Customer Reviews

A Distant Trumpet

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

A Distant Trumpet sounds the call to action for a stirring, thunder-hooved tale of the West. Troy Donahue leads the charge as Lt Matt Hazard, an idalistic West Point graduate plunged into the last of the US Cavalry's Great Indian Wars. Assigned to Fort Delivery, Arizona, Hazard is tested in love, war and politics. He's engaged to one woman (Diane McBain) but falling for another (Suzanne Pleshette). His courage is proven during the fierce guerrilla campaign waged by Chiricahua Apaches and their chief, War Eagle. And he's first to stand up for what's right when the US violates its postwar pact with the Chiricahuas.
The movie was shot in beautiful technicolor and widescreen, with good performances, and music by Max Steiner. The story and action is kept moving well by great director Raoul walsh. Watch the excellent background of the Southwest's Red Rocks and the spectacular quarter-mile wide Grand falls. This archive collection DVD by Warner has excellent sound and picture quality.
Watch and ENJOY.

This movie was filmed in the Gallup, New Mexico area back in the early 1960's. It was really a low budget, and poor rendition of Paul Horgan's book by the same name. As a result, it never became popular, or "classic" enough to be offered through video catalogs.
Since I am one of the cavalrymen, I have always wanted to get a copy of the film. For years, everywhere I tried to find a copy, either video or DVD, I was unsuccessful.
That is until Amazon.com is now providing copies of films through its Archive Collection.
This is a wonderful new service, and I hope collectors of old movies take full advantage of it!
Also, it took only a week, or so, for delivery of my order, and I can, after all these years, watch myself charging over the hills against the Apaches!
Martin Link

I was a young boy back in the seventies when i first saw this movie in a theater and ever since i was hooked completely to western movies especially ones with Indians involved. And this one has A HUGE Indian involment! I remember watching that movie at 10 am shows and rushing out of the theater to play that movie with my friends frame by frame, step by step following the story. Neighbour park was our Arizona :) And when my parents bought me a plume, spear and a rifle i instantly took the role of War Eagle! Although i never surrender to my friends who played on the side of cavalry :)
I have been looking for this movie for ages but thanks to foresight mind of someone at Warner Bross it is finally available through Warner Bross Archive.
If you want old fashioned style of western 'cavalry meets Indians' movie there isn't better than this one!
Movie is still fresh and entertaining. I was a bit afraid that quality of picture would be questionable but i can tell you that it looks perfect!
This is a highly recommended movie!!!!
And if i my recommend to those who already love this kind of movies, check out Winnetou. Karl May wrote fantastic books about Wild West and in the sixties most of those books where filmed.

A Distant Trumpet is a fairly good cavalry vs indians western. It features impressive amounts of men on horseback (cavalry and indians) and beautiful scenery filmed in the deserts of Arizona. It also features two other "lasts." It is the last film directed by famed action direcor Raoul Walsh and the last major film starring Troy Donohue made for Warner Bros., the company that made him a star with "A Summer Place" in 1959. (Troy would make one other film for Warners, the grade-B suspense melodrama "My Blood Runs Cold" in 1965. He would not make another A-Film until his brief appearance in G-dfather Part II in 1974.) This film co-stars Suzanne Pleshette who was briefly married to Donohue at the time. (I think the marriage lasted about 10 months.)
It co-stars character actor James Gregory who was on a roll at the time with impressive appearances in several terrific films ("Manchurian Candidate," "Captain Newman, M.D." etc.) The film is also loaded with Warners' contract players coming off of Warners' tv series: Diane McBain (SurfSide 6,) William Reynolds (The Gallant Men,) Larry Ward (The Dakotas,) etc.
The basic plot of the film is Troy as a cavalry lieutenant at a small, forgotten fort in the middle of the Arizona desert vs the Apaches who are performing hit and run raids and disappearing back into Mexico where the cavalry cannot follow. There is a bit of a soap-operaish plot with Troy falling for Suzanne, the widow of his former commander and his snooty fiance from the east (McBain) coming to visit. After the one big action scene at the end where the indians allow themselves to be used for target practice, continuously riding into the bullets of the well-hidden soldiers, Troy talks them into surrendering, only to be stabbed in the back by the U.S. government which attempts to ship them to Florida. Troy speaks up gallantly for his former enemies and everyone winds up living happily ever after.
As stated, this is a large scale western but not a great one. There is too little action until the last third of the film. The scenery is beautiful however, the music by Max Steiner is very good and I have seen many worse westerns. The only extra is a trailer with the director, Walsh, speaking about what a great film this is and how happy he was to make it and what a great job Troy did in it. Sadly the film was neither a critical or commercial success, vanishing quickly out of theaters and is basically forgotten today. This dvd was produced by the [...]. It is not available in stores. I purchased it from them and to be honest paid less than Amazon is charging here. The picture quality and the color are very nice. I've watched it on 2 blu-ray machines. On my older and cheaper machine, the picture freezes about every 10, 15 minutes. I am then forced to forward it and is continues until the next freeze-up. On my newer, more expensive blu-ray, it plays perfectly. If you are going to purchase it, you should be made aware of this.

I first saw Troy and Susan in the Movie " Lovers Must Learn " better know as the Rome Adventure. This movie is so honest as the chemistry between the two is so real. Distant Trumpet does not have the personal experience of Rome Adventure but still a very good action movie. Difficult to see Troy dirty and dusty away from his normal on screen characterisation. The movie is enjoyable as an action movie but the romance between Troy and Susan is not as good as Rome Adventure. It is a different movie.

Great movie, only negative is being letterbox! It did not say it was letterbox, if it did, i would not have bought it!

I LOVE THIS GREAT PICTURE GOOD SOUND.THIS MOVIE IS LIKE THEY USE TO MAKE THEM .I GIVE IT 5 STARS

I had been looking for this video for years and I finally found it. I ordered it, never got it and got a refund on my visa instead. This was a major disappointment to me and kind of sours me on future orders. If it is still possible, I would very much like to get this movie, it's one of my all time favorites.