Chuka

We're the scum of the United States Army. Colonel. Chuka is directed by Gordon Douglas and adapted to screenplay by Richard Jessup from his own novel. It stars Rod Taylor, John Mills, Ernest Borgnine, Luciana Paluzzi, James Whimore, Louis Hayward and Victoria Vetri. Music is by Leith Stevens and Pthe Color photography by Harold E. Stine. 1876 and Fort Clendenon is host to a bunch of army misfits and a lovelorn gunslinger, hardly a group capable of defending the Fort against an impending Arapaho attack... A super cast and a rather gorgeous colour print can't avert this being a distinctly…

Though I never really understood what Rod Taylor ever had to offer on screen, he does rather better here in this traditional army versus the Indians siege western. Recently arrived on the stagecoach with a disparate group of passengers, “Chuka” finds Fort Clanenden commanded by the bottle-loving “Col. Valois” (John Mills) and supported by his loyal sergeant “Hahnsbach” (Ernest Borgnine). Fairly swiftly, we all learn that this is a facility where then US Army keeps it’s rotten eggs, and gradually we learn just why - from the colonel down - these officers are now charged with holding this…