Das war Buffalo Bill

When the sword and sandal films in the Roman Cinecitta were threatening to go out of fashion, genre star Gordon SCOTT (1927-2007), who had been married to the Hitchcock star Vera MILES in Hollywood, switched to the emerging wave of Westerns .

His performance as Buffalo Bill is based on his life story, but is overall too convoluted and lengthy.

The only interesting thing is that: with Ingeborg SCHÖNER (*1935), Jan HENDRIKS (1928-1991) and Hans von BORSODY (1929-2013) there are also three film stars from the German-speaking film industry of those years.

You can take a look, but you don't have to!

Released in 1965 and directed by Mario Costa, "Buffalo Bill, Hero of the West" stars Gordon Scott as the title character who is commissioned to avert an Indian war by stopping renegade Indians, led by Yellow Hand (Mirko Ellis), who are illegally sold guns by Big Sam Donaldson (Mario Brega). Roldano Lupi plays the rigid colonel of the local fort and Ingeborg Schöner his beautiful daughter while Feodor Chaliapin Jr. plays Chief White Fox and Catherine Ribeiro his daughter, Silver Moonray.

Gordon Scott's acting career only lasted a dozen years from 1955-1967. He was tall with a lean waist but with muscular bulk and a likable, almost innocent disposition (think Brendan Fraser with big muscles). He's perhaps best known for playing Tarzan six times in as many years from 1955-1960, but also known for sword & sandal roles, like Goliath, Samson, Remus and Hercules. I was curious to see how he'd do in a Western and was pleasantly surprised.

While this is a Spaghetti Western, it was made in 1964 and Sergio Leone's Man With No Name trilogy was just starting to skyrocket to popular success. As such, don't expect the items usually associated with Spaghetti Westerns, except badly dubbed dialogue, Spanish locations substituting for the American West and Spaniards playing Native Americans. Beyond these factors, this is more akin to American Westerns, like John Wayne ones and, of course, 1944's excellent whitewashing of the same Western icon, "Buffalo Bill," where Joel McCrea played the hero. Unlike that movie, which is biopic, this version is a slice-in-the-life of Buffalo Bill. Actually, the character of Yellow Hand was taken from that earlier movie, being based on the real-life Cheyenne chief Yellow Hair whom Cody shot, stabbed and scalped three weeks after Little Big Horn (!), or so he claimed.

At any rate, this ain't no cheapo flick. Yes, the Native dialogue is a tad stereotypical, but that was typical at the time and it's not as bad as you would think, like, for instance, in Elvis' "Flaming Star" (1960). The locations and sets are excellent, such as the Western town and the fort; and the costuming is quite good as well. On top of all this, Scott shines as the winsome protagonist and you'll find yourself rooting for him and his sidekick. Not to mention the two women are quite fetching. The only problem I had with this movie is the poor dubbing and the washed-out (non) colors of the public domain DVD I viewed. To add insult to injury it's a pan & scan version where one person talking in a scene might be totally off camera but, thankfully, I only really noticed that in one scene near the end. I would love to see a widescreen version with brighter colors.

The movie runs about 90 minutes and was shot in Spain and Elios Studios, Rome.

GRADE: B-

Handsome Euro western genre film here, kind of straddling two genres at once. Gordon Scott is well cast & appropriately larger than life as the Indian fighter turned US Army scout Buffalo Bill Cody, trading in his Samson tunic for a buckskin jacket + goatee. Not sure if the Italian, French & Spanish filmmakers who made this followed much of Buffalo Bill's actual history for their plot, but then again that isn't really the point of the film.

Which was to find a wholesome heroic good guy for Gordon Scott to play in an early spaghetti western. And he plays Cody pretty much as he played the Son of Hercules: Strapping, brawny, beefy, but surprisingly intelligent, insightful, and considerate of even the guy whom he beats the stuffing out of in a bar room brawl. He is almost insufferably good, working for the native Indians to live side by side with his fellow Palefaces and keep the two sides from massacring each other.

Once you get down to it the basic premise of the film has been lifted more from the Winnetou/Old Shatterhand films from Germany & Yugoslavia which precipitated the Italian/Spanish spaghetti western boom. Gordon Scott's appearance and mannerism is almost a dead ripoff of Lex Barker's Shatterhand, though there's no Winnetou analog. Instead the film seems to want to experiment with putting this Shatterhand surrogate into some of the trappings of what would become the spaghetti western approach.

Which is one of the things that makes the film unique -- a genuine Hero, rather than an ambiguous Anti-Hero, and Scott was well prepared for the undertaking. Sure, it's silly and potentially offensive to see Spanish supporting actors dressed up like Injun braves and dubbed by voice actors with mid-Atlantic quasi British accents. What the film may lack in terms of authenticity it makes up for with wide-eyed innocence, and they even have Scott ride off waving to the crowd in the end to the applause & cheers of those he had saved, just like in his Maciste films. Not something you'd see Clint Eastwood do, that's for sure.

The film was most likely made in 1964 as the Italian Peplum sword & sandal era was coming to an end, and from the looks of it the producing studio apparently figured that by bringing along one of their most popular Peplum matinée stars they'd be able to translate the medium into a western and be guaranteed a hit. The production standards of the film are respectfully robust and there's quite a large supporting cast; they spent some money on this one, and while voters on the IMDb may not have thought much of the results it's a shame that they didn't get a little film series out of the effort.

One of the problems was Gordon Scott, who made one more Euro western for Albert Band, the tragic Spanish romantic range drama THE TRAMPLERS which isn't nearly half as much fun as this one. Rumor has it that while preparing to make a third western Scott's nose was broken by co-star Mario Brega (who plays a Bud Spencer-ish lummox rogue in this one) and found the disfigurement ruinous to his photogenic looks. Scott made two more action/adventure films of the spy genre ilk and abruptly retired from the industry in late 1965, the year this film was released.

The spaghetti genre itself had also changed by the time this film was circulating, with the more stylish approaches of DJANGO and Sergio Leone's "Dollar" films making the more traditionalist approach seen here look a bit old fashioned by comparison. And that's exactly why I adore it: Here's a spaghetti western from the infancy of the genre when they were still making movies about good guys & bad guys, Injuns and the cavalry, and a do-gooder hero designed to be rooted for like he was Audie Murphy or something. The change of pace is quite refreshing.

7/10: Something Weird Video apparently has a widescreen English version on VHS & DVD-R, which you can order directly from their website. Take a look.

BUFFALO BILL, HERO OF THE FAR WEST is a typical western that has more in common with the Winnetou films coming out of West Germany than the new-fanged spaghetti westerns that followed in the wake of A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS. It stars former Tarzan and peplum actor Gordon Scott as the upstanding titular hero, who must tackle a sinister plot that involves renegade cowboys and ruthless Indians, and offers plenty of bang for your buck.

This is a film which is neither particularly good nor particularly bad. It just sort of exists, and remains watchable thanks to an emphasis on action. The requisite shoot-outs are present and correct, but there's a greater focus on drawn-out and dragged-out slug-fests between Scott and the villains. Mario Brega makes for a great hulking brute and Scott's endless fist fight with him is a highlight, as is the climactic battle. Elsewhere there's time for a little romance and time for a little plotting, alongside the usual trappings of gorgeous scenery and bad dubbing (including that of Scott himself).

Although "Buffalo Bill, Hero Of The West" is a western made by European filmmakers, it isn't quite like what you usually associate with spaghetti westerns. The movie plays out like it was made by American filmmakers, from the standard western plot right down to the musical score. That doesn't mean that spaghetti western fans won't find anything to enjoy here. For starters, this movie clearly had a budget; there are dozens of extras, as well as a complete replica of an army fort built. Also, the action sequences, from hand-to-hand combat to gun battles, are pretty well done. However, the story, despite the presence of the colorful wild west figure Buffalo Bill, is often kind of flat and predictable. Still, if you are a spaghetti western fan, the movie has enough interesting elements to make it worth a look. However, if you do decide to watch it, seek out a copy that presents the movie in its true widescreen format - the pan and scan editions frequently cut off speaking characters photographed to the far left and right.