Chuka (film)

Chuka
Directed by	Gordon Douglas
Produced by	Jack Jason Rod Taylor
Written by	Richard Jessup Rod Tayor (uncredited)
Based on	novel by Richard Jessup
Starring	Rod Taylor Ernest Borgnine John Mills
Music by	Leith Stevens
Cinematography	Harold E. Stine
Studio	Rodlor
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	23 July 1967
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.7 million[1]

Chuka is a 1967 American western film starring Rod Taylor who also produced and worked on the screenplay.^[2] The film began a series of tough guy roles for Taylor. A story of honor, debt, and personal redemption, it was directed by Gordon Douglas and is based on 1961 novel by Richard Jessup,^[3] who also wrote the screenplay.^[4]

Plot

The film begins with a U.S. Army fort destroyed and burned as an army patrol combs the ruins for survivors, but everyone is dead. Held prisoner in the former commander's office is the Arapahoe war chief, Hanu, who led the raid. He will say very little. And all the searchers can find is a single grave and a Colt pistol left behind by a gunman Hanu remembers as a "quiet, lonely man..."

After finding the Arapahoes starving, a wandering gunman named Chuka (Rod Taylor) gives them the last of his food. "For the Children", he says. His gift impresses Hanu. Later, Chuka encounters a stagecoach with Mexican passengers Senora Veronica Kleitz (Luciana Paluzzi) and her niece Senorita Helena Chavez (Victoria Vetri ^[5]). The Arapahoes arrive, led by Hanu. Everyone is prepared for death, but Hanu recognizes Chuka and simply rides on.

Later, Chuka finds himself stranded in an isolated U.S. Army fort with the coach and passengers. The fort's second-in-comomand. Major Benson, asks the stage driver about the "saddle tramp" hanging around the stable and is told not to let him hear Benson calling him that, warning him: "That, Major, is a hired gun. He's called Chuka and he is fast. Awful fast."

The fort's commander, Colonel Stuart Valois (John Mills), is worried that the Arapahoes may have ambushed his overdue patrol and refuses to allow the civilians to leave. He sends out his scout Lou Trent (James Whitmore) to reconnoiter, but his horse returns without him.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that nearly everyone in the fort has a past they would rather forget. Before he became a hired gunman, Chuka was in love with Kleitz, but because he was only a lowly hired hand on her wealthy father's ranch, he was beaten and run off and she dutifully married a man selected by her father from their own social class. The soldiers are the dregs of the army. Valois was cashiered from the British Army for suspected cowardice for being drunk when his command was attacked. His second in command, Major Benson (Louis Hayward) is a card cheat, while Lieutenant Daly was acquitted of the charge of treason. Only Sergeant Otto Hansbach (Ernest Borgnine) is a first-rate soldier; he had served with then British Captain Valois in the Sudan and owes his life to Valois.

Chuka tries to renew the relationship with Kleitz, now a widow, but she tells him it is too late. He offers to take the two women to safety, but by the time Kleitz asks him to save her niece, the fort is under siege.

Chuka agrees (for $200) to sneak out and scout the enemy for Valois; in the process, he rescues Trent. Chuka then pleads with Valois to abandon the fort, since Hanu (Marco Lopez), the Arapahoe leader, only wants the supplies, but Valois is determined to find out if he really is a coward or not, even though he is hopelessly outnumbered. He has to put down an attempted mutiny, killing the ringleader Spivey (Michael Cole). That night, as they wait for the impending attack, Kleitz goes to Chuka, and they make love.

The next day, the Indians attack. Kleitz is killed early on, as is Valois; with his last words, the colonel mourns the fact that he was struck down too soon, never to learn if he was a coward. With nearly everyone else dead and himself seriously wounded, Chuka hides with Helena Chavez. The victorious Arapahoes take the supplies and leave. As they pass, Chuka has his pistol at Helena's head. ready to kill her to keep her from the Indians. But Hanu again recognizes him and rides one, letting them both live. The debt he owes this man is now paid in full.

We return to the present and learn about the grave and the gun. Of Chuka - and Helena - there is no sign, but the inference is that the gunman has put away his past and taken Helena away, paying his debt to Kleitz.

Reception

The film performed disappointingly at a box office and remains the only film to date on which Rod Taylor is credited as producer.^[6]

Cast

• Rod Taylor as Chuka (so named because, as a child, he hung around chuckwagons)
• Ernest Borgnine as Sergeant Otto Hansbach
• John Mills as Colonel Stuart Valois
• Luciana Paluzzi as Veronica Kleitz
• James Whitmore as Lou Trent
• Victoria Vetri as Helena Chavez (as Angela Dorian)
• Louis Hayward as Major Benson
• Michael Cole as Spivey
• Hugh Reilly as Captain Carrol
• Barry O'Hara as Slim, the cook
• Joseph Sirola as Baldwin
• Marco Lopez as Hanu (as Marco Antonio)
• Gerald York as Lieutenant Daly
• Herlinda Del Carmen as Indian Girl, who is brought in to sleep with Benson; she later stabs him to death
• Lucky Carson as Stage Driver

Notes

1. ^ Stephen Vagg, Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood, Bear Manor Media 2010 p 125
2. ^ http://www.rodtaylorsite.com/chuka.shtml
3. ^ http://brokentrails.blogspot.com/2009/02/fridays-forgotten-book-chuka-by-richard.html
4. ^ pp.214-218 Herzberg, Bob Savages and Saints: The Changing Image of American Indians in Westerns 2008 McFarland
5. ^ http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/627/Victoria+Vetri/index.html
6. ^ Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood, Bear Manor Media 2010 p 125

External links

• Chuka (film) at the Internet Movie Database
• Chuka (film) at the TCM Movie Database