Distant Drums

Distant Drums
Distant Drums
	Film poster
Directed by	Raoul Walsh
Written by	Niven Busch; Martin Rackin
Produced by	Milton Sperling
Starring	Gary Cooper; Richard Webb; Mari Aldon; Arthur Hunnicutt; Carl Harbaugh
Cinematography	Sidney Hickox
Edited by	Folmar Blangsted
Music by	Max Steiner
Production; company	United States Pictures
Distributed by	Warner Bros.; (theatrical); Paramount Pictures(via Republic Pictures); (current)
Release date	December 29, 1951 (United States);
Running time	101 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$2.85 million (US rentals)

Distant Drums is a 1951 American Florida Western film directed by Raoul Walsh and starring Gary Cooper. It is set during the Second Seminole War in the 1840s, with Cooper playing an Army captain who destroys a fort held by the Spanish gunrunners then retreats into the Everglades while pursued.

The actual location of the fort in the film was the historic Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, Florida, where most of the filming took place.

The enduring legacy of the film is that it contains the earliest known use of the Wilhelm scream sound effect, originally used to vocalize a character being bitten by an alligator.^[2]

Plot

In 1840, U.S. Army General Zachary Taylor sends out naval Lieutenant Tufts and scout Monk to a remote Florida island home, where the reclusive Captain Quincy Wyatt lives with a 5-year-old son.

The soldiers' mission is to destroy an old Spanish fort used by gunrunners, and rescue men and women taken prisoner by Seminole warriors. One of them, Judy Beckett, develops a romantic attraction to Capt. Wyatt as they flee the Natives into the Everglades.

Most of the other Army troops are massacred after Wyatt and Tufts separate from them to construct canoes. Back at his home, Wyatt is distraught to find that his son is gone. He has an underwater fight to the death with Seminole chief Ocala, then is relieved to learn that his boy is safe.

Cast

Gary Cooper as Captain Quincy Wyatt
Richard Webb as Lieutenant Tufts
Mari Aldon as Judy Beckett
Arthur Hunnicutt as Monk
Carl Harbaugh as Duprez
Ray Teal as Private Mohair
Robert Barrat as General Zachary Taylor
Bob Burns as Indian Boy (uncredited)
Larry Carper as Chief Ocala (uncredited)

Notes

^ "Top Box-Office Hits of 1952", Variety, January 7, 1953
^ Lee, Steve (2005-05-17). "The WILHELM Scream". hollywoodlostandfound.net. Retrieved 2009-06-23.

External links

Distant Drums at IMDb
Distant Drums at AllMovie

[1] "Top Box-Office Hits of 1952", Variety, January 7, 1953

[2] Lee, Steve (2005-05-17). "The WILHELM Scream". hollywoodlostandfound.net. Retrieved 2009-06-23.

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