Yeah, it is an interesting film from one of the directors of the “Berliner Schule”, which are standing for not commercial films with authentic characters.
Something else to recommend from the Berlin School of directors, stanton?
Here is the Wiki entry: Berlin School (filmmaking) - Wikipedia
But I think to call it a German New Wave is wrong, also I see the idea behind that.
Arslan’s previous film Im Schatten (In the Shadows) is also a strong genre film. Very strong imo. It was often compared with Melville, but is more realistic in the characterisations. And for being very genre related of course less Berlin school than Arslans previous films. Like the unspectacular but but precise and beautiful Der schöne Tag (The Beautiful Day).
The third and final part of Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy, RIO GRANDE
Ofen called the weakest of the three, but there’s a lot to admire, and a lot to see:
Klondike (Jones, 2014)
A three-part mini-series which aired a couple of years ago, Klondike was the first scripted show to be produced by The Discovery Channel. Set during the Klondike gold rush of the late 1890s and merging dramatic fiction with historical fact, Deadwood-style, Klondike is beautifully photographed but, whilst pleasantly engaging, isn’t going to blow anyone away anytime soon. Abbie Cornish is unlikely but easy on the eye, Richard Madden is more interesting here than he was as Robb Stark in Game of Thrones and Tim Roth is… well, Tim Roth, doing that “Tim Roth” thing of his. Certainly recommended, at least as a nice distraction for a few hours.
Harald Philipp’s Der Ölprinz (1965)
The Oil Prince / Rampage at Apache Wells
Unbridled silliness abounds in this sixth installment of the Winnetou film series. For instance, in one particularly successful scene, Kantor Aurelius Hampel (Heinz Erhardt), a naive, unworldly organist and composer, who wants to write an opera about Winnetou et al., enquires about the Apache chief’s voice type:
„Nur mal eine Frage im Vorbeireiten: Ist Winnetou Tenor?“
„Nee, Indianer. Wollen Sie ihn beleidigen?“ answers Old Wabble (Milan Srdoč), Old Surehand’s clumsy sidekick.
(Literal translation: “Just one question while riding by – is Winnetou a tenor?” – “Nah, an Indian. Are you trying to insult him?” Lame English-dubbed version: “You mind if I ask you – does Winnetou have a voice?” – “Of course, he talks a lot.”)
Made my hamster laugh so hard, he nearly fell off his horse.
This lame English-dubbed version is funnier than the German original, imo
Really? Are you referring to the movie in general or just to the scene I mentioned? Either way, maybe you’re right, and it’s just Heinz Erhardt’s voice and his peculiar way of speaking that made the German version more enjoyable for me. In Erhardt’s best performances, his dialogue amounts to almost Dadaistic nonsense.
No, I’m referring to the particular scene.
I have watched the movie, but quite a long time ago. I’m not even sure that my copy has English audio, some have (most of the time incomplete), some have only German audio
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Cattle Annie and Little Britches.
An outlaw gang led by Burt Lancaster meet up with a couple of young women who want to become outlaws. Different in the sense that the women add a different slant to a familar story. The results are entertaining for this viewer, and for once I liked the songs in a U.S western. The last western the great Lancaster starred in.
The Salvation - 2014 - Kristian Levring
Pretty cool western
Liked the story classic old school revenge plot, or double revenge if you think about it.
The direction is very concise and I got the feeling that this was the most recent modern western that was clearly inspired in the SW of the past, but not in a copycat way it stands in its own pretty well, in any case Robert Hossein westerns do come to my mind for some reason.
Even the comic relief in the form of Eric Cantona took me to SW shores. Actually I have watched SW that were so bad that The salvation could be in my top 20, does this count as an SW in our community, I hope so.
Fine acting Mikkelsen looks perfect for western and J. Dean Morgan is becoming a villain specialist these days, but he does it very well, Eva Green always makes me go back to her mother Marlen Jobert, but she’s a better actress I think.
The European tone of the western seemed very appropriate, after wall the west was conquered mostly by people coming from the old continent.
I liked not a bad film and a fine western
Chatos Land
Half-Apache Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson) kills a racist sheriff in self defense. The angry locals form a lynch mob led by Civil War veteran Quincey Whitmore (Jack Palance) and track him into barren lands. When they find Chato’s family murder and sexual abuse leads Chato to declare war and seek revenge…
Good, mean spirited revisionist western that builds tension slowly. Bronson barely has any lines at all but dosent need them. Palance plays a somewhat tragic characater haunted by the ghosts of the Civil War who realizes all too late that he and his comrades are in over their heads.
Excellent film that i will be revisiting again soon.
Elorrieta: Seven for Pancho Villa
-Boring western with the most loudest and annoying mexican bandits. You know, the kind which are always laughing, yelling for tequila and shouting “Viva Pancho Villa” etc. 1/5
The Lone Ranger (Verbinski, 2013)
Not so much a movie depicting the 19th century American west and its inhabitants, and more a movie depicting a western-themed tourist attraction and its mercilessly choreographed dance troupe, The Lone Ranger aka Pirates of the Caribbean: Sparrow Goes West! is a cynical and glossy corporate product, yes, but it’s also nothing less than anyone should’ve expected from Gore Verbinski and, looked at like that, it’s really not too bad. Sticking to the Pirates model, the wafer-thin plot (Chase the baddie! Get the baddie!) serves as no more than a device to move us cheerily from one unlikely Rube Goldberg-inspired spectacle of acrobatics and CGI after another. As a result there’s very little substance here but, while it’s playing, it provides both a treat for the eyes and a lovely nap for the brain. Its worst crimes as I see it are a) nobody gives a toss about The Lone Ranger any more, and b) Tonto doesn’t play to the demographic who go to Johnny Depp films because they want to f*ck him as well as Capt. Jack Sparrow does.
As far as ultra-romanticized blockbuster fantasies of the west go, it’s a bit better imo than Silverado (Kasdan 1985) and it fingers Wild Wild West (Sonnenfeld, 1999) up its wild wild plop-hole, but it’s not a patch on Verbinski and Depp’s earlier attempt at a western - Rango - made only two years previously.
Mackenna’s Gold - J. Lee Thompson
Such must have a film looked if the great Demofilo Fidani had ever made a big budget western. An absolute catastrophe, in which everything went wrong which could went wrong, with storytelling and directing competing for the most idiotic ideas. And there are amny of them.
And the widescreen directing, with everything in the center of the image, was surely a welcomed gift for the fullscreen versions back in the glorious times of 4:3 TVs.
Still not a complete bore and some of the ridiculous stuff looks interesting, but most likely always against the film’s intentions. 2/10
Bend of the River - Anthony Mann
Pretty solid Mann/Stewart western. As usual Mann makes really good use of his locations, making for some exciting action, especially the climax at the river. I didn’t really care for Rock Hudson’s character but everything else works pretty well. It reminded a lot of (the rather mediocre) Daniel Boone: The Frontier Trail Rider, which I suspect was probably a loose remake.
9/10
Das finstere Tal (aka The Dark Valley) (Prochaska, 2014)
Set in the Austrian Alps, The Dark Valley concerns Grieder, an American borne of a German mother (Sam Riley, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies) riding into a deeply hostile Alpine town, both in terms of its location and its citizenry, aiming to stay for the Winter and offering his services as a photographer. However, Grider has an entirely more vengeful motive for being in this town, which has been run for decades by a malevolent old man and his six nasty sons.
There are some beautifully oppressive shots in The Dark Valley, there’s a very spag-like revenge vibe going on and Sam Riley does well in the lead role but, alas, I found The Dark Valley to be a touch too relentlessly grim and humourless. The constant voiceover exposition was unnecessary, as well.
www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Valley-DVD-Sam-Riley/dp/B010E1OCDK?tag=spaghetti-21
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I watched a fist full of dollars last night
it was great in hd
Rewatched the Anthony Steffen western A STRANGER IN PASO BRAVO
I had a better print this time (the old one was fullscreen), but the viewing experience was marred a little by a couple of irritating cuts. I don’t think any key scenes were missing, but some transitions were so sudden, so jarring that they took me out of the movie, so to speak
Still one of Steffen’s better movies, with a great Fajardo as the villain and an excellent finale (the weakest part of the - otherwise superior - remake AND GOD SPOKE TO CAIN starring Klaus Kinski
I’m reworking my old review a little.
Apart from Julie, the best things are a couple of scenes near the end; from my review:
“As the sun rises, shadows grow shorter, not longer, and during the finale the two main characters climb a impossible vertical ridge for no discernable reason, have a fight on a halfway ledge, then climb down again. Pure madness!”