Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952) is an American quasi historical film directed by Felix E. Feist

Felix E. Feist

Felix Ellison Feist was a film and television director born in New York City.Feist was the son of MGM sales executive, Felix F. Fiest , and nephew of publishing house magnate, Leo Feist. He was educated at Columbia University...

. The drama features Lex Barker

Lex Barker

Lex Barker was an American actor best known for playing Tarzan of the Apes and leading characters from Karl May's novels.-Early life:...

, Helen Westcott

Helen Westcott

Helen Westcott was an American stage and screen actor and former child actor....

  and Lon Chaney Jr..

Plot

Conflict between Ottawa

Odawa people

The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...

 Native Americans

Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

, led by Chief Pontiac

Chief Pontiac

Pontiac or Obwandiyag , was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's...

, and the British.

Cast

• Lex Barker
  Lex Barker
  Lex Barker was an American actor best known for playing Tarzan of the Apes and leading characters from Karl May's novels.-Early life:...
  
   as Lt. Kent McIntire
• Helen Westcott
  Helen Westcott
  Helen Westcott was an American stage and screen actor and former child actor....
  
   as Winifred Lancaster
• Lon Chaney Jr. as Chief Pontiac
• Berry Kroeger
  Berry Kroeger
  Berry Kroeger was an American film, television, and stage actor.Born in San Antonio, Texas, Kroeger got his acting start on radio as an announcer and actor, playing for a time The Falcon and The Shadow...
  
   as Col. von Weber
• Roy Roberts
  Roy Roberts
  Roy Roberts was an American character actor. Over his more than 40-year career, he appeared in more than nine hundred productions on stage and screen.-Biography:...
  
   as Maj. Gladwin
• Larry Chance as Hawkbill
• Katherine Warren
  Katherine Warren
  Katherine Warren was an American film and television actress. She appeared in over 30 films and dozens of television programs including the TV series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the films Jailhouse Rock, The Glenn Miller Story, All the King's Men and The Caine Mutiny.-External links:...
  
   as Chia
• Ramsay Hill as Gen. Sir Jeffrey Amherst
• Guy Teague as Von Weber's aide
• James Fairfax as Guardhouse sentry
• Abner George as Doctor

Reception

Film critic Hans J. Wollstein gave the film a mixed review, writing, "Burly actor Lon Chaney, Jr. said that the role of Chief Pontiac

Chief Pontiac

Pontiac or Obwandiyag , was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's...

 in this cheap action-thriller from low-budget entrepreneur Jack Broder, was one he truly coveted. Unfortunately, Chaney and the rest of the cast were let down by a preachy and frankly dreadful screenplay by Jack de Witt...Battles of Chief Pontiac was filmed on location near Rapid City, South Dakota

Rapid City, South Dakota

Rapid City is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of South Dakota, and the county seat of Pennington County. Named after Rapid Creek on which the city is established, it is set against the eastern slope of the Black Hills mountain range. The population was 67,956 as of the 2010 Census. Rapid...

, and the scenery remains its only attractive feature."

External links

• Battles of Chief Pontiac film at Hulu
  Hulu
  Hulu is a website and over-the-top subscription service offering ad-supported on-demand streaming video of TV shows, movies, webisodes and other new media, trailers, clips, and behind-the-scenes footage from NBC, Fox, ABC, and Obstacle on October 20th 2011 Nickelodeon and CBS and many other...
  
  (free and complete)