Sauerkraut Westerns
Posted: March 22nd, 2010, 3:27 pm
Today I watched "Apaches," a 1972 western from DEFA, the East German film studio.
It was interesting. the hero of the film, Goyan Mitic, seemed rather inexpressive, and the bad guy, Rolf Hoppe, was far more interesting. The plot was based on a real incident from the 1840s, but the cowboys and cavalry were dressed like the 1870s. Also, the Apache hero was clearly based on Mangas Coloradas, but he was named Ulzana for the movie (again, somebody from the 1870s.)
Despite this, it was a pretty exciting movie, the action scenes were well-handled, and the scenery was no more preposterous than a spaghetti western.
It made me curious about other DEFA westerns, as well as the West German films based on Karl May novels. (I read half of "Winnetou" in high school German class many years ago.)
Has anyone else seen these. (I think TCM showed some of the Karl May films a while back.) Or have you experienced the German interest in the American wild west?
It was interesting. the hero of the film, Goyan Mitic, seemed rather inexpressive, and the bad guy, Rolf Hoppe, was far more interesting. The plot was based on a real incident from the 1840s, but the cowboys and cavalry were dressed like the 1870s. Also, the Apache hero was clearly based on Mangas Coloradas, but he was named Ulzana for the movie (again, somebody from the 1870s.)
Despite this, it was a pretty exciting movie, the action scenes were well-handled, and the scenery was no more preposterous than a spaghetti western.
It made me curious about other DEFA westerns, as well as the West German films based on Karl May novels. (I read half of "Winnetou" in high school German class many years ago.)
Has anyone else seen these. (I think TCM showed some of the Karl May films a while back.) Or have you experienced the German interest in the American wild west?
