Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Spikeopath Ambush is directed by Sam Wood and adapted to screenplay by Marguerite Roberts from a Luke Short serial story. It stars Robert Taylor, John Hodiak, Arlene Dahl, Jean Hagen, Don Taylor and John McIntire. Music is by Rudolph G. Kopp and cinematography by Harold Lipstein. "In 1878 the shortest trail West through the territory of Arizona crawled across the foot of Bailey Mountain... The shortest trail but, the most dangerous. For Bailey Mountain was the stronghold seized by Diablito and his hostile Apaches" Nice! A Western movie for Western movie lovers to sink their teeth into. It's not exactly wall to wall action on offer here, but there is an adultness to proceedings that hits all the right chords for the discerning audience. The opening scene shows us the aftermath of an Apache raid, then it's introductions to the main characters who will come together to go rescue a kidnapped white woman from Diablito's Apaches. The build up isn't rushed, we are drawn into the lives of the American Fort residents, their love triangles and frets, while mature themes of adultery and spouse abuse are given some skilled direction and performances. Once traits and peccadilloes are established, the band of not so merry men go off to fight the Apache, the latter of which are thankfully shown as a resourceful foe with some cunning tactics. Taylor saddles up for a scuzzy portrayal, honourable for sure, but happily dirty and his character is shown to be fallible in one of the many machismo contests that permeate the story. Hodiak offers some elegance, Hagen some emotional punch, while Dahl - costumed to enhance her curvaceous figure - lights up every scene she is in. The great Harold Lipstein photographs much of the picture through black and white film noir filters, adding the requisite turbulence to the story, while Wood, in what was his last motion picture directorial assignment, directs with assuredness and makes the most of the Simi Valley and Gallup locations. McIntire is wasted and Bruce Cowling as the violent husband is only just convincing, while the blending of painted backdrops with the gorgeous locales becomes a little distracting in the final quarter. Yet as any hardcore Western fan will tell you, often those sort of things are forgiven if the makers don't insult our intelligence, which is thankfully the case here. 7/10

Martha Wilcox It's good to see John Hodiak face off against Robert Taylor and winning, although I would have thought that Taylor being the bigger star would have won. Although Hodiak is a good actor he wouldn't go on to anything significant except a premature death. He's probably most remembered for his part in Alfred Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat', but that was in the early part of his career. You don't have that much time at the top.As for the film itself it's a bit pedestrian. It lacks a good script and storyline. The characters are one-dimensional, but the performances by both Taylor and Hodiak are good. The direction is not that good, but if you haven't got a good script then there isn't much you can do.

ccmiller1492 Standard western fare, "Ambush" is a well-acted oater but it has its stars eclipsed by the supporting players, notably Don Taylor as likable Lt. Delaney and Jean Hagen as the abused Mrs.Conovan, wife to a brutal enlisted man and the company's laundress. These two players make the most lasting impression by their very adroit portrayals of two kindred spirits irrevocably drawn to each other under impossible circumstances. Oddly, everyone else on the base (including the other Mr. Taylor-Robert, the star) seem to fade into the background, not evoking anywhere near the empathy that Don Taylor and Ms. Hagen manage. Thanks to them, this film rises above the average level it otherwise would have sustained.

westerner357 Story involves the Army's rescue of a General's daughter, captured by the Apaches when the surveying team she was with, was wiped out by a war party. Ward Kinsman (Robert Taylor), a former Army scout now gold prospector, is called upon by local Army commander (Leon Ames) to save her.Arlene Dahl is her worried sister who (as we guessed) falls in love with Taylor. Of course there's a love triangle between those two and Army Capt. Ben Lorrison (John Hodiak) to make this film more steamy than necessary. And of course Robert Taylor reluctantly agrees to help find the woman since he is falling in love with Dahl and really can't refuse her.What complicates things even further is another love triangle between Lt. Delaney (Don Taylor), Jean Hagen and her no-good enlisted husband played by Bruce Cowling. I guess director Sam Wood didn't think ONE steamy love triangle was enough so he had to have two. It's too bad all this nonsense chews up too much of the film because this oater had a lot of potential.What saves this from being a total soap opera is the decent battle scenes at the end of the film. The Calvary knows where the Apaches are massing and ambush them inside a canyon. The second ambush involves those Apaches who have escaped this first battle, led by their chief Diablito (Charles Stevens), who hide in holes on the vast plain and ambush John Hodiak's patrol. They hide in their covered holes and wait until they are on top of them.All but the master Sgt. Mack (Pat Moriarity) are killed in the ensuing gun battle, thereby freeing Robert Taylor to hook up with Dahl, and Don Taylor to hook up with the now widowed Hagen. No more Hodiak. No more Cowling. A little too convenient, I think.And all this lovey-dovey stuff brings what would otherwise have been an exciting western, down a couple of notches. So I'm gonna only give it a 5 out of 10 for complicating things more than need be.