Les Collines de la terreur

A laconic Apache is pursued by a posse to solve a sheriff's death , dead in self-defense showdown by Chato (Charles Bronson) . Stalking the misfit group who are allegedly to be chasing him , after they attack his woman and family . A veteran confederate officer (Jack Palance) leads the posse (Victor French , James Withmore , Lee Patterson) along with three brutal brothers (Richard Jordan , Simon Oakland , Ralph Waite). Chino struggles to maintain his livelihood and later on , he seeks revenge .

This offbeat Western film displays excessive violence , noisy action and orgies of destruction of life and property . It's full of fury , sound , sadism and gratuitous violence . Characters are beaten, killed and raped . Pretty good Charles Bronson in his ordinary tough role , this film is one of Charles Bronson's 70s westerns ; his westerns made during the 1970s include Red sun (1971), Chato the Apache (1972), From noon till three (1976), Nevada Express (1975) and The White Buffalo (1977) . For Charles Bronson fans , it's full of what made his movies so popular . Although isn't among Bronson's stronger , this is one of his more viscerally effective movies . Striking and atmospheric musical score by Jerry Fielding , Sam Peckinpah's usual . Colorful cinematography by Robert Paynter reflecting splendidly the barren outdoors from Almeria (Spain) , as usual . The motion picture was well directed by Michael Winner . This is the first film out of six that Charles Bronson and Michael Winner made together . Winner had important commercial successes in the mid-70 with his fetish actor , Charles Bronson , achieving various box-office hits, such as ¨Deathwish I and II, furthermore, ¨The mechanics¨ and ¨The stone killer¨.

Michael Winner's "Chato's Land" of 1972 starring the great late Charles Bronson and the equally grand Jack Palance, who also passed away recently, is a tough-minded and violent English Western which should not be missed, and a must-see for every Bronson fan. Director Winner, who is most famous for his violent 1974 cult classic "Death Wish", is certainly one of the masters of uncompromising revenge cinema and "Chato's Land", Winners first collaboration with Bronson, is one of the movies which have rightly earned him this reputation.

When half-breed Apache Pardon Chato (Bronson) shoots a racist Sheriff in self defense in a Saloon, local men form a posse to catch him, in order to hang him as soon as possible. The posse is lead by former Confederate Captain Quincy Whitmore, who is more keen on the manhunt just for the good old times than out of hate towards Chato. The sadistic Hooker brothers who have also joined the posse, however, hate Indians of any kind, and they don't have the slightest scruples of doing anything to make the fugitive pay for defending himself. As the posse members get deeper and deeper into the desert of Indian territory, however, they have to find out that they might have underestimated their opponent. This is Chato's land, and in Chato's land the hunters can quickly become the hunted...

The acting in "Chato's Land" is great, Charles Bronson, who hardly says a word fits perfectly into his role. Jack Palance is superb in his role of Capt. Quincy Whitmore, and I couldn't imagine anybody else but Bronson and Palance to play the leading parts in this. Simon Oakland and Richard Johnson are also great in their ugly roles of Jubal Hooker and his psychopathic little brother Earl, and the cast furthermore contains Richard Basehart. The film is very well photographed in the Spanish Almería, certainly the best location for European Westerns.

"Chato's Land" is a brutal, tough-minded and great Western, which should not be missed by anybody who likes revenge movies. The performances are excellent, and the movie is stunning, raw and atmospheric from the beginning to the end. A must-see for Charles Bronson fans, Chato's Land is a great film. Highly recommended.

A tale of western revenge, "Chato's Land" has a cast of many well known actors including Jack Palance, Richard Basehart, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Victor French and James Whitmore as well as Bronson in the lead role as Pardon Chato.

Chato is a half-breed Apache who makes the mistake of visiting a town that is hostile towards Indians. Being set upon by the sadistic town Marshall, Chato kills the lawman in self defense and must run from a posse of the town's people led by Jack Palance as Quincy Whitmore. Palance is excellent as Whitmore, an ex-Confederate officer who still longs after the excitement that comes from waging war. Leading the town's men in pursuit of Chato, Whitmore is decked out in his Confederate officer's jacket and plummed hat. Along with Whitmore is Nye Buell (Basehart) dressed in top hat and frock coat offering his whiskey laden salty commentary along the way. Simon Oakland also does a fine job as Jubal Hooker, the vicious elder of the degenerate Hooker clan who takes control of the posse from Quincy and ultimately cause the death of several of the posse members.

This movie has some beautifully set scenery that captures the harshness of the desert land that Chato takes refuge in. Whitmore comments that the harsh land is something that a white man would just damn off to hell and forget, but to Chato who doesn't ask much or take much from the land, it is almost a living thing.

Chato's Land was a pleasant surprise, due to its mixed reception and that the type of film that it falls under is not always my thing I was not expecting an awful lot. But seeing as the cast was a good one on paper I thought, why not? Chato's Land is not going to be for everybody, it's very gritty and violent(some of it being not for the faint-hearted, the most memorable of it actually being very brutal) and Michael Winner's films are the kind that will entertain some and not be others' cup of tea.

The film is a touch overlong and gets a bit draggy in spots, while the ending is rather abrupt and rushed- sure it was intended to be ambiguous but for me there was the feeling of uncertainty of how to end it- and the day-for-night lighting/shooting is awfully obvious. Jerry Fiedler's music score compliments the film well and dynamically orchestrated but could have had a more sweeping punch and with less of a TV series and workmanlike pace. However Chato's Land was a pretty good film, apart from the day-for-night it's reasonably well made with splendidly gritty scenery and handsome photography that suits the atmosphere. Chato's Land is also very intelligently scripted with some remarkably literate dialogue, the direction from Michael Winner is above competent at least pacing and technically-wise and the story mostly is well-paced and compelling.

In terms of action, that in Chato's Land is sparse but when it does appear it really does pack a punch. For an action/Western film, what was really impressive about Chato's Land was the way the characters are written. The characters here are very interesting and with plenty of layers, Captain Whitmore is a very multi-faceted character and perhaps the most multi-faceted role of Jack Palance's career. The great performances help(apart from for my tastes the hammy one of Richard Jordan), Charles Bronson has rarely looked better and brings a real commanding charisma every time he appears, very telling even when not saying very much. James Whitmore, Richard Basehart, Simon Oakland and Ralph Waite give solid support but best of all is Jack Palance, who is superb in one of his better and more layered performances.

Overall, far from perfect and not for everybody's tastebuds but a pretty good film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Charles Bronson plays Chato a half-breed(as they used to say) Apache/White, who finds himself a hunted man when he kills a racist sheriff in a saloon. Despite it being an obvious case of self defense, the townspeople form a posse led by former confederate Quincey Whitmore(Jack Palance, well cast) who seems excited about being in a leadership position again. They pursue Chato into his territory in the mountains, only to discover that they have vastly underestimated him, and that he is determined to get rid of them in any way he can...

Charles Bronson is not given much dialogue here, but is in amazingly good shape, as he is seen shirtless for the film's duration. The posse are shown to be either ignorant and hateful, or just in over their heads. Sympathy is clearly for Chato, who was wronged, but is also quite ruthless himself(justified though.) Allegorical to Vietnam in the sense of a group of Americans thinking their quarry an ignorant savage, but learn that it was foolhardy to pursue him on his own ground.

Though quite grim, it is realistic; Bronson has incredible screen presence, and director Michael Winner presents this story in taut fashion, with a striking ending.