

A group of confedarate prisoners is sent to a unionist fort in the west to help the local garrison to fight the indians.
Direction
Wise builds claustrophobic dread before a single arrow flies.
Acting
Cotten's simmering Confederate pride vs. Chandler's rigid honor code.
Writing
Prisoner-of-war thriller dressed in cowboy clothes—tight and mean.

Director
Robert Wise
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Shot on location at Fort Union, New Mexico, using actual 19th-century military ruins.
Released during the Korean War, its 'enemy cooperation' plot read as Cold War allegory to contemporary audiences.