Apache Ambush
Brief Synopsis
Cast & Crew
Fred F. Sears
Bill Williams
Richard Jaeckel
Alex Montoya
Movita
Adelle August
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
On the night of 14 Apr 1865, James Kingston, formerly an Apache Indian fighter and now a Union scout, and Sgt. Tim O'Roarke, who had been a cattleman prior to the Civil War, meet with President Abraham Lincoln in the White House. Now that the war has ended, Lincoln says, the thousands of cattle waiting to be sold in Texas must be moved at once to Abilene, Kansas to feed the starving people of the North. He warns, though, that lawless elements bent on keeping the Union apart may disrupt the planned 1,000-mile cattle drive. After Lincoln writes out orders for Col. Marshall at San Arturo to supply soldiers to help guard against Apache attacks, the president leaves to go to Ford's Theatre. His assassination that night does not stop Jim and O'Roarke, who join a wagon train to San Arturo. As they approach Kearny Pass, Jim sends Bob Jennings to bring back soldiers for protection, but Bob is wounded and captured by Apaches. Meanwhile, Rosita, a spy for Mexican guerrilla leader Joaquin Jironza, locates money and a cache of repeating rifles hidden in the back of a wagon belonging to Hank Calvin, a San Arturo general store owner, whom she seduced in Abilene. Jironza hopes to recapture Texas and New Mexico for Mexico. Rosita rides to Jironza's cave hideout, where Jironza shoots Bob as he tries to escape. Jironza then makes a deal with the Apache leader to attack the wagons, saying he wants the rifles, but that everything else, horses, food and white women, will be left for the Apaches. When the Apaches and Jironza's raiders attack, Lee Parker, a bitter Confederate ex-soldier who lost an arm in the war, uses the repeating rifles. Hearing their sound, Jim sends men to the wagon to use them against the raiders. Although Jironza kills Calvin, his men and the Apaches are driven off. At San Arturo, the jailkeeper Manoel, a Mexican American who is loyal to the U.S. and hates Jironza, greets Jim. Marshall and Jim find that the rifles have disappeared from Calvin's wagon. Lee refuses to tell about the rifles, saying he hopes they will be used to run the "Yankees" out of town. Just then a dispatch rider arrives with a message from the Secretary of War ordering Marshall to abandon the post because of rioting and looting at the Mexican border. After the soldiers leave, to the jeers of the townspeople, Jim, with Silas Parker, the sheriff and father of Lee, interrupts a meeting of plotters, and a fight erupts. Jim stops it when he pulls his gun, then interrogates Lee, who refuses to cooperate. When the men with Jim begin to beat Lee, despite Jim's objection, Silas draws his gun and tells Lee to go. Rosita takes Lee to Jironza, who says he can help the South with the rifles. Lee offers to show him the location of the rifles if Jironza agrees to have the Apaches stop the cattle drive, as Lee is outraged that Texas cattle are going to feed Northerners, and also to refrain from shooting any of the Southerners or his father or sister Ann, who has fallen in love with Jim. Jironza agrees and sends a man to meet with the Apache chief. Jim locates the buried boxes of rifles as Jironza's band arrives, and a gun battle ensues. When Lee objects that Jironza is shooting Southerners, Jironza shoots Lee and says he will kill them all. Ann and Silas drag Lee to safety, but Silas also is shot. Lee admits to Ann that he was wrong and before dying warns her to tell Jim that Jironza is sending Apaches to stop the cattle at Kearny Pass. Manoel is shot, but just before dying, throws dynamite at the raiders. Jironza tries to use Ann as a hostage to escape, but Jim jumps him and then shoots him dead as he approaches with a knife. Meanwhile, a scout for Jironza meets with the Apaches, who decide to steal the cattle, as their people are starving. Jim meets up with O'Roarke, and during the Indian attack, they use the cattle to stampede and drive the Indians off. Jim kills Jironza's man, and seeing that the Apache chief is dead, says he does not think the Indians will come back. As the cattle return to the streets of San Arturo, Jim promises Ann that he will return after he takes them to Abilene, and she says she will be waiting.
Director
Fred F. Sears
Cast
Bill Williams
Richard Jaeckel
Alex Montoya
Movita
Adelle August
Tex Ritter
Ray "crash" Corrigan
Ray Teal
Don C. Harvey
James Griffith
James Flavin
George Chandler
Forrest Lewis
George Keymas
Harry Lauter
Henry Escalante
Bill Hale
Robert Foulk
Victor Millan
Clayton Moore
John Zaremba
Don Carlos
Edmund Cobb
Frank Sully
Ed Hinton
Joseph Breen
Robert B. Williams
Leonard Geer
Lane Chandler
Jack Perrin
Guy Teague
Iron Eyes Cody
Chris Alcaide
Steven Ritch
J. W. Cody
Chuck Cason
Harry Strang
Crew
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working title of this film was Renegade Roundup. According to modern sources, Kermit Maynard was in the cast.
