Shalako

Given its director (Edward Dmytryk) and its cast (Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot) it is rather odd that 'Shalako" (1969) is such an obscure film and that so many of the comments/reviews are totally negative. "Spaghetti" westerns (filmed in Italy or Spain) were quite the rage in the late 1960's and "Shalako" is about what you would get if "Hombre" (1967) had been given a mild "Spaghetti" treatment.

While not even remotely on the level of Monte Hellman's stuff, "Shalako" is an entertaining and comprehensible western that most viewers will get into and enjoy until about the ¾ mark when the wheels fall off and it drags along to a less than spectacular resolution.

Dmytryk was a veteran action director who occasionally ("Eight Iron Men" and "The Young Lions") even did a good job of directing actors for the camera. This was one of his last efforts and he seems to have stayed focused on the action and paid little attention to the performances themselves.

Connery plays the title character, an experienced frontiersman who (like Paul Newman in "Hombre") is forced by circumstances into guiding a bunch of clueless civilians to safety. "Hombre" had Newman (a white man raised by Indians) in the moral dilemma of having to assist a group of people for which he has total contempt. Shalako ' s situation is simpler: he must extract a European aristocrat's hunting party who have ticked off the Apache's by coming onto their reservation and who have been betrayed by their cowboy hunting guides. Although he has little use for most of this group he has developed a grudging respect for a plucky countess (Bardot). There is decent chemistry in the early Connery-Bardot scenes but it does not sustain itself as the relationship begins to turn romantic.

As in "Hombre" there is an interesting twist with the young wife (Honor Blackman) of one of the aristocrats deciding to leave her husband for the dangerous cowboy (Stephan Boyd) who has just placed the group at the mercy of the elements (and the Indians). Blackman is excellent in this part , the only really challenging role in the production.

Dmytryk does an excellent job with his first three action sequences, including a surprisingly credible dawn attack on the camp of the hunting party and a more traditional stagecoach chase sequence. But as already mentioned, the film is extremely front-end loaded and he has dissipated all the tension before the climatic sequence even begins.

"Hombre" on the other hand withheld its best sequence until the end and managed to pack some nice irony into its resolution. You won't find this in "Shalako", in fact the final 20 minutes are so listless your mind begins mulling over the plot holes. Like how did Boyd's character manage to walk all the way to the top of the plateau without being detected by the Indians? When you have to insert a detailed verbal explanation for something totally inexplicable (that has happened "off" camera) a competent editor knows that it is time for some major trimming and a focused director begins revising his script.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

The idea behind Shalako is not as preposterous as it sounds. Lots of European nobles came here for hunting parties during the American wild west period. As was pointed out in the beginning of Shalako among others was the Grand Duke Alexis of Russia where Buffalo Bill served as a guide to his party.

That being said I'm sure none of them were as dense as Peter Van Eyck who when warned of Indian danger, refuse to leave an area. Quite frankly those Indians should have wiped those blockheads out and would have if not for the efforts of intrepid Indian scout Shalako, played by Sean Connery in a cowboy suit.

Connery looks real nice, but if he wanted to play a western a better script would have done for him. Sean knows this thing is a turkey, but if you had the opportunity to work with Brigette Bardot, would you pass it up.

Stephen Boyd is the best one here as the turncoat guide of the Europeans. Boyd was a good looking man with a trace of arrogance in his screen persona that made him right for a part like Messala in Ben-Hur, but wrong for Livius in The Fall of the Roman Empire. He's back in his proper element.

And I can't give the ending away, but folks take my word for it, it is ridiculous.

Still if you want to see some unfamiliar faces for westerns, this is a good movie to see.

SHALAKO is a movie that often appears in peoples least favourite western lists and looking at this page many people have said how much they dislike it but as someone who doesn't like the genre all that much I can't say it's all that bad First of all the premise is fairly simple without being threadbare which while not being a guarantee you'll be watching a great movie is often a guarantee you won't be watching an awful one: A bunch of European toffs on a hunting trip arrogantly wander into an Indian reservation and after being warned to leave by former army scout Shalako decide to ignore his expert advice which leads to some nasty consequences .

It's not a great story but it does allow for some character conflict and some serious violence . It might seem tame today but this movie was produced in 1968 when audiences were still being treated to war films where when people were shot they give a pained expression , clutched their wound and slowly sank to the ground like a dying swan . The somewhat sadistic violence is probably the main talking point of SHALAKO especially the scene with the sand and the necklace , you'll know the scene when you see it

Yeah it's flawed film . One point is the many accents used which makes it rather difficult to understand the dialoguein some scenes which probably annoyed an American audience while many of the characters remain somewhat underwritten , I kept forgetting senator Henry Clarke was in the story until he appeared on screen in an infrequent manner . As for the casting Eric Sykes seems to be doing his comedy routine while Apache chiefs shouldn't be played by African Americans

But all in all SHALAKO isn't as bad as some people would have you believe

Brigitte Bardot went on to Hollywood but did not fare any better... 'Shalako,' a British-produced Western directed by Edward Dmytryk, teamed her with Sean Connery and Stephen Boyd (her partner in 'The Night Heaven Fell') in a smoldering relationship charged with tension and passion...

The idea is cute and unbelievable: A party of European aristocrats are on a hunting safari in New Mexico in the 1880's... They are traveling with full equipage including butlers, maids, fine linens and vintage wines...

When their safari is led upon an Apache reservation, the Indians become annoyed, and Countess Irina Lazaar (Brigitte Bardot) is attacked by a savage Apache... Shalako (Sean Connery), a scout for the U.S. Army, bravely attempts to save her and leads the aristocrats away from imminent annihilation... With the Indians determined to attack, each member of the hunting party faces the greatest peril of their lives...

Edward Dmytryk seems to have attempted to recapture the freshness and essence of the 'B.B.' that Roger Vadim had helped to shape... But the re-creation escapes him, despite the careful choice of Louis L'Amour's novel and the casting of international stars as Jack Hawkins ('Lawrence of Arabia'), Peter Van Eyck ('The Longest Day'), Honor Blackman ('Goldfinger'), Woody Strode ('Spartacus'), and Valerie French ('Jubal').

The film never becomes exciting despite incidental brutalities...

The caste alone is worth the admission: Connery, Bardot, Hawkins,Steven Boyd, Eric Sykes, Honor Blackman, Woody Strode, others ... Mostly European (actors) - strange for a Western - but not unrealistic to the times. Hawkins and Boyd - both recently out of starring in Ben Hur. A coterie of fine acting talent and charismatic screen artists. Proves my theory as to why Western Film will never die: Every Actor and every Director want to make a Western at some point. Connery and Bardot have some nice interplay in sharing the bulk of the screen time. Meanwhile here's some decent action here in what is a pretty well a straight up Western adventure tale. Possibly a Western that will enjoy greater appreciation with time.