Chuka (DVD)

Rod Taylor (The Birds, The Time Machine) rides onto the screen in top form as CHUKA, a heroic gunslinger who attempts to encourage peace between a desperate tribe of Arapaho Indians and a regiment of indifferent, misfit soldiers guarding a nearby fort. Chuka (Taylor) arrives at the besieged outpost hoping to persuade both its unbending commander (Gandhi's John Mills) and his men to overcome their hatred of the Indians -- and end their own squabbling -- in order to prevent an attack by the starving tribe. Ernest Borgnine (From Here to Eternity) as a hostile sergeant and James Whitmore (The Shawshank Redemption) as a gruff scout add to the tension in this two-fisted, hard-hitting Western co-produced by Taylor and directed by Gordon Douglas (Them!, The Detective, Robin and the 7 Hoods).

• western