"Seminole" is very much like the great John Ford film, "Fort Apache" from a few years previous. Both are about an insanely inflexible commanding officer who ignores advice from what should have been his trusted scout...a man who knew how to deal with the natives. Instead, the officers are intent on using the military's might to subjugate the local tribe...and go blustering into battle like bulls in a china shop! Of course, "Fort Apache" is a better film but both are worth your time.

The film begins with a court martial and Lt. Caldwell (Rock Hudson) is on trial for his life. His testimony is the story you then see. Caldwell arrives for his post under Major Degan (Richard Carlson). The Major is a major butt-head--and he won't listen to Caldwell despite Caldwell's experience dealing with the Seminole Indians. Instead, the Major just wants to trudge through the swamps with his men and attack and kill the tribe...and Caldwell warns him that it would be suicide. Not surprisingly, when they do go in search of Osceola and the other Seminole tribesmen, they are soundly defeated...and the idiot Major blames Caldwell! Later, the Major offers to talk to Osceola under a flag of truce...and then arrests Osceola and has him beaten! Like I said, the Major is a butt-head!

So is this movie any good? Well, yes and no. I think bkoganbing did a terrific review--talking about the pluses and minuses in the film. It's true that much of the equipment was not true to the period but I also had to laugh at the film being set among the swamps of Florida and the soldiers NEVER sweated or were beset by bugs! The soldiers would have been wearing WOOL and it's rarely less than about 80 in the winter there...and nearly 100 in the summer...yet no sweat!! However, despite its deficiencies and historical inaccuracies, it is interesting and well worth seeing because it portrays the Seminole rather well.

To Major Degan(Richard Carlson),commander of Fort King, in Florida's Seminole-dominated region, the only good Indian is a dead Indian. The historic Fort King was located in north central Florida, in the present city of Oscola. However, the events of this film are pictured as taking place in the Everglades, well to the south, south of Lake Okeechobee.

This story is said to have taken place in 1835, when the 2nd Seminole War began, lasting until 1842. This war was instigated by increased demands of white settlers for new land, and the refusal of most Seminoles to honor the Treaty of Payne's Landing, which required them to move to Oklahoma within 3 years. Many chiefs said they were not present to consider the treaty or said they were forced to sign it. During this war, frequent raids on settlers and Indian villages were perpetrated. The official policy of the army was to kill any Indians who resisted capture to be resettled. However, it's clear by his actions and words that Major Degan preferred killing to capturing Indians. During the one campaign we witness, he has his men bayonet what looked like sleeping Indians rolled up in a blanket. They were filled with grass, as the Indians had been following the troop's movements in their "surprise" attack. Instead, the Indians sprang a surprise attack on the troops. The nearby chief called Osceola was renowned for his elusiveness. The capture of Osceola(Anthony Quinn)was Degan's prime objective at present. He had failed to capture him by an armed invasion, hence he decided to try treachery, inviting him to come under a flag of truce to discuss things. Osceola was immediately beaten, and put in 'the pit': a hole in the ground into which rainwater collected. Osceola died there, apparently of a combination of being stabbed and drowning. The chief who stabbed him said he violated the trust of his people, hence deserved to die.. The real Osceola was captured thus, but died in a prison in South Carolina some months later.

Throughout the film, Major Degan's main nemesis within the fort was young Lt. Caldwell(Rock Hudson),who had much experience with the Seminoles and knew their language. He didn't favor relocating them in Oklahoma, and went by a conservative policy in killing them. Degan got irate with Caldwell periodically, and threatened him with court martial for insubordination.

Barbara Hale plays Revere, who had a romance going with both Caldwell and Osceola. The latter looked the more real. But, Revere's main role is as a go-between Osceola and Degan.

The film begins and nearly ends with Caldwell's court martial. The ending is a surprise, although it's hard to imagine this being realistic.

Lee Marvin plays Sergeant Magruder, who occasionally shows up, usually being assigned under Lt. Caldwell...An unrecognizable Hugh O'Brien plays the chief Kajeck, who stabs Osceola.

Probably, the most interesting part for me is the trek through the (real) Everglades by the army, with the changing nature of the mostly difficult terrain. It took quite a few men to push and pull a wagon containing a cannon. In one spot, it sank into a deep hole. Degan chewed out Caldwell for choosing to save the injured man laying on top of the cannon rather than the cannon.

This is a fairly interesting film that illustrates the common problem of subordinate officers not agreeing with a policy of the commanding officer, and hoping to get their point across.

This film came out just 2 year after "Distant Drums", staring Gary Cooper, again about problems with the Seminoles in the 2nd Seminole War. Difficult trekking in the Everglades is also featured. It deals more with stopping gun runners. I would rate the present film above that one, although most of the Seminoles look much more authentic.

This film is available on a cheap DVD in an 8 pack of westerns, even though technically, it's a 'southern'

One thing that can be said without fear of contradiction in this fictionalized but surprisingly balanced story of the Seminole Wars in Florida, is that Richard Carlson as the stern and punctilious Commander of Fort King has never given a more energetic performance.

He's hardly recognizable as the thoughtful amateur astronomer of "It Came From Outer Space." His voice seems to have soared to a new octave. He paces back and forth, spitting out his plosives, explaining to the newly arrived Lieutenant Rock Hudson that the Seminoles, previously peaceful, refuse to be relocated to Oklahoma like any reasonable tribe. Instead they've become a "renegade band" under the leadership of Anthony Quinn as Osceola, a real historical figure.

Hudson looks a little ridiculous in the Army uniform of 1835 -- that toy soldier hat, those fringe-dripping golden epaulets -- just as all the other soldiers do, just as our soldiers will look to the people of 2135. This is an early performance and it's earnest and artless.

Let me anticipate a post-script. First, the Seminole weren't the original inhabitants of the Everglades. They replaced a less sophisticated society called the Calusa, now represented only by buried artifacts and momentous mounds of sea shells. Second, the Seminole are still there and still live in huts called chickees. The Seminole didn't hold with slavery and they were joined by many runaways, which didn't endear the Seminoles to their white neighbors. Now they seem to survive through tourism and by keeping out of the way. When an Eastern Airlines passenger aircraft plowed into the Everglades about 20 years ago, no Seminole showed up in the rescue party. They can hardly be blamed. The Everglades are slowly being drained to provide water for communities elsewhere. It's changing the National Park from swamp to grassland, which seems like a bad idea, but that's just my opinion.

Out from behind the lectern and into the movie. It's a product of the 1950s. After a grueling three-day trudge through the swamp, the men remain closely shaved by the studio barber. A clip on the jaw suffices to render a man unconscious for as long as the script requires. The sound track employs cries of the kookaburra, an Australian kingfisher that first was used in "Tarzan and the Green Goddess" (1938),in which Tarzan of the Apes discovers an ancient recipe for salad dressing.

The female interest, Barbara Hale, is pretty, wears her hair in a modern style instead of the unsightly loaves of the period. She wears Max Factor and is never without precisely applied lipstick. And her role is a familiar one that has always worked -- she's torn between the uniformed Rock Hudson and their old friend, Anthony Quinn, who now leads his tribe in the swamp. Hudson is a tall, handsome white man. Quinn is a poor, proud, impassioned half-Indian. Guess who gets her.

If you've seen John Ford's "Fort Apache" (1948) you'll have a decent idea of the plot. Martinet (Henry Fonda) wants war; younger officer (John Wayne) tries to discourage him.