Apache Drums

In 1880, an Old West mining border town named Spanish Boot is experiencing a minor boom and the Welchman, Reverend Griffin, has the strapping blacksmith/mayor Joe Madden give the boot to Betty Careless and her dancehall gals. Also given the boot on the same day is the slick gambler Sam Leeds, who fatally shot a man drawing on him during a card game. On the desert trail, Sam finds Betty and the girls slaughtered by the Mescalero Apaches in their buggy carrying them to Silver Springs. Sam returns to warn the town, but Joe doesn’t believe him. He says word from the nearby fort is that the Apaches crossed the border to Mexico. But when the stagecoach arrives with everyone slaughtered by the Apaches, Joe reluctantly concedes that his rival was telling the truth. It seems they are both taken with the hot looking redhead Sally, who runs the only wholesome bar/boarding place in town. Sally ditches Sam for the square, priggish Joe, saying she really loves Sam but won’t live with a gambler. She laments about always loving the bad guy she wants to change but can’t. —Ozu’s World of Movie Reviews