East German Westerns

I wonder if any of you muchachos aus Deutschland have seen some of the westerns, or indianer-filme, that were made in the former east german republic DDR?
Like the Winnetou-films they were partly shot in Yugoslavia. Ich möchte wissen how they are like :slight_smile:

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I like em. They are totally different from spags or american western. Although Bruckner counts them as spags the attitude they made it is a different. They are not that violent and tell deeper stories i think. Cause they are based on karl mays novels.

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OK, so they’re also based on Karl May-books like the Winnetou-films, but a little different in style?
I heard some music from these films on a website and it was really good.
It seems some films are available on video, maybe I should try to find them next time I’m in Germany.

Oh yeah, there a lotta flicks on german DVDs, especially box sets Best and most known are all Karl May flicks starring Pierre Brice and Lex Barker. There are the 3 Winnetou flicks and also many other movies “using” Winnetou and Shatterhand.

Well, I’m sorry but the ‘Winnetou’ movies are not East-German made !!! There are some DEFA-Westerns but those are not to be compared to West-German ones !!! I have one of 'em DEFA-Westerns in my collection : ‘Die for Zapata’ !!!

While the ‘Winnetou’ movies are basically cowboy/indian - fairy tales, the DEFA-Westerns are more concerned with socialism !!!

Neither the West- nor the East-German westerns are to be compared to SW !!! They are very different kinds of westerns !!!

That doesn’t have to mean they’re not good though !!!

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“While the ‘Winnetou’ movies are basically cowboy/indian - fairy tales, the DEFA-Westerns are more concerned with socialism !!!”

I know the west german Winnetou-films, and I suspected the east german westerns to be different, and concerned with politics ;D
But they would be interesting to see!

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They certainly are !!! I only know ‘Stirb für Zapata’ a western about the Mexican-Revolution !!! That kind of background gave the DEFA-directors a lot of opportunities for socialistic-propaganda and stuff like that !!!
I think the DEFA-Westerns have become a rarity but with a little bit of luck you might be able to find one !!!

Any good East-german or Eastern countries in general recommendations?

Finnish digital channel Yle Teema will be showing 5 DDR westerns in spring 2007. 8)

26.3. Weiße Wölfe (DDR-Yugoslavia 1969)
2.4. Ulzana (DDR-Soviet Union 1974)
9.4. Apachen (DDR 1973)
16.4. Blutsbrüder (DDR 1975)
23.4. Sing, Cowboy, Sing (DDR 1981)

Most of them seem to involve bad white men and indians fighting them… or as some of the plot descriptions mentioned… anti-imperialistic vengeance stories, idealistic propaganda westerns, whatever. ;D

This doesn’t really belong in this thread but I’ll mention it anyways… ;D Same channel will also show 9 spaghetti westerns starting 8.1. with Bandidos and continuing with one per week…
Cemetery Without Crosses, Massacre Time, Run Man Run, A Sky Full of Stars For A Roof, Price of Power, Sugar Colt, the first Halleluja movie (whatever the english name is, I’m too lazy to check :stuck_out_tongue: ) and Ace High.

After the DDR westerns there’s also supposed to be some kind of SW documentary, I think german one (based on the name [which I can’t remember now] as it was written in only german) and after that there’s supposed to be one more SW which wasn’t mentioned for whatever reason.

Shame on me. I am from East Germany and totally mixed some things. Sure the Pierre Brice stuff isn’t DEFA stuff. The eastern Winnetou was Gojko Mitic. And there are differenet other films. I had just a conversation with my parents about this movies :wink:

You should definitely record these films when they are shown on television, this is interesting stuff!
I have only seen “Blutsbrüder” starring the american actor Dean Reed, who was an idealistic communist living in east germany at the time. But it was a really good and interesting film, recommended!
I’m not saying that I myself is a communist, but these films are historically very interesting :wink:

I ordered that Western With a Twist boxed set featuring 3 East Germany movies, should be interesting…

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Fucking amazing genre seriously, Apachen is by far my fave one… I guess there’s a lot of SW influence on music and location I guess… I love the Indian movie theme… Very recommended seriously!

Interesting post.
How many german westerns were made?

There is a title, Seb. answered me some time ago about Onkel Toms Hütte (1965), saw on IMDb has german-english audio… Wanna learn more about the recommendations there, also lists Old Shattehand and Winnetou. Is there alike titles??? Does anybody got this VHS?

That’s UNCLE TOM’S CABIN a U.S.A. pre Civil War story about the a slave.

I’ve seen several of the East German westerns starring Gojko Mitic and all are excellent. They are political in nature because they were made during the Cold War. They show the white man’s inhumane treatment of the Indians. His failure to honor treaties and his taking of Indian lands for gold and oil. All of this is true. The subtitles are hilarious at times because they use American slang that would not have been used in those days. Also the music for these films is very good. It does not copy the Bottcher style but more a style of its own and usually more upbeat. See any of them you can and prepare yourself for a treat.

Each of the three DEFA films that have been released here in the US (Apaches/Sons of the Great Bear/Chingachgook) have (as an extra) a selection of scenes from trailers of films that are supposed to be “restaurated” (restored, I assume) soon.

They are (sorry, I can’t translate but most of these titles are self-explanatory anyway):
Spur Des Falken
Weisse Wolfe
Tecumseh
Osceola
Ulzana
Blutbruder
Severino
Der Scout

Don’t know when (or even if) First Run Features will release them. As Lindberg mentioned, Dean Reed stars in Blutbruder and appears on the trailer highlight reel.

The ones I have seen are lots of fun and, even though far less polished, I like them better than the Winnetou films.

I bought some more East-German westerns a while ago, I think I’m gonna try to get all DEFA westerns

Anyway, watched Apachen Blutige Rache recently, really liked the look of the film, the locations, costumes, and so on

But Blutsbrüder, which is the only one I’ve previously seen, had a more gripping story I think

But they’re not bad these films

EDIT Don’t know where they shot this one Apachen, but it didn’t look like Yugoslavia

Could have been somewhere in the Soviet Union or maybe Romania, the film was a co-production between East-Germany and these countries

They were shot in different of the socialist countries. Romania probably the most but also Bulgaria, Usbekistan, Mongolia

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I think Blutsbrüder was shot in Yugoslavia though