1963 - WINNETOU aka Apache Gold

An odd bird of a western film.  This is in many way a typical "Cowboys vs Indians" movie from an original story by a German writer author named Karl May.  It was filmed on spectacular locations in Croatia in wide screen and with gorgeous color photography, this film looks really good.  When one thinks of European westerns what comes to mind are the Leone Italian "spaghetti" westerns, however in this case these German movies are I guess "sauerkraut" westerns or something.

Winnetou is a native American who is trying to make peace between the "white man" and the Indian.  This is the first in a series of seven films featuring this character and the character is played by what else, a French actor named Pierre Brice and is he ever a noble "red man" he just oozes nobility. 

American actor Lex Barker is Winnetou's white guy friend.  Barker had played Tarzan in five films and eventually ended up in Europe where he showed up in Fellini's La Dolce Vita and about 40 other European films.  He turned out to be a very popular performer in Europe.  In the Winnetou series he's a character called Old Shatterhand because he's a good fist fighter.  Well anyway Winnetou and Old Shatterhand gallop around Crotia righting wrongs.

 

For an odd ball of a western this film is surprisingly well made.  The action scenes are exciting and it was clearly produced on a large budget.  It's a well told story and doesn't have a lot of slow spots.  Sure everyone speaks in the German language for a film set in the American west which is a little weird.  But I've watched plenty of films from England and between the regional accents and all the slang the "Limeys" utter in that country, believe me subtitled European films are a lot easier to follow.   

The film was written by Harald G. Petersson, the running time is 101 minutes.