Customer Reviews

Battles of Chief Pontiac [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Former Tarzan (and former hubby of Lana Turner) Lex Barker portrays the fearless Indian scout in this tale of pre-Revolutionary Indian Wars in the area where Detroit now stands. Lon Chaney does well as a sympathetic Chief Pontiac who only choses the warpath when forced to it by the brutality of the White Man. Barry Kroeger is most hatefull as the Hessian Officer. Not bad, considering this one was probably made on a shoestring.

ALPHA VIDEO offers bargain priced, often hard-to-find vintage movies that are ideal for those willing to skip DVD extras. Their transfers show no evidence of restoration, so quality varies from one title to the next, with "fair to good" being the average.

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About the film:
Initially, BATTLES OF CHIEF PONTIAC gets lost in a morass of low-budget medriocrity and innacuracies. Particularly egregious are the screen-credited Caucasian Injuns who use, "white man speak with forked tongue"-style clichés. (Note: Sioux tribesmen fill the "extra" ranks.) Those numerous steeply rolling hills around Detroit (huh?) are also most amusing.

But amidst these mounds of vintage cheese, one powerful plot point is undeniable.

Perhaps some folks in post-WWII Hollywood still hadn't come to terms with our former German enemy, for this story's "Hessian" villain, Col. von Weber (deftly limned by Berry Kroeger) seems a perfect stand-in for one of Adolf's henchmen. Von Weber in fact commits an unthinkable act of germ warfare, some 160 years before its use in the Great War of 1914-18. This 18th Century Pontiac's Rebellion infection incident is well-documented, but there were no Hessians involved (see Wikipedia: biological warfare).

After a smallpox epidemic within the walls of Ft. Detroit, this despicably arrogant Prussian gathers up contaminated blankets and clothing, presenting them as "gifts" for his Native American counterpart, Pontiac (Chaney), who's agreed to smoke the peace pipe (seriously) with the fort's commander. The chief's people are struck down by illness a week later, and any hope of "burying the hatchet" (oy) is dashed.

What follows are typical whooping redskin attacks and general mayhem, but for that one surprising moment, this film really rises above the ordinary. Worth seeing for a still-hale Lon Chaney (in pigtails!) and some laughably chauvinistic "me your white brave, you my white squaw" dialogue.
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Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 IMDb viewer poll rating.

(5.2) Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952) - Lex Barker/Helen Westcott/Lon Chaney Jr./Berry Kroeger/Roy Roberts/Larry Chance

Interesting for a film this old to put the white men in the "bad guys" role. Not a great movie, and a bit slow moving, but okay. South Dakota's Black Hills look nice. The title is a bit odd, as there is only one battle in the movie and it's more of a skirmish.

The Alpha edition print is good, with only one bad splice. So far, I haven't seen any better. It appears complete. No Alpha logo.

if you enjoy old classic movies on native americans ;it is a good movie just keep in mind when and who made it, also it is a movie not history.so get some popcorn and enjoy

one of lex's better films.would dearly like to see more of his work