| Chief Crazy Horse | |
| Director: | George Sherman |
| Producer: | William Alland |
| Story: | Gerald Drayson Adams |
| Starring: | Victor Mature Suzan Ball John Lund |
| Music: | Frank Skinner |
| Cinematography: | Harold Lipstein |
| Editing: | Al Clark |
| Color Process: | Technicolor |
| Studio: | Universal International Pictures |
| Distributor: | Universal Pictures |
| Runtime: | 86 minutes |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Gross: | $1.75 million (US/Canada rentals)[1] |
Chief Crazy Horse is a 1955 American CinemaScope Western film directed by George Sherman and starring Victor Mature, Suzan Ball and John Lund.[2] The film is a fictionalized biography of the Lakota Sioux Chief Crazy Horse. It was also known as Valley of Fury.
When young Crazy Horse (Victor Mature) wins his bride, rival Little Big Man (Ray Danton) goes to villainous traders with evidence of gold in the sacred Lakota burial ground. A new gold rush starts and old treaties are torn up. Crazy Horse becomes chief of his people, leading them to war at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.
Jeff Chandler was originally announced to play the lead.[3] Instead the part was given to Victor Mature. Filming began in June 1954, on location in Montana and Wyoming.[4] This was the final film of Suzan Ball who died of cancer four months after the film was released.
Bosley Crowther wrote that the film was "just a series of hit-and-holler clashes between the Indians and the United States Cavalry" and "[s]o monotonous, indeed, are these forays that when they finally get around to the famous slaughter of Custer's troop at the Little Big Horn it is just another routine episode--even though it is later mentioned as the great victory that the old chief prophesied".