The Stalking Moon

• Only the Valiant
• Escape From Fort Bravo
• Fox Western Classics (Rawhide / The Gunfighter / Garden of Evil)
• Saddle the Wind
• The Law and Jake Wade
• The Man with the Gun
• Centennial: The Complete Series
• Yellow Sky
• The Westerner
• The Day of the Outlaw

No thanks. What is going on. This is not a living-room set, a city location. It reminds me of the time I mistakenly bought the "Standard" version, "reformated for your TV," version of "The Music Man," and ended up with myriad scenes featuring a barbershop duet, instead of a quartet. I have been waiting for "The Stalking Moon" to come out on DVD for a long, long time and now it is here: in 1:33 ratio. Why in the world lose most of the film, the grandeur, the beauty of the cinematography.

It's badly cast and it's lifeless. Gregory Peck is the scout who takes pity on the woman and her boy by helping them navigate their path towards an ultimate return to society. Eva Marie Saint as the fleeing woman is just to old, to hard looking (I'd say Eva was about a two pack a day smoker and the tee martooni type), too blonde and too 60s to be beleivable in this part. This movie is slow. The woman's husband, The Stalking Moon, is determined to recapture her and their son and in the process, leaves a trail of death and destruction.

No good deed goes unpunished.

This is the story of a woman, kidnapped by Indians as a child, who flees her Indian captors and husband of ten years along with her young son, a product of the union with her Indian husband.

Better casting and a grittier realism would have made it a much better movie but when viewed through today's sense of history, this movie is just way too Hollywood.

But I was dissapointed.

It's boring.

Because of my fond memories surrounding the whole experience I decided to take a trip down memory lane and buy a copy.

I had not seen this movie since my favorite wild, teen age country Aunt took me to see it when I was a kid.

She looks old enough to be the boy's grandmother.

In the case of Sara and Sam, it is more a question of honor leading to fatal consequences for several innocent victims, Nic Tana among them. For a late period western from Hollywood this yet remains one of the best and, for me at least, one of the best screen performances of Eva Marie Saint. In this case the sites of Lemming and Silverton play their roles as places leading to Sam Varner's ranch in the Soledad River valley. Both the Lemming and Silverton, New, Mexico, sites lead to gruesome killings and death as Salvaje continues to roam and raid the area on the way to kill Sam and Sara. Semper Fi.

The movie was based on the 1965 Doubleday DD Western hardcover book by Theodore V. Tough on both animals and humans, all the while backed up with the towerning, rugged mountain outcroppings at the Rica crossing and its foothills. This time period in both Arizona and New Mexico, two states eventually made up from the older New Mexico Territory that came into existence after the Mexican War, were both pivotal to the Apache Wars of the late 19th century. If one wonders how Salvaje gains entrance to the Sam's cabin late in the movie, it is because young Jimmie Joe lets him in. Another element in this movie adding both to the enjoyment and suspense is the lonely, eerie soundtrack by Fred Kaplin.

Most watchers of this movie who enjoy westerns will have to give this production very high marks. Until Sam and Sara escape the lowlands to move into the Soledad River country of New Mexico, wind almost continually blows dust and sand in every scene. The boy is much more a problem in the book than in the movie. Isn't that how it generally happens, though. Its magnetic story draws me back again and again whether on DVD or when it shows on Encore westerns as it is doing this month, October, 2008. Some killings are indiscriminate while others are quite purposeful, especially where the woman Sara Carver and her Apache child, named Jimmie Joe in the novel but having a different name in the movie, are concerned. Never in all my movie watching, other than perhaps YELLOW SKY, have I seen such a grim, grimy, dusty, wind blown movie. Plain and simple, Salvaje wants Sara and Sam dead, and his son back.

The Apache Chief Salvaje, known as the Ghost, is running amok killing whites all across the Arizona/New Mexico area. Olsen entitled THE STALKING MOON. Overall the movie is one of the best western movies I have ever watched, and I continually read western novels and watch western movies. Though the movie is portrayed as being in New Mexico, the film was acually shot on location in the Mojave Desert in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada. It is possibly a musical score that will remain with the watcher for a time long after the movie is over. By mentioning that Sam's name in the book was 'Vetch', rather than 'Varner' as in the movie, one can correctly surmise there exist differences between the movie and the book. For a western movie to really capture the panorama of a given area this film is quite unique.

Finally a dvd of one of Gregory Pecks best westerns. It's sharp, crisp & great scenery.

I sat through it twice when it first came out in 1968/9. You can feel yourself digging deeper into your seat in scenes where Salvaje is either immenent or on screen. There's no sham heroics - Peck as Sam Varner is thoroughly professional in his approach to snaring the deadly Apache who always seems two moves ahead of the game. Peck unplays the scout who reluctantly takes on the woman and her son unkowing of their true situation. 10/10 The music by Fred Karlin underscores the tension without tipping you off to what may come next. This is a cracking litle Western. Scenes involving him and the lovely Eva Marie Saint are played low key yet are suffused with emotion.