A potentially powerful story gets diluted a bit too much in Walk the Proud Land, a based-on-real-life Western. Not that Land is a bad film; it's simply an average picture that could have been significantly better. Part of the problem is that Gil Doud and Jack Sher's screenplay spends too much time concentrating on the home life of its leading character, rather than on the real specifics of his major accomplishment: finding Geronimo and convincing him to surrender, thus making possible a peace (however temporary it ultimately was) between settlers and the Apache tribes. The latter, real-to-life story has surprises and drama; the former "home life" story is tired and not very convincing. Star Audie Murphy, not t]an actor of the greatest range, also seems more at home when dealing with the "Indian problem" than with the personal life drama. Despite these flaws, there are some very good things in Land, including a young and quite stunning Anne Bancroft as the Apache widow who longs for Murphy. Tommy Rall also leads an interesting tribal ceremony, and the Technicolor photography is quite eye catching.