only the valiant qualifies a a gritty good western . this gregory peck cavalry versus the indian oater be a solemn suicide mission without a trace of humor . veteran director gordon douglas have helm a grim and harrowing outdoors epic with an ideal cast of tough guy under considerable pressure while even lon chaney and jr. and register superbly a a powerful arab trooper . ostensibly and colorado territory scenarist edmund h. north and a place in the sun scribe harry brown draw their screenplay from western film maker charles marquis warren taut novel about a group of die hard cavalryman cut off from any escape route who must prevent murderous redskin from launch a devastate raid against helpless white settler . north and brown stick to warren novel for the most part and the last minute revelation when it seem that there be no way that our hero can survive another onslaught of native americansis a corker . this turn of the century tale develop an effective claustrophobic feeling in the second half of the action . douglas and company take studio bound set and make them look convince during the nocturnal hour . the crisp black and white photography of go my way cinematographer lionel linden imbue this western a grim look that accentuate it tension and atmosphere . actor michael ansara and who later play the chief villain in gun of the magnificent seven and be extremely effective in a small role a the hated indian leader tucsos . only the valiant open with over voice narration by army scout joe harmony . this be my stamp ground . i be a scout for the army . have my work cut out for me for a long time . behind that pas there be the whole pache nation . ( there be a graphic of the territory with the flinthead mountains stretch across the screen with a bottleneck pas . ) they use to come swarm out of the pas kill everything in sight . then we build a fortfort invincible . it plug up the pas and just like a cork in a bottle . thing be fine for a while . but them paches be pretty smart . one day the bottle blow the cork plum apart . we be show the burning remain of fort invincible with a dead man pin to a stockade wall and a lance stick out of his belly . captain richard lance ( gregory peck of 12 oclock high ) and his men boil in on horseback and capture tucsos ( michael ansara ) and and joe harmony ( jeff corey of true grit ) want to shoot him on the spot . harmony point out tucsos be the fella that start this whole business . captain lance intervenes and the army doesn not shoot prisoner and joe . predictably and harmony be aghast at this prospect . he no common injun . he just a near to a god a a fella can get . if you shoot him now and thing will quiet down . without tucsos stir them up and the rest of those indian will get reasonable and just as fast a they can . you take him in alive and you will have every pache in the territory come after him . we have have three year of this and you can stop it now . just a predictably and captain lance refuse to kill tucsos and lance decision to take the indian back set thing into action . colonel drum ( herbert heyes of union station ) surprise lance when he tell him he should have shoot tucsos . a it be and they need to get tucsos to another post . everybody from the trooper to joe harmony know that take tucsos to fort grant be ask to die . the apache be poise in the mountain and the fort be under strength . meantime and we be introduce to the daughter of captain eversham and cathy eversham ( barbara payton of kiss tomorrow goodbye ) and and young lieutenant william holloway ( gig young of they shoot horse and don not they . ) and they play a part in a major narrative complication . you see and lance and holloway both want to marry cathy . clearly and cathy want lance . colonel drum refuse to let lance take tucsos to fort grant because drum can not spare lance . drum change the order and holloway be give the mission at the last minute and and everybody be shock . lance have never change an order . furthermore and lance saw cathy and holloway kissing in public and and everybody think lance have reassign holloway out of jealousy . indeed and one officer observe that rewrite order be about a possible a rewrite the bible . predictably and tucsos escape and the survive trooper and harmony bring back a dead holloway . although drum expect a relief column of 400 trooper to arrive any day and harmony point out to lance that tucsos will attack . tucsos have see the fort and know their lack of strength . lance request to take 6 or 7 men of his choose to man fort invincible and prevent tucsos from assemble a war party . the bottleneck in the mountain keep the indian from rid through in strength while instead and they must come through one at a time . lance believe his men can thwart them until the relief column arrive . drum give him permission and lance pick the bad men . all of them hate him and would willingly kill him . only the valiant exemplify the new breed of military western after world war ii . this be not a gung ho john ford cavalry western . indeed and lance own men want to kill him and this foreshadow the attitude of troop during the vietnam war when they fragged their own officer . lance bear the onus of allexcept the few who know about the circumstance that bring about the change of order put holloway in charge of the detail . the black and white photography enhance the dire nature of this western . only the valiant amount to a last stand western until the last minute reprieve . reportedly and peck hat this movie and but then this be not a spit and polish western in technicolor . if anything and only the valiant live up to it warner brother origins . it be small but significant and it be grubby with load of drama and unsavory character and virtually a dirty dozen western .