Run of the Arrow
With Rod Steiger, Sarita Montiel, Brian Keith.
US, 1957, 35mm, color, 86 min.
Print source: Warner Bros
A bold retelling of American history that reveals the Civil War as a still-open wound haunting and defining the imagination of the US, Run of the Arrow opens on the last day of the war between the States as a haggard Southern "rebel" shoots the last bullet of the devastating conflict. Despite his strangely uncertain Irish-Southern-Brooklyn accent and Actor's Theater ticks, Rod Steiger is mesmerizing as the Southerner who refuses to capitulate and heads West to seek out the Native Americans still proudly free of the shackles of imposed nationality. Fuller's courageous and gripping scrutiny of race, prejudice and patriotism was, once again, far bolder than anything Hollywood had seen, and the film, as a result, was woefully misunderstood and neglected. In typical fashion, the fragrantly and clumsily plagiarized Kevin Costner version, years later, was garnished with Oscar trophies. The closing admonition of Run of the Arrow—“The End of this film depends on you”—resonates today with its powerful reminder of still-unsettled race and class tensions that, Fuller suggests, are seemingly ingrained in American soil.
Part of film series
Screenings from this program
Pickup on South Street
The Crimson Kimono
The Naked Kiss
Underworld U.S.A.
The Baron of Arizona
Merrill's Marauders
House of Bamboo
Fixed Bayonets!
Forty Guns
Dead Pigeon on Beethoven Street
A Fuller Life
Run of the Arrow
Street of No Return
The Steel Helmet
The Big Red One
Shock Corridor
Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made
