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Douglas has his eye on statuesque Elsa Martinelli, an Italian fashion model cast as the daughter of wise Indian chief Eduard Franz. Douglas' conquest of hottie Martinelli is imperiled by conflicts between the Indians and nearby fort soldiers, stirred up by two no-good gold-hungry paleskins, former Wolf Man Lon Chaney Jr. and future Jack Lemmon foil Walter Matthau.
Kirk Douglas isn't too popular with the Indians, but he is suspected of sympathy for them by the redskin-hating whites. Nonetheless, Douglas is enlisted to guide a wagon train through Indian territory. Douglas does a miserable job of this, leading them up and down a steep hill in order to abandon them for a tryst with Martinelli. Actually, I don't blame him.
Curiously, Kirk Douglas' ex-wife, Donna Douglas, is cast as a wagon train pioneer who tries to convince Kirk to marry her. Donna has to settle for future "Gilligan's Island" skipper Alan Hale, Jr., who gets nowhere with her until he claims to be the best apple tree grower from the state of Michigan. Donna is so practical that her eyes light up from the idea of all those apple trees making her a pile of money.
Other familiar faces show up. Elisha Cook Jr., the short falsetto-voiced tough guy from The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep, is a professional photographer. Reliable western comic relief actor Hank Worden has a dual role as a fort soldier and firewater-loving Indian Crazy Bear.
How others will see it. The Indian Fighter doesn't take itself too seriously, and that is held against it, particularly by younger viewers and women. Classic movie fans of a certain age should enjoy the many familiar faces and the reasonable action sequences, which include an Indian attack on the fort and a fight to the death between Kirk Douglas and humorless Indian naysayer Grey Wolf (Harry Landers).
How I felt about it. Director André De Toth is mostly forgotten today, but he led an interesting life. He went through seven marriages, and had 19 children along the way. Among his wives was gorgeous moviestar Veronica Lake (Sullivan's Travels). The most famous movie of De Toth's career was House of Wax, the Vincent Price horror movie filmed in 3-D. Ironically, the 3-D process was personally useless to De Toth, since he was blind in one eye and wore an eyepatch.
De Toth was known for violent films, and even in this Production Code movie, we find some cause for his reputation. Walter Matthau gets his in fine style, a flaming arrow in the back. Douglas' courtship of Martinelli is rough, practically sexually assaulting her, but only as a delayed reaction to a series of heated looks she had sent his way.
There are some bogus moments, most involving Kirk Douglas. He punches Matthau on the jaw, knocking him unconscious for the next ten minutes. Martinelli warms up to Douglas too quickly, and Crazy Bear is a drunken Indian stereotype. Douglas wears out his welcome everywhere he goes, but he keeps coming back for more. Sometimes, Douglas seems to be enjoying himself too much, nearly winking at the audience as he outfoxes all involved.
Nonetheless, here is a script co-written by Ben Hecht, and directed by a man averse to a pro-forma western. We generally like it.