Tonka (1958)

(SPOILERS AHEAD!)

Much to my disappointment, Tonka wasn’t a film about toy trucks. Directed by Lewis R. Foster, Tonka tells a fictionalized story of Comanche, a horse who survived the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876. Based on the book, Comanche: Story of America’s Most Heroic Horse, by David Appel, the film introduces us to White Bull, a young Sioux warrior and nephew of the famous, Sitting Bull.

In the film, White Bull is played by Sal Mineo and one thing you’ll notice is that the vast majority of the native Americans in this film are played by white actors. White Bull finds and befriends a wild stallion whom he names Tonka (well, he actually names him a longer word of Sioux origin, if I’m not mistaken, but it’s Tonka for short). Long story short, Tonka ends up being captured by the US Cavalry. He’s ridden by Captain Myles Keogh, played by Philip Carey, whilst General Custer himself is played by Britt Lomond. And the film ends with the Battle of the Little Bighorn, aka Custer’s Last Stand where pretty much everyone dies except for Tonka and White Bull.

Overall, I found this movie to be incredibly boring! You know how I am about these movies that focus on animals; I just couldn’t care about this horse. The horses in the film were trained well though; sometimes they seemed to be really fighting with each other! I thought Philip Carey gave a good performance, but nobody else was anything to write home about. The title song was also disappointing.

All in all, I would rather have watched a film about Tonka toy trucks!

So, my final score for this film is 11/35 = 31.43% (F) !

The next review will be posted on April 21, 2026.