A bad (maybe just goofy) Western

[trekgeezer]

Strange casting  at the least.

Shalako - 1968   (Jame Bond heads west!)
Based on a Louis L'amour  novel

Shalako , portrayed by Sean Connery (complete with accent), saves a group of European noble types (Bridget Bardot, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Honor Blackman, and Peter von Eyck)out West hunting from the Apaches.

I really had a hard time with this movie because of Sean Connery's accent and  the Apache chief being played by a black actor, Woody Strode. I don't  think this was the only time I saw Woody as an American Indian.

[Deej]

Oh, yeah trek_geezer, this is a crapper. I'm a Sean Connery fan and a western fan, and I can get past the accent, because I'm sure there were many Englishmen in the old west. In fact, my favorite western stars Errol Flynn.

I've tried to watch Shalako a few times, never can get too far into it. I can't put my finger on it, but something about the movie really puts me off. Maybe it's just a turd. I really wanted to like Shalako, but, just can't seem to sit through it. What do you think? Should I try to tough it out? Worth my time? Any chance of coming away from this turkey with a sense of enjoyment?

[BoyScoutKevin]

No, this is not the only time Strode played a Native American. He has a Native American name, Stone Calf, in "Two Rode Together," and is billed as Arapaho Chief in the miniseries "How the West Was Won."

As a historical side note, black Native Americans were not unknown. When Florida was not yet part of the good, old U.S.A., excaped slaves would flee south to Florida, where they would settle with the Native Americans in Florida, especially the Seminoles, where they would of course intermarry, producing children that were half black and half Native American. That is one oi the reasons Americans invaded and took contol of Florida away from whatever European power had claim to it at that time. Americans were tired of their escaping slaves escaping their grasp by fleeing to Florida.

As a further historical side note, when most of the Seminoles, black and otherwise, were moved from Florida to Oklahoma, there were enough black Seminoles that an Army unit of them was formed to fight the hostile native Americans who lived in the West. And like alot of the black soldiers of that time, they were very good soldiers, indeed.

As to the film "Shalako," I have seen it. Thus it is not unwatchable. As to whoever watches it, whether they will get anything out of it, I can't say. It might or might not be better to read the book by Louis L'Amour first. As I can remember, having read the book as well,  the film does to some extent closely follow the book. One notable difference between the book and the film is that the characters in the film deliberately go into hostile Apache territory, while the characters in the book somewhat inadvertently becomes involved with hostile Apaches.

One thing can be said for the film, you'll see alot of actors in it, you would not normally see in a Western. That might be because it is a joint British-West German western. On the other hand, while Europeans usually do films quite well, they are , excluding the Italians, not very good at doing the  western.

[Scott]

Now that is a Western I haven't seen. BoyScoutKevin was that Seminole group the ones that became the famous Buffalo Soldiers?

[Yaddo42]

I believe Woody Strode's character in "The Professionals" was a half-breed bounty hunter/tracker.

I've seen "Shalako" but it's been years since I watched it all the way through. I do remember thinking the premise of the the upper crust Europeans on a hunting expedition was a clever way to explain the European cast. But I was disappointed with it overall. Just seemed grim and pointless without much real excitement. Plus the look on the Indian warrior's face when he suffocates Honor Blackman by pouring dirt in her mouth when she tries to play "opposum" just struck me as the worst kind of racial stereotyping of the "red savage". I've nothing against sadistic characters, but that scene just seemed too dark even for this film.

Not the worst western I've ever seen, but far from a favorite.

[BoyScoutKevin]

The "Buffalo Soldiers" were two regiments of Army cavalry made up of blacks who enlisted in the Army after the Civil War and commanded by white officers.

The "Black Seminoles" was an unit of Army cavalry made up mostly of black-Native Americans who were forced to move to Oklahoma from Florida before the Civil War. But, as they were ABC (Army, black, and cavalry) it is quite possible they were considered part of the "Buffalo Soldiers."

[Scott]

Thanks for the interesting historical info.

[trekgeezer]

Danny Glover starred in one of those TNT movies about the Buffalo soldiers.  It was pretty good.

Did you know they were required to get off their horses and walk them when they passed through a town  so  the white citizens would not have to look 'up' to them.