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Prior to Johnny Fire cloud, we had Jack Starrett’s ‘Vittorio!’, Cry Blood, Apache (1970) begins with an elderly Pitcairn (Joel McCrea) taking a solitary journey in the desert. As he reaches his destination, the viewer is shown a series of tragic events that took place during his youth. The opening of the movie features the delightful scene of a group of Native Americans reveling with outlaws through singing while drinking and dancing. While reveling, one of the natives stumbles and unearths a a small pile of gold nuggets. Out of greed, the outlaws start beating the natives for to explain where they unearthed the gold. They are merciless, leaving only two women alive; one of which is beaten to death. Coachella (Carolyn Stellar of Devil Times Five), the last surviving women, agrees to take the band to the gold. Not long after breaking camp, the sole Apache, Vittorio (Dan Kemp), comes across the gruesome scene and his reaction indicates that the deceased were likely his relatives. He sets off to find the men responsible, inflicting a slow painful death to all but one of them, Pitcairn.
When we are ranking great Westerns, Cry Blood, Apache does not fare very well. But when it comes to Jack Starrett’s anger movies, it works quite well. Most of the action happens much later in the film. Much of the plot of this movie consists of the little band wandering around the desert saying ‘Are we there yet?’ They don’t really do much except star in a few veteran exploitation/biker films that, if you squint hard enough, give Starrett a decent film. “The Deacon” an outlaw with internal struggles who speaks to the bible is played by Starrett himself. He repeatedly tells God that he will build a church for him if God assists him in finding gold. In one scene, one of the armed Indians is quoted a scripture. Once Starrett is finished, he scalps the Indian saying, ‘That should be reimburse for the services, don’t you think?’
“Two Card Charlie” is also portrayed by none other than Robert Tessier. From 1967 to 1971, Tessier was active in seven biker films like Born Losers (1967) and garnered an uncredited part in Starrett’s Run Angel Run (1969). Even though Messier’s role in Cry Blood, Apache is slight, he does add some “biker” class to the mix.
The character of the younger Pitcalin is brought to life by Jody McCrea, the son of Joel McCrea, who was popular for his roles in Beach movies from the 1960s. By 1970, McCrea had made an appearance in The Glory Stompers (1968) and Scream Free! (1969). The latter is a Bill Brama directed biker/drugsploitation comedy featuring Casey Kasem. Dan Kemp, the actor who played the avenging Apache character Vittorio, also acted in Starrett’s Run, Angel, Run, The Losers and Al Adamson’s Hell’s Bloody Devils which came out on the same year.
Some of the inconsistencies in this movie are somewhat lessened by the fact that at the time of the filming, Starrett had a lot on his plate. According to Jack Starrett’s imdb, he had three films released in 1970, each a month apart. From The Losers in August, Cry Blood, Apache in September and one of his first TV movies Nightmare Chase in November. It’s uncertain when he filmed Cry Blood Apache, but considering these constraints, it’s safe to say it is a pretty good film.
It is true that this film is indeed a Western. However, the script is set over a hundred years before the invention of the internal combustion engine. Because of this, the only thing stopping the film from being a biker film is the set design. If you can ignore the painfully slow buildup to the plot accompanied by a really terrible knife fight near the conclusion, and the constant shifts between a snowy setting and a non snowy, then you might find some amusement in this movie. Besides, it’s Jack Starrett!
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