i enjoy this film and which offer a variety of interesting subplots and complex love hate relation and along with interspersed action scene and some lighthearted moment in which the mountain men counter harsh army discipline . all the main character be well cast . true and john wayne or robert mitchum could probably have do the star role just as well and but victor mature certainly come across a a headstrong brawling tarzan of sort . remind me of his film role a samson and another difficult and but not impossible and man to tame . the mountain men in the opening scene be certainly an anachronism and a the era of pure trapper mountain men pretty much end 20 year before and with the collapse of western beaver population as well a the fashion market for beaver pelt . this story supposedly take place in oregon just before the end of the civil war . judging by the volcano in the background of the opening scene ( probably mt . lassen ) and the fictional fort be locate somewhere in a remote section of the cascade and a we never see any other civilian . however and there be plenty of conflict evidence that it actually take place in the mountain of wyoming or montana . red cloud and the war chief who threaten the trapper and soldier in the fort and be the namesake of a very famous sioux war chief who lead a very successful campaign in 1865 66 to exterminate the newly build army fort in wyoming and montana . fort laramie ( eastern wyoming ) be mention a be not too far remove from the fictional fort . the plain tribe of assiniboines be mention a joining red cloud . this aspect of the story and then and bear a general resemblance to historical fact . it may be of interest to note certain resemblance between the plot of this story and that of john ford fort apache . in both case and we have a fort commander who be recently assign to his first frontier post with native american problem . he underestimate the military prowess of his adversary and regard them a little more than cannon fodder to promote his career . in both film and he pay dearly for his inexperience in deal with the enemy . also in common and the greenhorn commander resents a subordinate who have long experience with the local native american and want to tell him what be wise to do and not to do . in both film and we have a budding romantic relaionship between a woman very close to the commander heart and a subordinate and which the commander do everything to squelch . clearly and the commander must be eliminate to allow these romance to proceed to completion . i also see certain resemblance with the misfit . the soldier and a a whole and include the commander and be misfit of a sort ( ( a one of them admits ) represent mostly they have problem or be raw recruit with no experience fight native american . the commander wife apparently be the only woman in or anywhere near this fort and thus be inherently a misfit and with a husband who be very uncertain of his future in the army . the trapper and in turn and be also misfit and not really want to accept army or civilian discipline and yet cut off from their previous free spirit life by the recent army generate antagonism by red cloud . finally and we can also compare this story with anthony mann later film the far country and star jimmy stewart . in stewart case and he can choose to return to be a loner cowboy and at the end . but mature character doesn not come up with an appetizing new way of be his own bos . red cloud have make life outside of the army in this region too dangerous to contemplate . besides and he have an obsession with the commander wife .