In 1878, Ward Kinsman, a prospector and Indian scout, is persuaded by the US Cavalry to find Mary Carlyle, the daughter of a general, who has been taken by Apaches.In 1878, Ward Kinsman, a prospector and Indian scout, is persuaded by the US Cavalry to find Mary Carlyle, the daughter of a general, who has been taken by Apaches.In 1878, Ward Kinsman, a prospector and Indian scout, is persuaded by the US Cavalry to find Mary Carlyle, the daughter of a general, who has been taken by Apaches.
Ray Bennett
- Headquarters Orderly
- (uncredited)
Archie Butler
- Trooper
- (uncredited)
Charles Cane
- Trooper Al
- (uncredited)
Lane Chandler
- Doc Horton
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
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Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAmbush (1950) was the last picture completed by Sam Wood, whose career stretched back to 1920. The Academy Award®-nominated director of Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Kitty Foyle (1940), and Kings Row (1942) finished work on this picture in September 1949 and was starting pre-production on No Sad Songs for Me (1950), starring Margaret Sullavan, when he was suddenly stricken with a heart attack in the offices of the Motion Picture Alliance, an organization he founded in 1944 to ferret out communists and their sympathizers in the film industry. Although known as an even-tempered and open-minded man for most of his life, Wood in his later years became increasingly vehement and conservative in his political activity, which his daughter, K.T. Stevens, said helped contribute to his death at the age of 65 on September 22, 1949.
- Quotes
Ward Kinsman: Did you ever figure that maybe I won't get back?
Lt. Linus Delaney: You'll make it. People only die when they have something to live for.
Ward Kinsman: I know. That's why I'm a little worried...for the first time.
Featured review
ambush
For those who may have wondered what "Fort Apache" and, to a lesser extent, "The Searchers" might have looked like had they been directed by someone with roughly half the talent of John Ford, you now have your answer. In other words, "Ambush" is a too slow paced western with occasional flashes of interest that you cease to think about almost as soon as it is done. Its good points can be rather quickly summarized: sardonically intelligent dialogue by Marguerite Roberts, one of the better western scribes and one of the only women doing it, well executed battle scenes from director Sam Wood, whose last film this is (guy had a fatal coronary less than a year later, obviously worn out by decades of red baiting and commie hunting), and a good, hard bitten, low key performance from Rat Fink Bob. Its flaws, centered around an under developed love triangle between Taylor, Arlene Dahl and John Hodiak, as well as the standard racist depiction of Apaches, are too many to mention, although I feel I must single out the really dull sub plot involving a lieutenant played by Don Taylor, one of late 40s Hollywood's duller young actors, and an enlisted man's wife, played by the usually good, but not here, Jean Hagen. Oh and the cinematography is so dark that you feel you're watching an exercise in how not to shoot western noir. C plus.
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- mossgrymk
- Jan 21, 2023
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Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,754,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 30 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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