You have to put aside the 1950s production values, over-long horse-riding long-shots, and just forget the male supporting cast (except the wonderful Audie Murphy) : they are rather clichéd; concentrate on enjoying the entire female ensemble performance: they really do produce an incredible performance; slightly reminiscent to me of The Big Red One. Love Triangle: Frank's affections are split between his childhood sweetheart Stella Leatham, who married a Confederate soldier after Frank left to go fight for the Union, and Anne Martin, a spitfire tomboy he first meets when he's warning everyone. As heroic characters having an extramarital affair was a no-no in a 1957 American movie, Anne wins Frank's heart in the end, while he tells Stella that the two of them together would be wrong.

My TV Guide, with which I sometimes find myself in agreement, gave this three stars out of four and I thought, "Why not?" It wasn't a masterpiece. It had no poetry. It was worth three stars, I guess, if you consider the genre -- inexpensive Western with no bankable big stars. But, really, the plot is rudimentary and derivative. By 1957 the war movies had played themselves out, but this film simply transposes the story of a small heroic band of soldiers finally triumphing over a horde of savage enemy soldiers, only in this case the heroic soldiers are all women and the savage enemy is the Comanche instead of the Japanese or Germans. Asshole Victim: Emmet Kettle is a despicable coward and manipulator, so it's not very sad when he runs into three outlaws and gets murdered by them after he (falsely) convinces them there's gold in the town he left behind.Many of the same elements populate both movies, particularly in how the man trains the women, who grow beyond his tutelage (and leadership) after overcoming difficult odds, but "Fort Petticoat" manages to come up with a few new turns of its own. It's the Civil War period and Colonel Chivington has just wiped out an Indian village. This brutality puts the white man in disfavor with the Comanche and provides them with a revenge motive. Lieutenant Audie Murphy deserts his command and rides to Texas to warn the settlers. He winds up at a decrepit mission in the middle of nowhere. It's occupied only by about two dozen women and a few kids. Murphy's job? To whip these women out of their winsome civilian ways and make soldiers out of them. Pryor was married to Susanne Wellman, and they had three children. [2] Both of them were artists whose work was displayed in North Carolina's State Art Gallery for several years. [4]

In July 1955 Murphy announced he would make the film, which then had the working title Petticoat Brigade, after The World in My Corner and a biopic of Charles Marion Russell. He called the movie a "Destry-style Western." [4]

Tropes:

When Col. Chivington launches the Sand Creek Massacre, Lt. Frank Hewitt (Audie Murphy) deserts, convinced the massacre will start an Indian war that will threaten his home-state of Texas. He died of cancer on May 27, 1958, in Hollywood, California at age 37. [8] Filmography [ edit ] Year

Hewitt’s return makes Stella realize she doesn’t really love the Rebel soldier she married after Hewitt marched off to join the Union Army. Anne soon develops strong feelings for her commanding officer as well.a b c d "Little theatre names director". The News and Observer. North Carolina, Raleigh. August 10, 1947. p.4 . Retrieved April 15, 2022. On television, Pryor portrayed Dr. William Beaumont in the "Who Search for Truth" episode of Medic (1956). [6] He also appeared in the series' Ford Star Jubilee, Steve Donovan, Western Marshal, Lux Video Theatre, Front Row Center, You Are There, Medic, Wire Service, Sheriff of Cochise, Meet McGraw, Sugarfoot, Gunsmoke (In 1957 as “Cole Yankton”, an outlaw who had been Kitty’s first love in S3E4’s Kitty’s Outlaw”), Suspicion, Cheyenne, Studio One, General Electric Theater, Playhouse 90 and The Adventures of Hiram Holliday. [7] Personal life and death [ edit ]

It's a Brilliant Manipulation with Unexpected and Overwhelming Entertainment. This One Rises to the Top of the Decades Fixation on the Genre. His command includes a former girlfriend named Stella, a spunky brunette named Anne, a religious woman named Cora, an older southern belle named Charlotte, an unmarried pregnant woman named Mary, and a tough-as-nails older woman named Hannah, who has outlived three husbands and earns the rank of “sergeant.” An earlier reviewer writes that the title of this Audie Murphy oater suggests a comedy--"F Troop" meets "Petticoat Junction." He can be forgiven this wit since both of those sitcom inanities post-date this western by many years. Pryor's early entertainment activities came in radio when he worked as an announcer at stations in New Haven, Connecticut, and New York City. He also was program director at WJPR radio in Greenville, Mississippi. [3] Stage [ edit ] After a lot of convincing he's got himself a female troop that proves themselves quite worthy standing up to Indians and renegade white men.He gets some good support here from that distaff group of players assembled at the old mission where they have to stand off the Cheyenne. Hope Emerson is the second in command and as always Hope is a formidable presence on the screen. Dirty Coward: Emmett is the only capable man left in the town and he does everything he can to get out of participating in its defense, up to convincing one of the women of his affections and then heartlessly throwing her off after she helps him escape prison. The working title of the film was Petticoat Brigade; screenwriter and television director Walter Doniger was originally set to have directed the film. [6] There are four nasty men in this film as well. Sean McClory plays a no good rat of a human being who's impregnated Jeff Donnell and runs out on her. Then there are three of the nastiest outlaws you'd ever want to meet in James Griffith, Nestor Paiva, and Ray Teal. Audie and the women have to deal with them also.