The cast is great, lead by James Garner and Sidney Poitier.
Even just seen as a cavalry movie the plot is tight and action thrilling, portraying flawed soldiers in an impossible situation.
Poitier plays a cavalry sergeant turned horse wrangler for the Army; at no point is it ever referenced that he would have been a Buffalo Soldier and at no point does anyone make a beef about him ordering around white soldiers, which makes you wonder if the character was originally written as white and they happened to cast Poitier.
The movie is remarkably sympathetic to the Apaches while at no point downplaying brutal Apache traditions. It's a tough needle to thread that I bet most movie makers couldn't do today.
There is so much discussion about race, without making it a movie about race.
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