Chato's Land

Chato’s Land (1972)

Runtime: 100 minutes

Directed by: Michael Winner

Starring: Charles Bronson, Jack Palance, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite

From: Scimitar Films

I haven’t watched too many Westerns in recent months. Even if it’s one from Michael Winner (another “separate the art from the artist” director), I was happy to check out a picture starring Charles Bronson. This was one of many Westerns shot in Spain; that scenery still look resplendent in my eyes.

The opening scene is half-Native American (Apache, to be exact) Charles Bronson shooting a racist sheriff in self-defense in a Wild West saloon. Former Confederate Captain Jack Palance rounds up a posse to track down the titular Chato. Plenty of time is spent w/ the posse, full of colorful characters. In contrast, Chato has few lines of dialogue, and most are in Apache.

As it’s Michael Winner, not only is there sleaze-sexual assault occurs-but there’s another controversy. Something rather bad allegedly happened to a quartet of horses, and I’ll leave it at that.

I was fine with the focus on Palance’s posse. When those in the ranks include James Whitmore, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Richard Basehart, Victor French, and Richard Jordan… the quality of the acting can’t be doubted. The drama between those folks isn’t too surprising but was still interesting, especially when their mission turns sour and the friction increases. A nice asset is the vibrant score from Jerry Fielding; in fact, that probably elevated the film for me alongside the lovely desert scenery filmed well by Robert Paynter. Another controversial director (John Landis) was a horse-wrangler on the production; in later years, Paynter would film some Landis films, most prominently An American Werewolf in London.

Chato’s Land is not a must-see in the genre; that said, this Vietnam War allegory may be worthwhile for you, especially if you go in with the right expectations and realize that Bronson isn’t an on-screen presence often in Chato’s Land. To his credit, Bronson was ripped & looked great in the film, especially for someone around the age of 50 during filming.