I've always enjoyed Kirk Douglas films in general and he's usually very good in westerns. But The Indian Fighter quite frankly is a pumped up B western.

Kirk produced this one as well and was able to get a good cast of familiar faces in westerns. He even got his ex-wife, Diana Douglas to appear as a widow traveling west on a wagon train with her son.

Kirk Douglas is Johnny Hawks who is a scout guiding a wagon train west to Oregon. The film opens with him checking out the naked Elsa Martinelli taking a bath in a creek. Pleasure before business and he continues on to the village where he finds out Elsa is the daughter of Chief Eduard Franz.

And that sets the tone for the film. When Douglas should be concerned about the safety of the people he's working for, he's off trying to court Elsa. His preoccupation with her almost causes disaster to the train.

Action there is though, including a nicely staged Indian attack on an army post. And the whole film was shot in Oregon on location quite nicely. I believe some of this same area was used in Kirk Douglas's later western The Way West.

Kirk Douglas's heroes are usually flawed and quite three dimensional. But this film has a hero I could not really get a rooting interest for.

This A Western starring Kirk Douglas at his most macho is fun for its action, the gorgeous majestic scenery and the frenetic battles between a wagon train trying to get through Sioux territory while Douglas attempts to keep peace. But thanks to two nasty white men traders (a young Walter Matthau and veteran horror star Lon Chaney Jr., attempts at a peaceful journey is instantly diminished. It doesn't help that Douglas makes a violent pass at Sioux maiden Elsa Martinelli who seemingly loves him, but it's more the antics of Matthau (rather deceptive in his persona) and Chaney, much more blatant.

Then there's Kirk's real life wife (at the time),Diana Douglas (Michael's mother),playing a feisty widow who pulls Kirk out on the fort grounds for a dance, encouraging him to be more aggressive with her, indicating that she wants him as her next husband. Michael Winkelman plays her hero worshiping son who obviously wouldn't mind calling Kirk "dad".

What makes this Western a little bit more than just Indian battles and scalpings is Douglas's belief in right over wrong irregardless of what side he's supposed to be on, and he's willing to hand over Chaney and Matthau to Indian chief Eduard Franz. Douglas is excellent in a scene where he tells Chief red cloud what to expect if they keep the battle of revenge going. Walter Abel, Frank Cady, Elisha Cook Jr. and Alan Hale Jr. are among the other familiar faces. I'm sure this look glorious on a big screen, and in widescreen, it will look just as glorious on your TV.

With a title like THE Indian FIGHTER, you'd think that this was the standard "let's kill all the Indians" type movie so typical in the 1940s and 50s. However, like some of the better cowboy and Indian films of the era (such as the great FORT APACHE and the not so great CHEYENNE),the reason for the Indians hating the Whites is explained--they are not just unreasoning savages or idiots, but people justifiably angry at their mistreatment by the invading Whites. Because of this, I appreciated the film and was also happy that it also wasn't like some of the newer breed of films that paint the Indians and completely noble and the Whites as the epitome of evil! It did seem well balanced AND featured mostly Indians in Indian parts (though, oddly, they chose an Italian lady to play the female leading Indian!).

The rest of the film, while entertaining and having the usual great performance by Kirk Douglas, also is very simplistic and poorly thought out at times. For example, the motivation for why Douglas saved Walter Mathau's sorry butt at the beginning of the film is unclear. It defied common sense not to just let the Indians kill Mathau. Plus, at the end of the film, Douglas' confrontation with Douglas and Lon Chaney, Jr. was a long time coming but was resolved awfully quickly--making it seem very anti-climactic. Still, overall it does stand out from the HUGE number of look alike Westerns and it is worth your time.