Winnetou 1: Apache Gold

Winnetou 1: Apache Gold (Winnetou 1: Teil) (1963)

Runtime: 101 minutes

Directed by: Harald Reinl

Starring: Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Mario Adorf, Marie Versini, Walter Barnes

From: A few companies in West Germany, Italy, & Yugoslavia

A film watched due to who followed me yesterday. Several did but one was a gentleman from Germany who recently saw some 60’s German genre films. He must have liked what I said about 1962’s Treasure of Silver Lake and 1964’s Winnetou: The Red Gentleman; both are West German westerns based on books by German author Karl May… OLD SHATTERHAND is a badass white guy who is bros with Winnetou, an Apache warrior. Treasure and Gentlemen are both fun westerns that feature resplendent Croatian scenery as a stand-in for the Wild West. As I now have multiple followers who enjoy 60’s German genre films-not to mention a few Deutsch followers-it seemed wise to discuss one that is easy to find.

Thus, a Prime rental was made. Note that the copy on Amazon is in great HD quality… it is dubbed, which normally would be OK with me. However, on more than a dozen occasions, the audio switches to German! Thankfully, I quickly turned on the subtitles to see what happened: turns out, both the English and German dialogue is subtitled in English. How about that? A goofy side character that only appears in a few scenes—his dialogue was never in English.

This is an origin film for how Shatterhand and Winnetou first develop their bromance. Mario Adorf (a personal favorite) is a vile heel who wants the titular Apache gold and that is proven through some awful actions. Our heroes-which also include Winnetou’s pretty sister and a wacky bearded guy who wears a wig as he was previously scalped-engage in various shootouts w/ Adorf & his band of merry men.

The Croatian scenery is still resplendent, the action beats were what you’d expect from the genre (they were done well), attention should be given to the quality score from Martin Bottcher-it was the best I’ve heard him do in the genre-and there was a rather absurd yet hilarious denouement to a stand-off in a saloon… the movie was a pretty good time.