Yellowstone Kelly

The late 1870s. Luther Kelly, a fur trapper and army scout, is allowed to set his traps in Sioux territory because he saved the life of the Sioux chief Gall years earlier. The army now wants him to scout the region. Kelly reluctantly takes on a green assistant, and the two end up caring for a wounded Arapaho woman, Wahleeah. Who she stays with becomes an issue for the army and for the Sioux alike. Directed by Gordon Douglas, the western is adapted from a novel by Clay Fisher; Luther Kelly was a real scout and Gall a real Sioux chief. The way the film draws Native peoples belongs to its period: the woman is largely treated as a matter in dispute. The Sioux side is nonetheless not presented as a straightforward enemy, and Kelly stands as someone caught between the two.