He's got it in him to be a greater chief than Cochise, or a worse devil than Geronimo.
Spent Christmas morning thrilling to the adventures of Taza, Son of Cochise. Released in 1954, it was director Douglas Sirk's only western (a genre he reportedly loved) and only his second collaboration with actor Rock Hudson, who plays Taza. Unusual in that the film is largely told from the point of view of the Apaches, it shows them of two minds after Cochise's death since he was the one who made peace with the white man. New chief Hudson is all for keeping the peace, but his younger brother Naiche (Bart Roberts) is ready to go on the warpath and join up with Geronimo (Ian MacDonald). Meanwhile, Hudson plans to marry pretty squaw Oona (Barbara Rush), but her strict father Grey Eagle (Morris Ankrum) is dead set against giving her away to someone he considers a traitor to their people. His resistance is further bolstered when an incident forces the hand of the new man in charge of Fort Apache (Gregg Palmer), who receives orders to move Hudson's tribe to a reservation. Hudson isn't prepared to go without a fight, though.
If one can get past the idea of Rock Hudson and other caucasian actors in brownface, Taza, Son of Cochise isn't a bad film at all. As a matter of fact, its treatment of its Native American characters is downright progressive and rather nuanced. Even the ones like Geronimo, Naiche and Grey Eagle who wish to break the peace treaty have legitimate gripes, their mistrust of the white man (represented by Palmer's Captain Burnett) well-founded. Still, when the calvary comes a-calling and is ambushed by the renegades, it's Taza who comes riding to the rescue. The way he sees it, that's what Cochise would have wanted.