La ultima lucha del Apache

Born in Brest,Britanny ,and recently deceased,Pierre Brice is a French actor who is virtually unknown in his native country whereas he is considered an icon in Germany;He used to live in Garmish-Partenkirschen , a splendid town in the mountain ,where you can see his house.

Hugo Fregonese ,who worked in Argentina ,America ,England ,and here in Germany enjoyed a good reputation ;his work here is effective, notably in the attack of the farm ,treated with a remarkable economy of means (one only sees a little boy in the house), in the somber scenes :the colonel lying in a room of the fort,and the finale ,which avoids the obligatory happy end .The cinematography is luminous and attractive .

In this second part,Winnetou takes a back seat to his paleface brother Shatterhand ;apart from the single combat ,he keeps a low profile, playing the part of the wise man, the pacifist ,urging his people to smoke the pipes of peace; Shatterhand has the active part , and it's funny to see him pit against baddie officer Bradley; in "il boia di venezia " , Lex Barker (the brave good guy) already played opposite Guy Madison (the calculating villain). On the other hand, Paloma (polyglot Daliah Lavi) is a character who does not bring much to the plot .

Not a western masterpiece, but an entertaining one ,with never a dull moment.

Adventures , action , crossfire and gorgeous Yugoslavian exteriors magnificently photographed . Again the intimate Winnetou and Old Shatterhand in a dangerous adventure set on wonderful landscapes . As usual , at the beginning takes place an emotive meeting between and Winnetou (Pierre Brice) and Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker married Spanish Carmen Cervera and early deceased Lex , she subsequently wedded Baron Thyssen) . This time Winnetou and Old Shatterhand have to battle some renegades who attempt to break a peace treaty between White Men and Indians . As bandits trying to get the army to abandon their fort get the Indians addicted to whiskey, then convince them to attack and drive out the soldiers . Then , beloved Winnetou attempts a treaty of peace and prepares a summit between the Indian tribes and the Northern General Taylor (Charles Fawcett) . Meantime , Old Shatterland and his faithful half-brother are on the trail to chase the nasty Dixon (Rik Battaglia) . Capt. Bradley (Guy Madison) , Sergeant (Gustavo Rojo) and Dixon want to create a war between the native American tribes and the white men . Then Old Shatterhand, Winnetou and their sidekick Sam Hawkens (ordinary Ralf Wolter) try to prevent this . Old Shatterhand and Sam set out on pursuit of the bandits and prepares them a trap . Later on , Apache chief Winnetou tries to free his adopted son called Tujunga and Old Shatterhand who have been taken prisoners by a traitor captain (Guy Madison) . Apaches are joined by a Comanche party and both of them attack the fort at a spectacular scenes . At the end , Indians besiege the fort and occurs a breathtaking epilogue by means of arrows , shootouts , explosions and cannons.

This Western|Adventure results to be a pleasant episode about one of the series of popular German made Western , featuring the duo formed by valiant ¨Old Shatterhand¨ who agrees to help Indians against White traitors and immortal ¨Winnetou¨ , both of them repeat their same notorious roles as dignified as always . This enjoyable saga benefits from sensational adventures , shootouts , explosions , exciting combats , larger-than-life characters and impressive scenarios . Furthermore , a lovely support cast ,such as Daliah Lavi as a gorgeous , exotic Mestiza , the American Guy Madison , Spanish Gustavo Rojo , Italian Mirko Ellis and Gojko Mitic who is one of the most famous and most loved actors in East Germany and in the other countries in Eastern Europe and starred a lot of Indian roles . Winnetou-Pierre Brice repeats , as usual, his excellent and immortal role to be continued in a TV series. Lex Barker scores especially high marks , though he plays as a serious and intelligent frontiersman . Enjoyable relationship between Old Shatterhand and Winnetou is quite match . Pierre Brice is sensational as Winnetou , he is descendant of old French nobility , after enlisting as volunteer to the French Army and fighting in Indochina, he attended acting lessons and got a first small role in some film . In 1962, a German producer searched for an actor who should play the Native American chief Winnetou on a Western movie adapted from novels by Karl May and got to know Brice at the Berlin Film Festival. He got the role and portrayed "Winnetou" in ten more movies with his co-star Lex Barker as "Old Shatterhand". These very successful productions made him a superstar in Germany, winning several awards such as Bambi or the Golden Otto of teenager magazine "Bravo". Furthermore , received Germany's Cross of Merit, First Class as one the most popular Frenchmen in Germany . Although appearing on countless other movies and TV shows, he will always be best remembered as "Winnetou", whom he also played at the Bad Segeberg open air theater.

The highbrow Lex Barker who like his co-star and good friend Pierre Brice started a singing career and released several records and played most part of series : ¨Apache gold (1963)¨ by Harald Reinl, ¨Apaches last Battle (1964)¨ by Hugo Fregonese, ¨Last of renegades(1964)¨, ¨The desperate trail¨, ¨Old Surehand¨ (1965) directed by Alfred Vohrer, "Half-Breed" (1966)¨ by Harald Philipp, ¨In the valley of death(1968)¨ by Harald Reinl . Stewart Granger took the role in two occasions ,he starred a diverse character but the role is pretty similar to Old Shatterland , he plays with mirth and liking manner as ¨Among vultures¨ and ¨Winnetou and Surehand¨ .Besides Rod Cameron starred only one : ¨Old Firehand¨ in which chemistry between stuffy Cameron and Brice is inexistent . The film displays a colorful cinematography in Superpanorama 70 , filmed in Atelier, Spandau, Berlin, Germany (studio) and location Krka Falls, Krka National Park, Croatia , Krute, Popovo Polje, Tresbisnica river,Yugoslavia ,Ulcinj, Montenegro . Catching , sensitive musical score ,though with excessive use of synthesizer by Italian Riz Ortalani , replacing Martin Bottcher , series' ordinary , being eventually substituted in some episode by Peter Thomas . The motion picture produced by Artur Brauner Productions - still successfully working- was professionally directed by Hugo Fregonese . Hugo was an Argentina director who emigrated to Hollywood, then became technical adviser on latino themes at Columbia Studios in Hollywood, and subsequently under contract at Universal from 1950 to 1952 filming ¨Man in the attic¨ with Jack Palance , ¨Blowing wild¨with Gary Cooper , ¨Decameron Nights¨with Joan Fontaine , ¨Harry Black and the tiger¨with Steart Granger . Spent the rest of the decade in Europe directing Euro-westerns as ¨Savage Pampas¨ and potboilers as "The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse" , Terror as "Dracula vs. Frankenstein" before finishing his career back in the country of his birth . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable . Worthwhile seeing for marvelous landscapes and breathtaking outdoors from Yugoslavia and Croatia.

To my mind, it s the best movie about Winnetou. It's less romantic than Harald Reinls films about Winnetou. It's more realistic. But it is unforgettable. Pierre Brice's Winnetou is fascinating. It's simple, but noble and very convincing. Especially the scene in which he find his dead son Tujunga, is very touching. His antagonists are strong characters. Guy Madison, Rik Battaglia Mirko Ellis. Sam Hawkens (Ralf Wolter) is a vivid character as always. Daliah Lavi is exotic as Paloma. Lex Barker isn't a very interesting actor, but he has a right figure and face for Shatterhand. This movie have the very best 2 man's fighting scene (Winnetou and the Comanche's's chief) and the best big battle's scene in Winnetou movies. Only the music isn't so good as music of Peter Thomas ("Winnetou and sein freund Old Firehand") and Martin Boettcher (other Winnetou movies).

This movie stresses to Lex Barker, and Winnetou degenerates as a helping rider. For those music fans, rely on Martin Boettcher, Daliah Lavi didn' t sing a typical song. Some kind of action is worth watching the non original Karl May picturization.

The striking character of this film is its visual beauty and stylish quality of art. Pierre Brice as Winnetou makes an impressing character for his nobility and integrity from beginning to end, and Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand matches him well enough. All the other actors are good as well. It's a grim story, there are some atrocious incidents with bloodsheds and nasty treasons on the way, but the loveliness of the landscapes and photography make the film more than enjoyable all the way in spite of the nastiness of the foul play of the white man. Karl May the author was one of the first to side with the Indians against the white man as he wrote his great Winnetou novels in his 50s in the 1890s, and they are still unique and impressing for their moral paragon of nobility. Seldom has the desert of the Apaches been so beautifully filmed as in this classic of an odd and much underrated western film.