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1971 - 94 minutes - Western

Cast:
Lee Van Cleef............................Captain Apache
Carroll Baker...........................................Maude
Stuart Whitman........................................Griffin

Director:
Alexander Singer

Synopsis:
The words, "April Morning," are the only clue which Captain Apache has to the brutal murder of Indian Commissioner Ezekiel Collier. The Captain is a full blooded Apache assigned by Union Intelligence to investigate the slaying. Sheriff O. J. insists that he does not know their meaning.

Maude, a beautiful adventuress who is O. J.'s mistress, tries to get information from Apache. The pair goes to confront the Sheriff, to find him hanging from a rafter.

In a cantina just across the border which 0. J. used to visit, Apache is ambushed, kills his way out, and learns that the ambush was arranged by a bandit who has been selling guns to the Indians. The lead turns to nothing, and the Indian Chief, Diablo, assures Apache that the Indians had not killed Collier.

Griffin, the most powerful man in the territory, has been secretly thwarting Apache1s investigation and arming a gang of Mexican bandits. His gunmen, Moon and Snake, escort Captain Apache to their boss, who suggests a truce and a pooling of information. Apache pretends to agree.

One of O.J.'s deputies offers information in return for protection, but is shot before he can talk. Maude suggests the telegraph operator as the latter's source, but the old man is killed before he can be questioned. Moon and Snake drug Apache and question him, but he escapes.

Certain that the Sheriff killed Collier, he follows two of his deputies to the bandit fortress of Sanchez. Sanchez shoots the deputies.

Apache questions Griffin about his connection with Sanchez. Realizing that the Captain is making too much progress, Griffin forges a wire to General Ryland, who congratulates a bewildered Apache and removes him from the case.

Apache does not leave. He follows Maude, who boards a train to Tucson, as does Griffin. The journey is interrupted to hook on to a private car, and Apache discovers that it is the "April Morning" for which he has been searching. He sees Sanchez leaving the train with his Mexican bandits. All the coaches have been emptied, and Maude tells him that Griffin and his men are in the baggage car, dressing as Indians.

Apache climbs on the roof of the private car and sees President Ulysses S. Grant and his entourage. He realizes that Griffin had planned to have the President killed by a group of Mexican bandits disguised as Indians, so that he would be able to buy the rich reservation which would be free after the Indians had been killed in retribution. Collier had discovered the plot, and Griffin had hired 0. J. to silence the Commissioner.

Captain Apache corners Griffin's men, eliminating them all. Wounded in a final fight with Griffin, he cannot hold off Sanchez and his Indians. Although he collapses, defeated, the President has been forewarned and the bandits are routed by a force of soldiers which has been traveling in the freight car. Apache recovers.