Winnetou: The Red Gentleman

Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (Winnetou- 2. Teil) (1964)

Runtime: 95 minutes

Directed by: Harald Reinl

Starring: Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Anthony Steel, Terence Hill, Karin Dor, Klaus Kinski

From: A variety of different European companies

It is best for me to copy and paste what I wrote about this particular niche July last year when I saw 1962’s The Treasure of the Silver Lake, which is part of the 60’s Winnetou series:

“Another topic is how because I've reviewed a staggering variety of different movies, all sorts of people follow me that see all sorts of motion pictures no matter how niche their favorite genres be. Consequently, I always feel obliged to keep up the rather eclectic mix of pictures.

One mutual in particular has an interest in old West German genre flicks, including the Westerns they made. Yes, West Germans made more than a few cowboys & Indian films and they were shot in locations like what is now known as Croatia. As they did w/ their krimi movies that were based on old stories from the likes of Edgar Wallace, the Westerns were typically based on the works of 19th century German author Karl May... someone who had never been in America at all-let alone the Wild West-but managed to fake it well enough to fool people. He wrote a number of novels featuring a white cowboy nicknamed Old Shatterhand-which to me sounds like the name of a Jaeger in Pacific Rim!-who teamed up with an Apache chief named Winnetou.”

The English title Winnetou: The Red Gentleman is quite regrettable now (as is seeing all those white people in redface) but otherwise this was a fun adventure where several characters realize that an oil baron named Forrester is attempting to kick the hornet’s nest and fan the flames of hostility between Native Americans and whites for the sake of having even more oil. Aside from some silliness and casual 60’s sexism, there are fun action beats and a compelling story where Native Americans are portrayed fairly as it’s the white military (well, the General in the fort, anyhow) who are antagonistic A-holes that are happy to ruin peace between the two sides at any provocation.

Several people from Silver Lake returned, such as Lex Parker, Pierre Brice, Eddie Arent, and the stunning Karin Dor. New characters include Terence Hill-so early in his career that he was still known by Mario Girotti… the name on his birth certificate-and Klaus Kinski, so early in his career that he was still a henchman rather than the main villain. However, the latter’s clothing delighted me to no end. His duds are best described as “Davy Crockett chic”—of course this made me guffaw.

The plot, the characters, and the stunning locales in Croatia reminds me that I shouldn’t wait so long to experience these German Westerns.