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There's not a lot that stands out about New Mexico, a fairly standard cavalry-Indians type of Western. However, it is worth noting that, for a film made in 1951, there's more violence than one usually encounters in such films. New Mexico is at its best during its action sequences, when Irving G. Reis' direction is at its most assured. While these are not among the great fight scenes of all time, they are handled with a definite flair and pack a very decent degree of excitement and thrills. In between these scenes, unfortunately, there's a conventional script with unoriginal dialogue and stereotyped characters to contend with. Fortunately, Reis has at his command a good, if not stellar, line-up of actors. Lew Ayres does extremely well as the lead, especially considering that the part is not as developed as he makes on believe it is. He gets able support from lovely Marilyn Maxwell, as well as the dependable Raymond Burr and Andy Devine, among others. Throw in some nice color photography, and the end result is passable if unexceptional.