Only the Valiant

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.

Plot

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.

Cast

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)

See also

• List of Western films: 1950-1954
• Wiard Ihnen - production designer
• Leah Rhodes - wardrobe
• Yakima Canutt - uncredited stunt coordinator

References

• Fishgall, Gary (2002). Gregory Peck: a biography. New York City: Simon & Schuster. pp. 156–158. ISBN 9780684852904. 
• Gevinson, Alan (1997). The AFI Catalog of Motion Pictures Produced in the United States. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 741–742. ISBN 9780520209640. 
• Haney, Lynn (2005). Gregory Peck: A Charmed Life. New York City: Carroll & Graf Publishers. pp. 197–201. ISBN 9780786716562. 
• Payton, Barbara (2004). I Am Not Ashamed. Los Angeles, California: Holloway House Publishing. ISBN 9780870671081. 

Further reading

• Warren, Charles Marquis (1943). Only the Valiant. New York City: The Macmillan Company. 

External links

• Only the Valiant at the Internet Movie Database
• Only the Valiant is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
• Only the Valiant at AllRovi
• DVD Review Review of the film & DVD at Vista Records
• DVD Review Review of the film & DVD at DVD Verdict