A handsomely made, above-average Western, with an intelligent script that is surprisingly sympathetic to the American Indian cause and customs for a mid-1950s movie, portraying the Sioux as upright members of a well-ordered community. Clearly in his element, a young Kirk Douglas gives a stalwart, energised turn as a hardened scout conducting a wagon train to Oregon across Indian territory. But, breaking the film's scrupulously PC nature, Italian model Elsa Martinelli, is oddly cast and uncomfortable as Sioux chief's daughter Onahti, though she enjoys a then thought to be sensational sexy bathing scene. Walter Matthau is great as a scheming settler in a plumb role from his early days as a movie baddie. In the support cast is Douglas' real-life ex-wife (Diana, mother of Michael).

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