Flaming Star (1960)

The Kiowa have a new chief who has vowed to rid their land of all Whites. Sam Burton is married to a First-Peoples wife and has one son with her. He has also another son, from a previous marriage to a White woman. Their family faces difficult questions of identity which will translate in decisions of allegiance.

With the 60s a crucial era of transformations in America's inter-ethnic relations was being launched. Hollywood was a staunch promoter of the liberal agenda, and sometimes resorted to Westerns to convey its message in a safelier fashion. With integration, inevitably would come the problem of miscegenation, and its consequences. This film deals with some of these problems, and does it well, despite its political bias. The half-breed character exemplifies what happens to a society when races mix: allegiance to immediate family trumps allegiance to an ethnicity, thus atomizing a nation or community. There are some smart turns of the script which push the character into one side of his biological inheritance (in this case, the Kiowa), only to later restore him to his initial leanings toward his next of kin. An interesting film, and entertaining too.

Seen in pan-and-scan.

Rating: 55