Tuesday, November 03, 2015

Overlooked Movies: Fort Ti

A couple of weeks ago I talked about how I liked to go to movies when I was on vacation as a kid and how impressed I was at age 10 by The Frogmen.  When I was 11 or 12 (I don't remember whether it was early summer or late summer), my aunt and grandmother took us to Galveston instead of Corpus Christi, and the movie I got to see was Fort Ti, in glorious Technicolor and 3D.  I couldn't find a trailer for the movie, but I did find the whole movie, so I embedded it above.  You should watch the opening and try to imagine how impressive that was in 3D.  It was great.  Trust me.

George Montgomery plays Jed Horn, a member of Rogers' Rangers, and the setting is the French and Indian Wars.  There's a complicated plot that involves multiple betrayals and lies, but what really matters is that there's plenty of action with tomahawks, knives, and cannonballs appearing to fly from the screen.  It was called by some reviewers “the throwingest picture yet. What I mainly remember about the first time I saw the movie is my grandmother yelling, "Get away from me!" as an Indian seemed to stalk off the screen and right into the theater seats.  My grandmother was quite a character, and I don't know to this day if she was serious or just kidding.

There's also a romance in the picture, and what red-blooded 11- or 12-year-old boy could resist a beautiful woman named Fortune Mallory?  Not me, especially when there was lot of shooting going on around her.

Since I was just a kid, I didn't care about things like historical accuracy, and I'm sure the movie didn't care, either.  It was produced by Sam Katzman and directed by William Castle, and that should tell you film buffs all you need to know.

10 comments:

Jeff Meyerson said...

Not only have I never seen it but - like that FROGMEN movie - I'd never heard of it before.

Jeff

Tom Johnson said...

Fort Ti was the first 3D movie I saw as a kid. I remember those arrows coming right out out the screen at us. Wow.

Unknown said...

Great 3D in this one, all right, Tom.

Jeff, your life is the poorer for having missed this classic of the cinema.

Jeff Meyerson said...

I can see that.

Max Allan Collins said...

I wish this would come out on Blu-ray 3D. The best 3D discs have been the old movies -- CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON, HOUSE OF WAX. A spaghetti era (albeit late in the cycle) western in 3-D is coming on Blu-ray soon.

Of course the holy grail 3-D Blu-ray for me will almost certainly never happen: I, THE JURY.

I know the 3-D TV and discs have only done so-so in the USA, but we've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of the one we put in my office.

Ed Gorman said...

Another 3-D my brother Danny and I saw in the theater. Remember the flaming arrows too but mostly I remember how pretty the woman was .Another one of those useless ,movie crushes.To me It CameFrom Out of Space was still the best of the 3 Ds.

Max Allan Collins said...

I meant to say the western that's coming out is COMIN' AT YA.

Unknown said...

I like my 3-D TV a lot. Wouldn't mind at all having I, THE JURY in that format.

Unknown said...

Katzman & Castle made a good team... I'm not saying they made any great movies, but they were a good team.

Max Allan Collins said...

I saw I, THE JURY in 3-D in London maybe seven or eight years ago when they did a Spillane festival (Mickey was there) including my documentary, MIKE HAMMER'S MICKEY SPILLANE. I have always like Biff Elliott as Mike Hammer and that whole movie in general -- Velda depiction is great, the Bradbury Building setting fantastic, and then there's Peggie Castle.

But the John Alton 3-D photography is wonderful. Very little jumping out, but lots and lots of depth, enhancing the noir mood.