"God knows what God was thinking when he made the Apache."
Added 5/7/2009
Although Michael Winner is now a byword for bad movies, for a brief moment in the early 70s his work flirted not just with competence but actually delivered some pretty good action movies. Building on the success of his earlier Burt Lancaster Western Lawman, this doesn't have as strong a script but still makes for an effective, if bleak manhunt action movie.
Reversing the genre norm by having the posse as the villains, pursuing Charles Bronson's `halfbreed' into the badlands and gradually giving in to rape and murder themselves to draw him out as he goes from trying to shake them off his trail to picking them off, it's certainly a well cast affair - Jack Palance as the leader of the posse trying to relive his glory days in the Civil War, Richard Basehart's thirsty man in a dry land, Simon Oakland, Richard Jordan and Ralph Waite's vicious brothers - but one that never works quite as well as it could.
The first of his collaborations with Charles Bronson, it's surprising the star would work with him on another five films - Bronson is barely in the movie, with less screen time than many of his early supporting roles and has little to do here and doesn't do it particularly well. This wouldn't be a problem if Winner could build him into a mythic or primal figure to make his brief appearances more striking, but he's not even interestingly shot here. Instead the film focuses on the posse as the further it gets from civilization, the more it starts to tear itself apart as the strong become weak and the weak become ruthless. There's some good dialogue and the odd bit of rich writing and characterisation along the trail, but it's tempting to think what a better director with more of a feel for the landscape could have made more of it.
MGM/UA's Region 1 DVD is an acceptable widescreen transfer, though it's the cut US version - the German and French DVDs are the longer, bloodier European cut. The only extra is the original trailer.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
True mystic in Bronson's screen presence...
Added 1/30/2009
"Chato's Land" was well suited to Bronson's evolutionary screen persona, that of the strong, relatively silent avenger--a solid figure of firm intention but few words...
As Pardon Chato, the vengeful Apache half-breed, Bronson enjoyed the most vocally reticent role of his starring career, speaking but few lines--and most of those in Apache!
Again, Spanish locations represented the American frontier West for this post-Civil War tale about a white posse's search for Chato, who, in self-defense, had killed the sheriff of a small New Mexico town... As the pursuers forge deeper into Apache country, the situation shifts around, with hunters becoming the hunted... Failing out among themselves, the posse members gradually become victim either to each other's violence or to Chato's well-justified vengeance, after they rape his woman...
In the non-U.S. countries where Bronson enjoyed his greatest popularity, "Chato's Land" was well met and highly successful...
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Great Revisionist Western
Added 1/28/2009
Those old movies that featured an "anti-hero" like The Outlaw Josie Wales or The Searchers or Once Upon A Time in the West, should be recognized as a sub-genre. I see where another reviewer has compared this negatively to Paul Newman's "Hombre". Well, fine, but Hombre, written by Louis Lamour, is in a class by itself.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Excellent Western
Added 9/1/2008
I enjoyed this Western. Bronson does not have much of a speaking role and is the target of the posse played by an excellent cast. Some great landscapes in the film. Only gripe is that the vultures used in the film were not native to North America. They looked like African vultures to me.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
The hunted becomes the hunter
Added 8/27/2008
A racist sheriff loses a gunfight in a saloon to an Apache (Chato - played by Charles Bronson) he was tormenting. Chato takes off into the bad lands, and a posse is formed to bring the Apache to justice (i.e. lynch him). Chato eludes the posse with ease until they find his home and rape his wife. He then turns on the posse, the hunted becoming the hunter, and starts to kill them one by one. The story centers on the dynamics of the members of the posse as they are initially enthusiastic about lynching an Indian (whom they view as little more than an animal). Jack Palance plays the wise, grizzled Civil War (Confederate) veteran who leads the posse. As the tracking becomes more difficult, many of the members of the posse are revealed to be less than upstanding members of society and they start fighting amongst themselves. After Chato's wife is raped by several posse members, it is no longer a question of bringing the Indian to justice, but simply of survival. Charles Bronson may have gotten top billing on this picture, but it is really Jack Palance's film and he carries it well. CB doesn't have more than a dozen lines or so. This is a well worn theme (the American Indian as the noble savage, and the white settler as the racist bigot), but perhaps not so cliched when this film first came out in the early 70s. Definitely entertaining, even if the story is fairly simple and the outcome is fairly predictable. Some great cinematography as well. Most of the members of the posse are pretty despicable and have it coming.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
"God knows what God was thinking when he made the Apache."
Added 5/7/2009
Although Michael Winner is now a byword for bad movies, for a brief moment in the early 70s his work flirted not just with competence but actually delivered some pretty good action movies. Building on the success of his earlier Burt Lancaster Western Lawman, this doesn't have as strong a script but still makes for an effective, if bleak manhunt action movie.
Reversing the genre norm by having the posse as the villains, pursuing Charles Bronson's `halfbreed' into the badlands and gradually giving in to rape and murder themselves to draw him out as he goes from trying to shake them off his trail to picking them off, it's certainly a well cast affair - Jack Palance as the leader of the posse trying to relive his glory days in the Civil War, Richard Basehart's thirsty man in a dry land, Simon Oakland, Richard Jordan and Ralph Waite's vicious brothers - but one that never works quite as well as it could.
The first of his collaborations with Charles Bronson, it's surprising the star would work with him on another five films - Bronson is barely in the movie, with less screen time than many of his early supporting roles and has little to do here and doesn't do it particularly well. This wouldn't be a problem if Winner could build him into a mythic or primal figure to make his brief appearances more striking, but he's not even interestingly shot here. Instead the film focuses on the posse as the further it gets from civilization, the more it starts to tear itself apart as the strong become weak and the weak become ruthless. There's some good dialogue and the odd bit of rich writing and characterisation along the trail, but it's tempting to think what a better director with more of a feel for the landscape could have made more of it.
MGM/UA's Region 1 DVD is an acceptable widescreen transfer, though it's the cut US version - the German and French DVDs are the longer, bloodier European cut. The only extra is the original trailer.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
True mystic in Bronson's screen presence...
Added 1/30/2009
"Chato's Land" was well suited to Bronson's evolutionary screen persona, that of the strong, relatively silent avenger--a solid figure of firm intention but few words...
As Pardon Chato, the vengeful Apache half-breed, Bronson enjoyed the most vocally reticent role of his starring career, speaking but few lines--and most of those in Apache!
Again, Spanish locations represented the American frontier West for this post-Civil War tale about a white posse's search for Chato, who, in self-defense, had killed the sheriff of a small New Mexico town... As the pursuers forge deeper into Apache country, the situation shifts around, with hunters becoming the hunted... Failing out among themselves, the posse members gradually become victim either to each other's violence or to Chato's well-justified vengeance, after they rape his woman...
In the non-U.S. countries where Bronson enjoyed his greatest popularity, "Chato's Land" was well met and highly successful...
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
|
Great Revisionist Western
Added 1/28/2009
Those old movies that featured an "anti-hero" like The Outlaw Josie Wales or The Searchers or Once Upon A Time in the West, should be recognized as a sub-genre. I see where another reviewer has compared this negatively to Paul Newman's "Hombre". Well, fine, but Hombre, written by Louis Lamour, is in a class by itself.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
