Only the Valiant - DVD

Gregory Peck stars as rigid Cavalry captain Richard Lance, who alienates the men under his command after sending a popular young lieutenant on a suicide mission. Now, Lance must defend a deserted army fort from an impending Apache attack with only the help of a small group of angry soldiers who have to reluctantly rely on his tactical expertise to keep them alive. Barbara Payton, Gig Young, Ward Bond, Lon Chaney, Jr., Neville Brand co-star. 105 min. Standard; Soundtrack English.

Gregory Peck (The Gunfighter) is the hard-nosed leader of a rough group of cavalry soldiers, whose by-the-book actions alienate the men in his command. The company's dislike for Peck intensifies when he assigns a popular lieutenant to take his place on a dangerous mission delivering a captured Apache chief (Michael Ansara) across the barren desert to a stronger Army post. When the detail is attacked and the lieutenant viciously tortured and killed, the men are convinced that Peck had ulterior motives and pin the death on his shoulders. Revenge looms on the horizon when Peck hand selects a patrol for a suicidal mission holding off the avenging Apache chief at a deserted fort nearby. Among the film's he-man contingent are Ward Bond, Gig Young, Lon Chaney, Jr.., Neville Brand, Jeff Corey and Steve Brodie, all delivering topnotch performances. Gordon Douglas (Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye) directed this exciting western which features beautiful black-and-white cinematography by Lionel Lindon (The Manchurian Candidate) and a rousing score by legendary composer Franz Waxman (Sunset Boulevard).

The Three Mesquiteers was the umbrella title for a series of fifty-one B-westerns released between 1936 and 1943. The films featured the characters Stony Brooke, Tucson Smith and Lullaby Joslin or Rusty Joslin as the threesome; played by many B-western stars of that era. In 1938, John Wayne took over for Robert Livingston as Stony Brooke and starred in eight Mesquiteers films between 1938 and 1939, he was joined by Ray Corrigan as Tucson Smith and Max Terhune as Lullaby Joslin for the first six and Raymond Hatton as Rusty Joslin for the last two... all eight films were directed by George Sherman (Big Jake). John Ford's Stagecoach was perfectly sandwiched between the eight films and John Wayne portrayal of the outlaw gunfighter made him a superstar and ended Wayne's Stony Brooke run. Livingston was rehired as Brooke and went on to make fourteen more Mesquiteers films and for an incredible total of twenty-nine. Overland Stage Raiders (the second of eight Wayne Mesquiteers films) co-stars silent film icon, Louise Brooks (in her final performance) and Anthony Marsh as siblings who partner up with the three amigos to save their struggling airline, standing in their way is an evil business man and his band of outlaws.