A Thunder of Drums

1961 film by Joseph M. Newman

A Thunder of Drums

Official VHS cover

Directed by| Joseph Newman
Written by| James Warner Bellah
Based on| Command
1946 story in The Saturday Evening Post
by James Warner Bellah
Starring| Richard Boone
George Hamilton
Luana Patten
Arthur O'Connell
Cinematography| William Spencer
Edited by| Ferris Webster
Music by| Harry Sukman
Color process| Metrocolor

Production
company

Robert J. Enders Productions

Distributed by| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Release date

* September 26, 1961 (1961-09-26) (New York City)

Running time

| 97 minutes
Country| United States
Language| English
Box office| $1 million[1]

A Thunder of Drums is a 1961 American CinemaScope Western film directed by Joseph Newman and starring Richard Boone, George Hamilton, Luana Patten and Arthur O'Connell. The screenwriter James Warner Bellah adapted it from his 1946 short story "Command".

## Plot

[edit]

In 1870 1st Lt. Curtis McQuade (Hamilton), a cavalry officer without field experience, arrives from the East at Fort Canby in Arizona, the remote, understaffed post where he was born as the son of the then-post commander. He attempts to adjust to this new life under the once-disgraced Captain Maddocks (Boone), a wily but embittered veteran of Indian fighting who served under McQuade's father. They immediately clash when Maddocks demonstrates to the cocksure McQuade that the general knowledge of the West he gained as a child at Canby is not enough to permit him to command men in the field.

On the day McQuade reports, Maddocks is burying four troopers from a patrol led by Lt. Porter (Chamberlain), killed in a running fight with a large band of "hostiles" believed to be Comanches. They have also brought back a severely traumatized little girl, the only survivor of the massacre of a family at a distant ranch. The funeral casts gloom on the otherwise festive visit of Tracey Hamilton, also from the East and soon to wed Maddocks' second-in-command, Lt. Tom Gresham (Douglas). McQuade had previously been romantically involved with Tracey and immediately renews their affair. Gresham is assigned to lead another patrol to the suspected location of the hostiles but on the evening of his departure discovers the affair and an ugly scene ensues.

When Maddocks learns the next day that Gresham deviated from his orders, he leads McQuade and the troop in search of him without success. Finally one night they discover the bodies of Gresham and his men when they stop to bivouac. McQuade is shaken that his indiscretion may have caused Gresham to be dispirited and unwary but Maddocks is more pragmatic, disgusted that Gresham allowed himself to be fatally distracted. Prohibited by standing orders from conducting a retaliatory attack, Maddocks divides what is left of his troop, sending McQuade and nine men, including wise and seasoned 1st Sgt. Rodermill (O'Connell), to a nearby mesa as bait to lure the hostile band into attacking first.

The tactic works but McQuade's small group is hard-pressed by their attackers. Maddocks arrives with the main body in time to win the engagement but Rodermill is killed. McQuade discovers that their opponents were not Comanches at all, but Apaches, which Maddocks knew all along, having learned to "out-think them all." Maddocks is satisfied that a change in McQuade's attitude means that he is on the road to becoming a good officer. Upon his return to Canby, McQuade finds Tracey leaving, taking the little girl to her relatives in the East. After telling him that he lost his wife and young daughters to smallpox, Maddocks consoles McQuade with the thought that bachelors make the best soldiers because "they have nothing to lose but their loneliness."

## Cast

[edit]

* Richard Boone as Captain Stephen Maddocks
* George Hamilton as Lieutenant Curtis McQuade
* Luana Patten as Tracey Hamilton
* Arthur O'Connell as Sergeant Karl Rodermill
* Charles Bronson as Trooper Hanna
* Richard Chamberlain as Lieutenant Porter
* James Douglas as Lieutenant Thomas Gresham
* Tammy Marihugh as Laurie Detweiler
* Carole Wells as Camden Yates
* Duane Eddy as Trooper Eddy
* Slim Pickens as Trooper Erschick
* Clem Harvey as Trooper Denton
* Casey Tibbs as Trooper Baker
* Irene Tedrow as Mrs. Scarborough
* Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Yates
* J. Edward McKinley as Captain Alan Scarborough

Uncredited

* Frank Gerstle as Trooper Drortmander
* Carol Henry as Trooper Hart

## Production

[edit]

The film starred a number of young actors under contract to MGM including George Hamilton, Richard Chamberlain, Carole Wells and James Douglas.[2]

George Hamilton made the movie "to avoid the Ivy curse" and play a different kind of role.[3]

The movie is notable for starring three well-known actors in relatively minor roles. Charles Bronson of Death Wish fame and rock musician Duane Eddy star as troopers, while Richard Chamberlain portrays Lieutenant Porter. Slim Pickens and Arthur O'Connell also had roles.

It was Robert Enders' first movie as an independent producer for MGM.[4]

A Thunder of Drums is the second time the story hit the moving pictures. "The Best of the Post, season 1, episode 1, Command"[5] (hard to find but available online), told the same story with more familiar names.

## Box office

[edit]

According to MGM records, the film recorded a loss of $42,000.[6]

## See also

[edit]

* List of American films of 1961

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "1961 Rentals and Potential". Variety. January 10, 1961. p. 58.
2. ^ Scheuer, Philip K. (February 24, 1961). "Young MGM Stars Cast for New Films: Burton and Mason 'Dig' Dylan; Glenn Ford Will Make Classic". Los Angeles Times. p. 22.
3. ^ George Hamilton & William Stadiem, Don't Mind If I Do, Simon & Schuster 2008 p 149
4. ^ A.H. WEILER (September 25, 1961). "MOVIE TO RELATE STORY OF A HORSE: Bob Hope May Play Role of 'Snowman's' Rescuer". New York Times. p. 39.
5. ^ ""The Best of the Post" Command (TV Episode 1960) - IMDb". IMDb.
6. ^ The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.

## External links

[edit]

* A Thunder of Drums at IMDb
* A Thunder of Drums at the TCM Movie Database
* A Thunder of Drums at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
* American Film Institute (1997). "A Thunder of Drums". The American Film Institute catalog of motion pictures produced in the United States. Vol. 1, pt. 2. University of California Press. p. 1106\. ISBN 0-520-20970-2. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
* Blum, Daniel (1962). Screen World 1962. Biblio and Tannen. p. 80\. ISBN 0-8196-0303-1. Retrieved September 24, 2009. `{{cite book}}`: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
* Nielsen Business Media, Inc (April 24, 1961). "Dicourse". Billboard. p. 39. Retrieved September 24, 2009. `{{cite magazine}}`: `|author1=` has generic name (help)
* Hamilton, George; Stadiem, William (2008). Don't Mind If I Do. Simon and Schuster. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-4165-4507-1. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
* Lisanti, Tom (2003). Drive-in dream girls: a galaxy of B-movie starlets of the sixties. McFarland. p. 194\. ISBN 0-7864-1575-4. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
* Nielsen Business Media, Inc (May 8, 1961). "Talent Topics: Hollywood". Billboard. p. 5. Retrieved September 24, 2009. `{{cite magazine}}`: `|author1=` has generic name (help)
* Weiler, A.H. (September 27, 1961). "A Thunder of Drums Comes to Capitol". The New York Times. Retrieved September 24, 2009.
* The Best of the Post at IMDb
* The Best of the Post at CVTA with list of episodes

* v
* t
* e

Films directed by Joseph M. Newman

* Northwest Rangers (1942)
* Diary of a Sergeant (1945, short)
* Jungle Patrol (1948)
* The Great Dan Patch (1949)
* Abandoned (1949)
* 711 Ocean Drive (1950)
* The Guy Who Came Back (1951)
* Love Nest (1951)
* I'll Get You for This (1951)
* Pony Soldier (1952)
* Red Skies of Montana (1952)
* The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
* Dangerous Crossing (1953)
* The Human Jungle (1954)
* This Island Earth (1955)
* Kiss of Fire (1955)
* Flight to Hong Kong (1956)
* Death in Small Doses (1957)
* Fort Massacre (1958)
* The Gunfight at Dodge City (1959)
* The Big Circus (1959)
* Tarzan, the Ape Man (1959)
* A Thunder of Drums (1960)
* Twenty Plus Two (1960)
* The Lawbreakers (1961)
* The Big Bankroll (1961)
* The George Raft Story (1962)

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