Product Details

• Actors: Gregory Peck, Lon Chaney Jr., Art Baker, Ward Bond, Neville Brand
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Spanish
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: July 1, 2008
• Run Time: 105 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0017MO0WO
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,616 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A cavalry officer volunteers for a suicidal mission to fight the hostile apaches in an effort to prove his loyalty to his men & the woman he loves. Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 07/01/2008 Starring: Gregory Peck Lon Chaney Run time: 105 minutes Rating: Nr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 52 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Western, June 25, 2006

By	Charles J. Rector (Woodstock, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Only the Valiant (B&W) [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Only the Valiant is an early example of what might be called the
"impossible mission" movie subgenre. Flicks of this type have plots in which a certain number of men, ususally hard cases, are picked for a do or die mission in which there is a high degree of failure. Other notable films of this sort are The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare.

Gregory Peck stars as Captain Richard Lance who is a commander of United States Cavalry stationed in the Wild West. Captain Lance needs to send an Apache Chief Tuscos (Michael Ansara), who harbors violent hatred of Americans, to a prison at another fort. Captain Lance sends Lieutenant William Holloway (Gig Young) to escort the chief.

However, Indians attack the escort freeing the chief and killing
Lieutenant Holloway. The chief then goes on to lead an Indian uprising against the Americans. Captain Lance is held responsible for the debacle by both his men and his girlfriend, Cathy Eversham (Barbara Payton). This is especially serious since Holloway was widely beloved.

With the uprising, the fort that Captain Lance's troops are stationed at is vulnerable to attack. If the fort falls before reinforcements can arrive, then the territory and its settlers will be wide open to Indian attack. Captain Lance decides that the best course of action is to take a personally selected task force to a nearby fort that occupies a mountain pass that is a superior strategic position that was abandoned some time earlier. If that fort can hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive, then the territory will be spared from
Indian incursions.

For this mission, Captain Lance decides that the only soldiers whose lives should be risked are the hard cases. These are the dregs of the army whose devotion to the cause is rather suspect. They include cowards, criminals, deserters and just plain malcontents. Among others, they are Corporal Timothy Gilchrist (Ward Bond), Trooper Kebussyan (Lon Chaney, Jr.) and Sergeant Ben Murdock (Neville Brand). The selected troopers, in turn, suspect that this is precisely why they have been chosen and they resent Captain Lance all the more for it.

Needless to say, Captain Lance's work is cut out for him. He must meld men who have severe character flaws together into a cohesive unit. He must work in a confine of responsibility and honor that is every bit as narrow and have the potential for being dangerously conflicting as the pass that the bloodthirsty Apaches have to move through to attack the fort.

Only the Valiant is a flick that could easily have been just another Western but in the hands of veteran director Gordon Douglas, it is a masterpiece of suspense. Douglas was one director who really understood just how to build suspense. This movie is atmospheric and intense and tells a story worth telling. It is filmed in stark black and white that only adds to the suspense. Douglas aimed to make a character driven Western and in that he succeeded admirably.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Above average western, August 2, 2008

By	Robert Haro "cereberal" (Califronia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Very good western with strong cast. Gregory Peck does an excellent job as a captain in the cavalry wrongly blamed for the death of a popular officer at the hands of the Apaches. Film has much in the way of drama and suspense.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art of Leadership, June 21, 2008

By	Chuck - See all my reviews

A great story on the type of man who can lead, and the many types of men who cannot. A previous reviewer mentioned Robert Ryan as one of the actors in this film. Actually, he's not in it.