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Gregory Peck (The Gunfighter) is the hard-nosed leader of a rough group of cavalry soldiers, whose by-the-book actions alienate the men in his command. The company's dislike for Peck intensifies when he assigns a popular lieutenant to take his place on a dangerous mission: delivering a captured Apache chief (Michael Ansara) across the barren desert to a stronger Army post. When the detail is attacked and the lieutenant viciously tortured and killed, the men are convinced that Peck had ulterior motives and pin the death on his shoulders. Revenge looms on the horizon when Peck hand selects a patrol for a suicidal mission holding off the avenging Apache chief at a deserted fort nearby. Among the film's he-man contingent are Ward Bond, Gig Young, Lon Chaney, Jr., Neville Brand, Jeff Corey and Steve Brodie, all delivering topnotch performances. Gordon Douglas (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye) directed this exciting western which features beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Lionel Lindon (The Manchurian Candidate) and a rousing score by legendary composer Franz Waxman (Sunset Boulevard).