Ulzana's Raid

"One man alone understood the savagery of the early American west from both sides."

1972 1h 43m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

🔥

90%

CERTIFIED FRESH

⭐

IMDB

★6.9TMDB · 168🍅90%Rotten Tomatoes★7IMDB · 6,711

Western

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After fierce war chief Ulzana and a small war party jump the reservation bent on murder and terror, an inexperienced young lieutenant is assigned to track him down.

“One man alone understood the savagery of the early American west from both sides.”

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Cast

Burt Lancaster
McIntosh
Bruce Davison
Lt. Garnett DeBuin
Jorge Luke
Ke-Ni-Tay
Richard Jaeckel
Sergeant
Joaquín Martínez
Ulzana
Lloyd Bochner
Captain Gates
Karl Swenson
Rukeyser
Douglass Watson
Maj. Cartwright

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Robert Aldrich
Writers: Alan Sharp
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

54 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Robert Aldrich, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael Luciano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Burt Lancaster and Bruce Davison and Jorge Luke carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "One man alone understood the savagery of the early American west from both sides.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0069436 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Robert Aldrich directs. Joseph F. Biroc behind the camera. Frank De Vol scores. Michael Luciano cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $1.2M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
254 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
3Directed by Robert Aldrich, shot by Joseph F. Biroc. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Frank De Vol. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor Michael Luciano shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Burt Lancaster and Bruce Davison and Jorge Luke carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "One man alone understood the savagery of the early American west from both sides.".
8IMDB entry: tt0069436 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 24 themes, including "ambush", "indian territory", "apache nation", "lieutenant".

The technical file

Cinematography: Joseph F. Biroc
Original score: Frank De Vol
Editing: Michael Luciano
Costume design: Glenn Wright
Makeup / hair: Tony Lloyd
Stunt coordinator: William H. Burton Sr.
Runtime: 103 min · 1h 43m
Status: Released
Budget: $1,200,000
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Ulzana's Raid (1972)
Rotten Tomatoes: 90% 🍅 Fresh
IMDB rating: 7/10 · 6,711 votes
MPAA: R

Also by

Robert Aldrich

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-02-16
★ 9/10
Maybe you don't want to think of the white man being savage like the Apache? Apache renegade Ulzana goes on a murder raid, hot on his trail is a posse of cavalrymen. Led by the young and inexperienced Lt. Garnett DeBuin, the cavalrymen in order to survive and defeat Ulzana, must rely on the help of tough old scout McIntosh and his trusty Indian friend, Ke-Ni-Tay. Directed masterfully by Robert Aldrich ("The Dirty Dozen" & "The Longest Yard"), Ulzana's Raid is just shy of being an uncompromising masterpiece. There is no pandering to political correctness here, this is showing the bitter hostility of the Indian War, torture and murderous inclination is the order of the day. The allegories to Vietnam are hard to ignore as our band of men are struggling out in the wilderness against Ulzana's hostile raiders, the sprawling mountainous landscape another tool to the already handily equipped Apache. What lifts Ulzana's Raid high above many of its contemporaries is the on the money dialogue. A wonderfully complex script from Alan Sharp manages to make all the characters intriguing and deserving of further delving. The Apache are savage, and Aldrich doesn't flinch from showing this, but they are afforded respect, and crucially, understanding. This could quite easily have been a one sided blood letting exercise in Western folklore, but it isn't. The motives and attitudes of the white man party is there for all to scrutinise, with much attention to detail given as the many conversations bring rich and rewarding results to the discerning viewer. From the off it's evident that McIntosh & DeBuin have vastly different views of Ulzana's actions, but as the film moves forward - all manner of questions leap out, be it Christian values, racial hatred or merely imperialistic trust, all parties involved are hurtling towards the final reckoning. Burt Lancaster is perfect as McIntosh, grizzled and carrying a frame made for such a rigorous terrain. Playing DeBuin is Bruce Davison, boyish charm fused expertly with unwanted bravado, while stealing the film is Jorge Luke as Ke-Ni-Tay. A performance of great depth that holds and binds the picture brilliantly. Sadly this film has been a victim of much interference over the years, (studio and Lancaster himself to blame), so much so there is thought to be about 6 cuts of the film out there in the home entertainment world. Thankfully we are now able to get a cut of the film that is almost complete, but still there remains to this day no definitive full cut of the film. German (the version I own) and Australian releases proclaim to have it uncut, but that's not accurate because there is still some three minutes missing from the very first cut of it - including a quite crucial sequence involving Sergeant and Trooper Miller (note at 49 minutes an intrusive quick cut from a night scene to a day scene) Still, it has to be said that even with 3 minutes chopped out of it, Ulzana's Raid is still a grim and brilliant piece of work. Showing the savagery from both sides of the fence, Aldrich and his team refuse to cop out and pander to formula. 9/10

Production companies