Ambush (1950)

 
AMBUSH (1950)

By Ralph Santini - ***

                Sam Wood’s final film “Ambush” opens with another of those opening texts that describe the premise of this film; in 1878 a brave prospector Ward Kinsman (Robert Taylor in his first canonical Western after 9 years when he appeared in the Technicolor 1941 sagebrusher “Billy The Kid”) is offered a manhunt to capture a vicious Indian whom they call “Diablito” (a terrific performance by Charles Stevens) because his remaining hostage is a white lady who turns out to be another young lady’s sister Ann Duverall (the ravishing Arlene Dahl), both of them daughters of a high-class General. The only problem is that Kingsman, at the beginning doesn’t want any part of it. Meanwhile young army officer, Lt. Linus Delaney (Don Taylor in the wake of appearing as Liz Taylor’s beau in Father Of The Bride) who loves Martha (Jean Hagen, a couple of years before playing Lina Lamont, the high-pitched voice actress from Singin In The Rain), the wife of a psychotic enlisted man Tom Conovan (Bruce Cowling). 

                Getting back to Taylor’s story he would later accept the manhunt for Diablito only because of his crush with Ann while he develops a sharp rivalry between himself and a stubborn army captain, Ben Lorrison (John Hodiak), simply because they both love the redhead. Suddenly the commanding officer of the port (Leon Ames) is being injured by Conovan after escaping his arrest ordered by Lt. Delaney. Lorrison is now in command and he intents reprimanding the young lieutenant holding him responsible for his C.O.’s injury which makes Kinsman very sore and they have a rather strenuous conflict even If wouldn’t last long since Lorrison is informed about the Ambush ordered to the United States Army.  So Kinsman and Lorrison with his company of soldiers are on their way for Diablito.

                When this western first came out, it was well-received and it green lighted Robert Taylor’s career to concentrate on the film genre. Today it has become an underrated Western to currently get indifferent reactions. That’s not fair because I always find Robert Taylor so much fun to see in a western and what I like about it is the surprisingly effective acting I’ve seen here, particularly those of (Robert) Taylor as the self-sacrificing hero, (Don) as the honest officer who is falsely accused of being responsible for his romantic rival’s attack on the C.O. and especially that of Hodiak as the anti-heroic Captain who wants to be a better man than Kinsman. It also has a refreshing cinematography by Harold Lipstein and a rousing story, uncommonly written by a female, Marguerite Roberts. What this film needs nowadays, I think, is definitely a second look, which I have done after first seeing this film. I do recommend it even for what it seems.