Hot Picks

- There's No Such Thing as Zombies 2020

- Ready for My Close Up 2019

- The Box 2024

- I Curse This Land 2024

- Jurassic Pet 3 2024

- Fried 2023

- Bad Guys in Hell 2000

- Charisma Killers 2024

- Broken Innocence 2024

- 9 Windows 2024

- The Bloody Baxters 2022

- Derailed 2024

- The Disposable Soma - The Little Assassin 2024

- The Last Front 2024

- Tales from the Void - Into the Unknown 2024

- Alien Country 2024

- Beautiful Friend 2023

- Aiden 2024

- Deadly Display 2023

- Sundays with Dad 2024

- Skelly 2024

- Haunted Ulster Live 2023

- Taped Up Families 2024

- Martinez, Margaritas and Murder 2024

- Crackcoon 2024

- Feet of Death 2024

- Village of Doom 1983

- Britney Lost Her Phone 2023

- Morris Men 2023

- Eldritch USA 2023

- The Bouncer 2024

- Taboo: Family Secrets 2024

- Members Club 2024

- DarkGame 2024

- Conjuring the Cult 2024

- Blood Star 2024

- Children of the Pines 2023

- The Convert 2023

- I Feel Fine 2024

- Cash Storm 2024

- Things Will Be Different 2024

- Hidden Within 2023

- Kill 2023

- She Wants Me 2012

- Psychosis 2023

- Harder Than the Rock: The Cimarons Story 2024

- Thank You, Amelia Earhart 2023

- The Unraveling 2023

- Portraits of Dangerous Women 2024

- We Were Tomorrow - Eden 2024

- eVil Sublet 2023

- Backrooms: Realm of the Forgotten 2024

- Lyvia's House 2023

- Talk of the Dead 2016

- A Killer Conversation 2014

- Cosmos 2021

- First Impressions Can Kill 2017

- Star Crash 1979

- Strangler of the Swamp 1946

Winnetou I

Apache Gold
Vinetu I / La Revolte des Indiens Apaches / La Valle dei Lunghi Coltelli

West Germany/Yugoslavia/France/Italy 1963
produced by
Horst Wendlandt for Rialto Film, Jadran Film, S.N.C.-Film, Atlantis Film
directed by Harald Reinl
starring Pierre Brice, Lex Barker, Mario Adorf, Marie Versini, Ralf Wolter, Walter Barnes, Mavid Popovic, Dunja Rajter, Chris Howland, Branko Spoljar, Hrvoje Svob, Tomislav Erac, Husein Cokic, Demeter Bitenc, Niksa Stefanini, Vlado Krstulvic
screenplay by Harald G. Petersson, based on the novel by Karl May, music by Martin Böttcher, cinematography by Ernst W. Kalinke

Winnetou, Rialto's Winnetou, Old Shatterhand

review by
Mike Haberfelner

Quick Links

Abbott & Costello

The Addams Family

Alice in Wonderland

Arsène Lupin

Batman

Bigfoot

Black Emanuelle

Bomba the Jungle Boy

Bowery Boys

Bulldog Drummond

Captain America

Charlie Chan

Cinderella

Deerslayer

Dick Tracy

Dr. Mabuse

Dr. Orloff

Doctor Who

Dracula

Edgar Wallace made in Germany

Elizabeth Bathory

Emmanuelle

Fantomas

Flash Gordon

Frankenstein

Frankie & Annette Beach Party movies

Freddy Krueger

Fu Manchu

Fuzzy

Gamera

Godzilla

Hercules

El Hombre Lobo

Incredible Hulk

Jack the Ripper

James Bond

Jekyll and Hyde

Jerry Cotton

Jungle Jim

Justine

Kekko Kamen

King Kong

Laurel and Hardy

Lemmy Caution

Lobo

Lone Wolf and Cub

Lupin III

Maciste

Marx Brothers

Miss Marple

Mr. Moto

Mister Wong

Mothra

The Munsters

Nick Carter

OSS 117

Phantom of the Opera

Philip Marlowe

Philo Vance

Quatermass

Robin Hood

The Saint

Santa Claus

El Santo

Schoolgirl Report

The Shadow

Sherlock Holmes

Spider-Man

Star Trek

Sukeban Deka

Superman

Tarzan

Three Mesquiteers

Three Musketeers

Three Stooges

Three Supermen

Winnetou

Wizard of Oz

Wolf Man

Wonder Woman

Yojimbo

Zatoichi

Zorro

Available on DVD!

To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned)

Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!


After the immense success of Der Schatz im Silbersee/The Treasure of Silver Lake, it did not take Rialto Film long to produce a second Winnetou film, this one chronicling the first meeting of its heroes Winnetou and Old Shatterhand (and this years before prequel was even a proper word), with as little as possible changed regarding cast and crew ...

 

But before anything else, a quick synopsis:

... having just arrived from Germany to help build the Great Western Railroad, engineer Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) has to find out that someone has altered the initial plans and now the train is going straight through Apache territory - something the Apaches (understandably) do not like one bit. The culprits are soon iodentified - evil businessman Santer (Mario Adorf) and push-over train inspector Bancroft (Branko Spoljar), and to keep the situation from culminating, Shatterhand promises Winnetou (Pierre Brice), the son of the Apache chieftain (Mavid Popovic) and the Apaches' German counsellor Klekih-Petra (Hrvoje Spod) that the company will retreat from Apache territory for good within eight days ... which is when Santer and his gang of desperadoes intervene, shooting Klekih-Petra and making Winnetou their prisoner, later giving him away to his arch-enemies, the Kiowas, whose chieftain Tangua (Tomislav Erac) is in league with Santer.

Eventually, Old Shatterhand can free 'Winnetou from the Kiowas' camp, but for some reason he doesn't make himself known, he only steals one of Winnetou's trinkets as proof ...

Later, Old Shatterhand and company - eccentric scout Sam Hawkens (Ralf Wolter) amongst them - plan an attack on  Roswell, where Santer and his men hide out, but at first their attack seems futile, since all the baddies hide out in the saloon which they can defend like a fortress. It is only when Shatterhand has the good idea to redirect the traintracks so they go right through the saloon that the attack proves to be successful ... but Santer and his closest associates manage to escape - and then the Apaches attack Rosell, and - misjudging the situation, they take OId Shatterhand and company captive and plan to execute them. Old Shatterhand tries to prove he is Winnetou's friend and has freed him from the Kiowas, but his only proof, the trinket, was left behind in his jacket in Roswell, and Winnetou takes him for a cheat. Only Winnetou's sister Nscho-tschi (Marie Versini, looking not a bit Native American) believes him, since she has fallen in love with him, and rides to Roswell to fetch Shatterhand's jacket.

Meanwhile, the Apache chieftain, without actual proof that Old Shatterhand is one of the villains, offers him a deal: Should Shatterhand defeat him in a one-on-one battle on the Rio Pecos, he and his friends are free ... and of course, Shatterhand wins, and without killing the chieftain, too. And at the hour of his triumph, Nscho-tschi returns with the proof that Old Shatterhand has indeed saved Winnwtou's life - of course, now Old Shatterhand and Winnetou immediately become blood brothers, and Nscho-tschi is promised to Old Shatterhand, not only that, Winnetou is willing to send her to a white man's school ... now all they need is some of that Apache gold they keep hidden somewhere to be able to afford Nscho-tschi's life among the white men ...

Unfortunately though, Santer and his men not been idle and have made up a plan to follow the Apaches to their hidden treasure cave ... and iot all ends in a battle in which both Nscho-tschi and Winnetou's father the chieftain lose their lives, but also all of Santer's men. Santer himself is met with an especially cruel fate: He has somehow survived the massive shoot-out, but now he hangs from a cliff, with his strength to hold on rapidly decreasing ... and right below, the Apaches have planted their spears with the blades looking upwards ... ouch !

In the end, our heroes Winnetou and Old Shatterhand move on disillusioned to find further adventures.

Chris Howland is the comic relief in this one, but he practically does not intervene with the film's story as such ...

 

As a film, Winnetou I was essentially shot in the same mold asits predecessor Der Schatz im Silbersee, a romantic Western adventure with larger-than-life heroes and villains (with Mario Adorf turning in a fine, evil performance), in front of extremely scenic landscapes (shot in Yugoslavia) and to cheesy yet catchy music by Martin Böttcher. As with Der Schatz im Silbersee, the outcome is great. Yes, it's cheesy, it's unreflected, but at the same time it is a film that, while watching it, makes you feel like the little boy who wants to reenact every scene of it (which I, as well as all my friends, did when we were little boys). And, in contrast to many Hollywood Westerns of its time, it clearly takes the side of the Indian race - even if there is not a single native American in the cast.

Which actually leads to my only point of critique: Marie Versini as Winnetou's sister - she doesn't look a bit Indian, and most of her acting is unintentionally funny rather than anything else, especially in the scenes when she has to speak in Apache language. But then again, she was immensely popular with the audience of the day, and was even asked back to play Nscho-tschi in another Winnetou film, Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand, even though her character has died in this one ...

In all though, Winnetou I is recommended viewing for all (B-)Western fans.

 

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

Feeling lucky?
Want to
search
any of my partnershops yourself
for more, better results?
(commissions earned)

The links below
will take you
just there!!!

Find Apache Gold
at the amazons ...

USA  amazon.com

Great Britain (a.k.a. the United Kingdom)  amazon.co.uk

Germany (East AND West)  amazon.de

Looking for imports?
Find Apache Gold here ...

Thailand  eThaiCD.com
Your shop for all things Thai


Thanks for watching !!!

 

 

In times of uncertainty of a possible zombie outbreak, a woman has to decide between two men - only one of them's one of the undead.

 

There's No Such Thing as Zombies
starring
Luana Ribeira, Rudy Barrow and Rami Hilmi
special appearances by
Debra Lamb and Lynn Lowry

 

directed by
Eddie Bammeke

written by
Michael Haberfelner

produced by
Michael Haberfelner, Luana Ribeira and Eddie Bammeke

 

now streaming at

Amazon

Amazon UK

Vimeo

 

 

 

Robots and rats,
demons and potholes,
cuddly toys and
shopping mall Santas,
love and death and everything in between,
Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

is all of that.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to
-
a collection of short stories and mini-plays
ranging from the horrific to the darkly humourous,
from the post-apocalyptic
to the weirdly romantic,
tales that will give you a chill and maybe a chuckle, all thought up by
the twisted mind of
screenwriter and film reviewer
Michael Haberfelner.

 

Tales to Chill
Your Bones to

the new anthology by
Michael Haberfelner

 

Out now from
Amazon!!!