Fort Osage
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Lesley Selander
Rod Cameron
Jane Nigh
Morris Ankrum
Douglas Kennedy
John Ridgely
Film Details
Synopsis
Fort Osage, Missouri, gateway to the gold mines of California, is situated on the eastern edge of Osage Indian territory. Travelers from all over America stop in Fort Osage to prepare for the last leg of the overland journey west. Businessman Arthur Pickett and his partner, George Keane, provide emigrants with wagons, supplies, guides and armed guards, but their prices are unfairly high, and they often force delays in wagon train departures to enhance the profits of similarly greedy local shop owners. Pickett and Keane, whose Missouri Transit Company once gave the Osage Indians supplies in exchange for passage through Osage territory, decide in their greed to discontinue these supply shipments, believing that most of the tribe has settled in Oklahoma. When one family, unable to afford the high prices of Fort Osage, enters the territory alone, the angry Indians burn their wagon and kill them all. Tom Clay, who is on his way to Fort Osage to guide a Pickett wagon train that has been delayed for seven weeks, sees the attack and warns his employers that the Osage are on the warpath. Pickett, however, insists on sending out the wagon train. Furious that Pickett would charge high prices and then allow the emigrants to face certain death, Tom resigns. Keane sends a gunman to kill Tom, and although the plan goes awry, Tom is unable to discover who hired the killer. The smooth-talking Pickett, meanwhile, convinces his customers that the danger of Indian attack is minimal, and in their anxiety to reach California, they agree to continue the trip with a new wagon master. At the town dance, Tom tells Pickett's pretty daughter Ann that the Indians are decent and civilized people, and must have a reason for breaking the agreement. Later he kisses her. Impressed with Tom's integrity, Ann asks her father to meet with him. Tom offers to visit the Osage village and question the chief directly. Fearing that Tom will discover the cause of the tribe's anger, Keane sends several men to kill him on the way to the village, but Tom manages to escape. The chief tells Tom that when a party of braves went to meet the promised supply shipment, the men were brutally murdered. Tom, horrified and ashamed, vows that the treaty will be honored and that he, himself, will bring the supplies to the tribe. Meanwhile, Keane, who still believes that the Osage pose no threat, decides to frighten them into submission by attacking the village. He and his men descend upon the unsuspecting Indians, killing many of them. One of the men escapes and rides to another Osage village for help. Unaware of this attack, Tom returns to Fort Osage and persuades Pickett to tell the truth about the Indian supply shipments. Tom organizes a party of emigrants to accompany the supply wagons to the village while Pickett, having offered to purchase the supplies himself, counts out the cash. When Keane realizes that Pickett has had a change of heart, he shoots his partner and knocks Ann unconscious. He and his men then steal the money and set out for California. Tom enters Pickett's office just as Ann is regaining consciousness, and soon afterward, they and the townspeople ride out in pursuit of Keane. The avenging Indians see Keane's gang from a distance but decide to attack Fort Osage instead. Soon they encounter Tom's party, and as they confiscate all the weapons, Tom tries to persuade the chief to join him in apprehending Keane. Because Tom is known and respected by the Osage, they agree to accompany him but hold Ann and the townspeople as hostages. Tom and the Osage soon overtake Keane's men, and a furious gun battle ensues. Most of Keane's henchmen are killed, and when Keane tries to escape, Tom leaps on him, and the two men fight. Tom finally kills Keane, and afterward shakes hands with the Osage chief. Back in town, Tom organizes the supply shipment and then, with Ann's help, guides the wagon train out of Fort Osage.
Director
Lesley Selander
Cast
Rod Cameron
Jane Nigh
Morris Ankrum
Douglas Kennedy
John Ridgely
William Phipps
Stan Jolley
Dorothy Adams
Francis Mcdonald
Myron Healey
Lane Bradford
Iron Eyes Cody
Barbara Woodell
Anne Kimbell
Hal Baylor
Russ Conway
Gregory Marshall
Fred Graham
Carol Henry
Marshall Reed
Lee Roberts
Glen Mccarthy
Art Felix
Rocky Shahan
Chuck Hayward
Stanley Price
George Deer
Carl Mathews
Al Eben
Stanley Blystone
Bill Chandler
Lois Austin
Gertrude Astor
Paul Bryar
Bob Peoples
Crew
Charles Cooper
Richard Heermance
Wilton R. Holm
Ray Mercer
David Milton
Walter Mirisch
Edward Morey Jr.
Harry Neumann
Stanley Price
Wandra Ramsey
Clifford D. Shank
Marlin Skiles
Vin Taylor
Dan Ullman
Allen K. Wood
Film Details
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
According to July 1951 Hollywood Reporter news items, some scenes were shot on location in Idyllwild, CA and at the Placerita Ranch in Newhall, CA. Modern sources add Ray Jones to the cast.
