Wayne for her shrewish behavior, she got kicked in the behind several times by Macdonald Carey(as newcomer Jim Bowie),while pinned under a table in a saloon fight. This was in retaliation for her general hostile attitude toward him and her refusal to cash his bank draft as president of the bank or as owner of the saloon in the frontier town of Crooked Tongue in Comanche territory, presumably somewhere in Texas in the 1830s. Probably, the town name had the same meaning to the Comanche as 'forked tongue': their impression of most Europeans. Well, Maureen, as character Katie Howard, had a right to be angry with this stranger, 'cause he busted up her show of riding from one end of town to the other without spilling 2 mugs of beer on a tray she was holding. He claimed it was accidental, but it didn't look that way to me or her. Also, he addressed her as 'a lady', which she took offense to(apparently preferring to be thought of more like a man). The give and take between Carey, or sometimes another, and Maureen provides most of the humorous aspects of this colorful Technicolor Western. I say colorful because Maureen is quite colorful in both a physical and personality sense. She even gets to sing a folk song in a saloon setting. In addition, the abundant outdoors scenes were mostly shot in the colorful Oak Canyon region, near Sedona, AZ. In several shots, the postcard Cathedral Rocks are clearly in the background.

You won't find a character listed in the credits as Davy Crocket, so why do I claim such in my title? One of the main characters is Daniel Seeger, played by Will Geer. In his eastern formal dress and top hat, he doesn't look anything like Fess Parker's later coonskin-capped film Davy Crocket. But he claims to be a long time frontiersman, Indian fighter/trader and sometimes congressman, and sports what looks like a Kentucky rifle. What historical figure who went to Texas and became a friend of Jim Bowie fits this description? Will Geer was quite a diverse character, with a degree in horticulture, a sometimes folk singer and always a willing advocate for radical political reform. In consequence, he would soon be blacklisted as a result of congressional communist witch hunting. But not before acting as Don O'Connor's buddy in the pirate spoof "Double Crossbones".

You may not be familiar with Carey as a Western leading man. I was not. He rather reminds me of Ray Milland. He may have lacked the larger-than-life physical image of the top Western leading men, but he proved a scrappy adversary of the evil and wrong-headed elements in this story, and his character eventually managed to make a friend out of Maureen's belligerent character, sealed in the parting shot, which you will like.

Now, what's all this talk about treaties between the US government and the Comanches? Remember, Texas at this time was still part of Mexico and would not become part of the US for another decade. Nonetheless, Sam Houston did arrive in Texas in 1833 to try to arrange a treaty between the US and Comanches. Mexican authorities were not amused and booted him out for a while. All the shenanigans in the film about disappearing and prospective treaty papers are pretty silly, although they form an important part of the plot.

What's all the fuss about a big silver strike in Comanche territory, that also is the central issue in the plot? I'm not aware of any such historical silver strike. However, it does have a slight historical basis. The real Jim Bowie did lead an expedition to central Texas in search of some diggings by Native Americans and , later, Mexicans, reputed to have yielded silver. But, nothing of consequence resulted. The screenplay story is quite different.

Overall, I found this quite an enjoyable film, with lots of humor, colorful characters, both hostile and friendly relations with Comanches, and insider, as well as outsider, badman elements. Most of the Comanches looked like real NAs. Probably, Quisima: the chief, is a corruption of the name of the last free Comanche chief: Quanah, historically relevant not for several decades later. The firearms generally had the look of the flintlocks of this period.

Along with "Against All Flags", and "The Redhead from Wyoming", released a couple years later, Maureen's character in this film allows her to be at her most charming shrewish spitfire self, and thus my favorite incarnations of her. Rather reminds me of my wife. Her spars with favorite leading man John Wayne in "The Quiet Man" and the much later "McClintock" may be much better known, but I prefer these two much shorter Universal films, which are now available as parts of cheap DVD sets of some lesser known films of that era.

Run-of-the-mill western. A fictional adventure of the legendary Jim Bowie(Macdonald Carey),who represents the government in keeping peace between the Comanches and whites. Silver has been found on Comanche land and a treaty has been stolen. It appears that a fiery redhead saloon keeper(Maureen O'Hara)and her brother(Charles Drake)know more about the situation than they let on. The 'white skins' plan on making a small fortune from mining the silver on the land they take from the Indians.

O'Hara is the movie. Carey is just too wooden in his portrayal of an otherwise flamboyant Bowie. Other cast members: Will Geer, Parley Baer, James Best and Glenn Strange.

Western frontiersman , adventurer , and pioneer Jim Bowie (MacDonald Carey) was born in Logan County, Kentucky, in 1796 , here he travels to Comanche country, where the government accomplished a peaceful agreement with the indians (Pedro de Cordoba , Iron Eyes Cody , among others) , then he helps the Comanche people save their land from settlers . There silver has been found on their territory while the white settlers scheme to defy the agreement between the government and the Comanche in order to mine for silver on Comanche land . Later on , he meets Katie (Maureen O'Hara) who along with her brother (Charles Drake) seem to play leading roles in this incroaching on Indian territory . As explorer Bowie and his pal (Will Geer) fight against invaders who are encroaching Indian land and a hidden gang who is supplying guns to the mean colonists . The Wild, Wanton Fury of 1,000 Howling Savages!

A standard and routine oater set during the Indian Wars with the violent upheaval of brave Comanches as the white settlers living near by planning to attack the dreaded indians , although they know about that an agreement has been broken , then fear and violence spread throughout the land .This one shows a campy and entertaining glimpse in the Wild West in B-style , being based on a story by Lewis Metzer and screenplay by Brodney . Starred by a legendary role : Jim Bowie , who moved to San Antonio, Texas, in 1828 , battled for Texas' independence in 1832 and served as a colonel in the Texas revolutionary army. James Bowie died in 1836 fighting against the Mexican military commanded by General Santa Anna at the notorious battle of the Alamo along with Davy Crockett and Colonel Travis . Furthermore , inventing the Bowie Knife , main motif at the movie , as he teaches use and manufacture it to Indians . The film packs thrills , noisy action , horse pursuits , crossfire , attacks and it is fast-moving and enough entertaining . It's a medium budget film with acceptable actors , technicians , functional production values and pleasing results . Bursting with appealing characters, including decent filmmaking and interpretation . Passable acting by MacDonald Carey as the historical scout Jim Bowie who tries to keep the peace in the territory. Co-stars the gorgeous and attractive Maureen O'Hara . Along the way , she dances and sings some songs . O'Hara managed to spring from this ridiculous camp Oriental Adventure outing to stardom . Maureen played brave females in several Adventure/Pirate movies during the 40s and 50s in Universal Pictures , similar to Yvonne DeCarlo . As DeCarlo had recently been ill and lost a lot of weight, so much that the Universal producers decided to replace her with Maureen O'Hara . Maureen interpreted various Muslim girls in Simbad the Sailor , Flame of Araby and Bagdad . She also performed the daughter of a powerful lord in The Black Swain , a valiant aristocrat in The Spanish Main , a feared pirate woman called Spitfire in Against All Flags and a French countess in Trípoli . Later on , in 1952 she starred At Sword point as Musketeer Athos' daughter , an untamed Australian girl in Kangaroo and after that , the known Lady Godiva . Finally , she played her best films thanks to John Ford . Support cast is pretty well , such as : Will Geer , Charles Drake , Glenn Strange , James Best , Pedro de Cordoba , Iron Eyes Cody , William Fawcett ,and Ian MacDonald . There stands out the colorful and brilliant cinematography by Maury Gertsman . Being shot on location in Sedona, Big Park, Little Park , Red Rock Crossing , Arizona , and Yavapai County, Arizona . As well as a moving and thrilling musical score by Frank Skinner .

The motion picture was professional though middlingly directed by George Sherman in B-style , though has some flaws and gaps . Sherman made reliable low-budget fare for Columbia between 1945-48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another eight years , where he directed ¨Tomahawk¨ and ¨Comanche territory¨. Sherman specialized almost exclusively in "B" westerns there , including the "Three Musketeers" series, which featured a young John Wayne. George directed lots of Westerns as ¨The Last of the Fast Guns¨ , ¨The Lone Hand¨, ¨Santa Fe stampede¨ , ¨Red skin¨ , ¨Chief Crazy Horse¨ ¨Calamity Jane¨, ¨Relentless¨ , ¨Treasure of Pancho Villa¨, ¨Comanche Territory¨ , ¨Dawn at Socorro¨, ¨Border River¨ , ¨war arrow¨, ¨The sombrero kid¨, ¨Rock Mountain Rangers¨, ¨Overland stage riders¨ , ¨Frontier horizon¨ , ¨Cowboy from Texas¨ , ¨3 Texas steers ¨ , ¨ Wyoming outlaw¨ , ¨Pals of the saddle¨ , ¨Outlands of Sonora¨ , ¨Santa Fe stampede¨ and many others . He also made occasional forays into action and horror themes, often achieving a sense of style over substance . The only "A"-grade films to his credit were two westerns starring John Wayne: ¨Comancheros¨ (1961) (as producer) and ¨The big Jack¨ (1971) . His last films were realized in Spain as "Find That Girl" , ¨The new Cinderella¨ and ¨Joaquin Murrieta¨. Rating : 5.5/10 . Passable and acceptable . Well worth watching