Drums Across the River

• Directed by Nathan Juran
• June 1954

When locals want to look for gold on Ute Indian land, a bigoted man finds himself taking on a role as a peacekeeper.

Most people today when they think of Westerns think of cowboys shooting savage Native Americans because that was the thing to do. Having watched quite a few Westerns I must say that was not uncommon but not the dominant aspect of the genre. For example in Drums Across the River they took part in a story that looked at racism and how it causes problems.

Bigotry and desperation are the basis for the story. Times are hard and the local Ute tribe has control of the only land with any worthwhile amounts of gold on it though agreements make it a no-go area for the inhabitants of the struggling town. Naturally those citizens think they are justified to go get it because in their minds it is rightfully theirs.

Audie Murphy as main character Gary Brannon is the most open minded of the gold-seeking group though he is no man of racial equality at the start. He holds a grudge against all Utes over the death of his mother at the hands of some Utes. His father Sam (Walter Brennan) is far more introspective and often acts as the moral conscience of the film. Sam is carrying less weight over his wife’s death than Sam. Hmmm…

This isn’t a message movie as much as it is a morality narrative. The moral of the story? Mutual understanding is better. Sam represents the right way to be with Gary having the role of coming over to the side of right and showing how beneficial the lesson taught can be.

Murphy is okay compared with Brennan. Brennan was a better actor. Neither could have won an Oscar here but both do a good job of conveying the characters and the accompanying views. The great Jay Silverheels shows up as Taos who eventually becomes the leader of the local Utes and acts as the character that helps to humanize the strange other to Gary. He brings an authority to the character that never drifts into cliché.

Frank Walker (Lyle Bettger) is our greed-motivated villain aiming to start what amounts to a race war to wipe out the Utes and seize the gold on the land almost entirely for himself. Yikers! That escalated quickly. His greed causes him to trick and manipulate others into helping him accomplish his goals whether they realize it or not. His type of evil comes off as almost doing evil for the sake of evil.

What bothers me is that this intelligent manipulator does not wait a second once a level of stability is achieved. These occur right after he gets knocked back. Walker’s continual efforts are to be expected but he doesn’t wait until he’s in a better position. I don’t think his decision to screw over the stability is based on any bigotry. It’s just based on necessity of those involved in the script to keep things moving. Even your most basic a villain should wait until they’re getting to a better position before they decide to open fire AGAIN. 

What would a Western be without a good girl and a when-she’s-bad-she’s-very-good girl? Sue Randolph (Mara Corday) uses her sexuality and general charms to be quite the helping hand to Walker in a way more significant than most others of her type in the genre. Corday gives it her all adding a bad girl charm that says she is a mistake you would be happy to make. Jennie Marlowe (Lisa Gaye) is pretty milquetoast in comparison. Marlowe is the boring girl you should go for. Really though a new pair of shoes may be nice but a well broken in set of sneakers is often better.

Despite efforts at deeper themes this is still mostly a Western action film. There are chases and dastardly men and a hired gun who dresses in more black than Johnny Cash ever did. Director Nathan Juran handles all this very well showing an eye for staging action and an ability to squeeze drama from the script.

Drums Across the River may not be among Murphy’s best, but it is among his good ones. The moral mixed with the action goes down smooth making for fine viewing.