Only the Valiant is not quite the "Dirty Half Dozen", but the twist is wondering whether these soldiers who have no love for each other will destroy each other before getting the Indians. The psychological aspects are as broad as the characters actors filling the parts - Ward Bond as the very Irish, perpetually inebriated Corporal, Neville Brand as the bullying Sergeant, and Lon Chaney, Jr. as the large and angry Trooper Kebussyan. If you're looking for a film with more serious thoughts about relationships with the Native American, you would have to look at Delmer Daves' < b>Broken Arrow released the year before. Still, having much of Only the Valiant take place at night serves as a visual compliment to the darkness of the characters, and the long shots of the virtually abandoned fort that Peck and company defend give the film a noirish quality.

To what extent the look of Only the Valiant should be credited to cinematographer Lionel Lindon I couldn't say, but there are some visually stunning moments, especially a shot of Peck and his troops seen riding in silhouette. There may possibly be a message about the dehumanizing effects of war when the day is saved by that new invention, the Gatling gun, which mows down the Apaches by the dozens. On the debit side, having Ward Bond as a drunk soldier with a heavy brogue is too much of a reminder of his membership with John Ford's stock company, and the kind of role Ford would give to Victor McLaglen in films that would be relatively fresh in the memory of the audience watching Only the Valiant. The effect is that the makers of Only the Valiant had thought about making a different kind of western only to retreat back to familiar cliches.