Bruckner, who seems to be very interested in location spotting, says Romania.
Tito and the Kreml weren’t the best buddies in those communist days. And the east germans were always more eager to do what big brother said than e.g. the hungarians.
But at least one of them was shot nevertheless in Montenegro.
I guess Bruckner is right then
Which one was shot in Montenegro?
According to the DVD I have of Apachen it was filmed in Romania and Uzbekistan.
I like these films too although I’m not exactly sure why. I have the ‘Westerns with a Twist’ boxset from First Run Features which includes Apaches, Sons of Great Bear and Chingachgook, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more but I’m not sure how many others are available in english friendly versions.
I’ve been in Romania once, very rough, very hot, a good country to shoot westerns I’d say
Never been in Bulgaria, but saw a documentary of a Belgian filmmaker some time ago, and the country has some ‘Wild West feel’ too; some villages reminded me of San Miguel, only the people who lived there weren’t either rich or dead, they were all poor
By the way, where have you been?
We missed you a lot
Just been busy with various things and haven’t been getting on the computer for a bit or watching any films for that matter. It’s funny, since I lost my job I seem to be busier than ever!
Sorry to hear Phil…hope you get sorted out with a new one soon.
Thanks mate.
Actually it’s something of a mixed blessing. Financially it’s a bugger of course but the job had become something of a nightmare so not too sad to see the back of it. And it means I am now at home with the kids and playing house husband while my wife does the commuting and bread winning. Not so great for her but I’m actually enjoying it.
Die Söhne der großen Bärin aka Blutgericht
Weiße Wölfe is another one shot in Yugoslavia, which also co-produced.
I finally got around to watching the FRF boxset myself and although the first film is rather amateur, it has some very interesting ideas and the later film included (‘Apachen’) is genuinely impressive with some superb location shooting.
[b]Westerns with a Twist[url]http://www.mondo-esoterica.net/boxsets/Westerns%20with%20a%20Twist.html[/url][/b] review.
I’ve had this set for a while and must say I really enjoyed these films. I’ll certainly be trying to pick up more DEFAs as time goes on whenever I can get them with english friendly editions.
Which of these EAST GERMAN Westerns would you recommend? 
As others have said, Apaches, Sons of Great Bear and Chingachgook are all impressive, especially the first one, which is based on historical archives and treats its characters with sympathy without condescension.
Those three seem to be the only ones in wide circulation with an English option.
Anything starring Gotko Mitic (who’s in all of the above) seems to be worth pursuing. I’ve seen a few of his others films and he always makes a strong impression. I’d also recommend Ulzana (sequel to Apaches), Tecumseh and Blood Brothers. They’re all “message movies”, but they don’t lack action and they invariably boast attractive photography.
For a change of pace, you might also try Kit & Co, a Jack London adaptation starring Dean Reed.
I’d like to see more “Red Westerns.” I’ve only been able to acquire three with English subtitles (the ones available in the Westerns with a Twist set). Does anyone know if there are any others with English subtitles or dubbing? There might be some fandubs available.
This has probably been discussed before but when I was at University, I made friends with German students the older ones all seemed to have grown up in the former DDR. I remember them telling me all about East German cinema and all had vivid memories about the “Ost-westerns”. Does anyone have titles and information about them?
You can start digging somewhere around here
https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Category:DEFA
Thanks!
Three questions
Here is another one updated to the new layout: https://www.spaghetti-western.net/index.php/Kit_%26_Co.
