| Only the Valiant | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Gordon Douglas |
| Produced by | William Cagney |
| Written by | Screenplay Edmund H. North and Harry Brown Novel Charles Marquis Warren |
| Starring | Gregory Peck Barbara Payton Ward Bond Gig Young Lon Chaney, Jr. Neville Brand Jeff Corey Michael Ansara |
| Music by | Franz Waxman |
| Cinematography | Lionel Lindon |
| Editing by | Walter Hannemann Robert S. Seiter |
| Distributed by | Warner Brothers Pictures |
| Release date(s) | April 13, 1951 |
| Running time | 105 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Only the Valiant is a 1951 western film produced by William Cagney (younger brother of James Cagney), directed by Gordon Douglas and starring Gregory Peck and Barbara Payton. The screenplay was written by Edmund H. North and Harry Brown, based on the 1943 novel of the same name by Charles Marquis Warren.
Contents |
Gregory Peck, in a role he considered a low-point of his career, plays Captain Richard Lance, a by-the-book West Point graduate who is not very popular with the men under his command.
The conflict in the story arises when Captain Lance assigns a popular officer, Lieutenant Holloway, to lead a small group of men while escorting a prisoner to a nearby fort. The prisoner is Tucsos, the leader of a nearby Apache tribe, and the Apaches will stop at nothing to get him back. Lieutenant Holloway ends up dead, and the men at the fort blame Captain Lance. They believe that his decision to assign Lieutenant Holloway to the dangerous mission was a personal one (both Lance and Holloway were vying for the affection of the same woman).
Lance's standing with the soldiers at the fort only gets worse when he assembles a group of misfit cavalrymen to hold off rampaging Indians at a narrow mountain pass, which is considered to be a suicide mission.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Gregory Peck | Captain Richard Lance |
| Barbara Payton | Cathy Eversham |
| Ward Bond | Corporal Timothy Gilchrist |
| Gig Young | Lieutenant Bill Holloway |
| Lon Chaney, Jr. | Trooper Kebussyan ("the Ay-rab") |
| Neville Brand | Sergeant Ben Murdock |
| Jeff Corey | Joe Harmony |
| Warner Anderson | Trooper Rutledge |
| Steve Brodie | Trooper Onstot |
| Dan Riss | Lieutenant Jerry Winters |
| Terry Kilburn | Trooper Saxton |
| Herbert Heyes | Colonel Drumm |
| Art Baker | Captain Jennings |
| Michael Ansara | Tucsos |
| Nana Bryant | Mrs. Drumm |
| David Clarke | guardhouse sentry (uncredited) |
| John Doucette | sergeant (uncredited) |