With the fate of the frontier hanging in the balance, a former cavalry officer is called back into action to rescue a beautiful maiden from the clutches a band of renegade Black Claw Indians... Read allWith the fate of the frontier hanging in the balance, a former cavalry officer is called back into action to rescue a beautiful maiden from the clutches a band of renegade Black Claw Indians led by a frightening medicine man.With the fate of the frontier hanging in the balance, a former cavalry officer is called back into action to rescue a beautiful maiden from the clutches a band of renegade Black Claw Indians led by a frightening medicine man.
Jimmy Redhawk James
- Chief White Elk
- (as Jimmy James Jr.)
William Bookston
- Green Tooth
- (as Bill Bookston)
- Directors
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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Captain Bugle entertains people in the old West by boxing. He and his partner Cartwright are con men, and Bugle pretends not to be very good, until the end when it counts.
In a typical Western town, Prescott Seavers and his partner are another pair of con men. They play poker and always seem to end up short when there's a lot of money to be won. So they always conveniently have a valuable mining claim to bet, which the other person wins. The claims are pretty much worthless, since not only do they have a whole stack of them hidden, but the Black Claw live on the land where the claims are and respond violently to anyone who trespasses.
One of those winners is willing to try mining, but he needs a guide. The guide he picks turns out to be a crook, but our hero Bugle shows up just in time, and he takes over.
The Black Claw, including Red Bear (later renamed Bad Face after an incident that makes the other Indians laugh), kidnap Patricia and leave our heroes for dead. Or are they really dead? Can Patricia be rescued without a bloody war that will result in massive destruction and loss of life? The white men have plenty of soldiers and determination, and they don't care how many might die. But there may be a solution ...
I think this was supposed to be a comedy, or even a parody, of Westerns. It's not politically correct, though the Indians do seem to justify their violent behavior. It is, after all, their land, and the Great Spirit is offended by the behavior of the white man.
In order to take this movie seriously, you have to laugh at it. If anyone intended this to be serious, they failed miserably. Even the background music makes it clear we are supposed to laugh.
Alvin Cowan as Bugle shows all the emotion of, say, Jean Claude van Damme. He's also just as heroic. And he does occasionally show some actual talent beyond fighting ability. Amazing fighting ability.
Katy Maloney shows a lot of courage. Patricia is willing to do whatever it takes, even die. And with these people, she just might.
James McCarthy also gives a good performance, or at least he seems talented because of the British accent. He seems out of place in the old West, but quite sophisticated and able to handle himself if needed.
It's different from the average Western. Not the gold standard of "Blazing Saddles", but .... interesting.
In a typical Western town, Prescott Seavers and his partner are another pair of con men. They play poker and always seem to end up short when there's a lot of money to be won. So they always conveniently have a valuable mining claim to bet, which the other person wins. The claims are pretty much worthless, since not only do they have a whole stack of them hidden, but the Black Claw live on the land where the claims are and respond violently to anyone who trespasses.
One of those winners is willing to try mining, but he needs a guide. The guide he picks turns out to be a crook, but our hero Bugle shows up just in time, and he takes over.
The Black Claw, including Red Bear (later renamed Bad Face after an incident that makes the other Indians laugh), kidnap Patricia and leave our heroes for dead. Or are they really dead? Can Patricia be rescued without a bloody war that will result in massive destruction and loss of life? The white men have plenty of soldiers and determination, and they don't care how many might die. But there may be a solution ...
I think this was supposed to be a comedy, or even a parody, of Westerns. It's not politically correct, though the Indians do seem to justify their violent behavior. It is, after all, their land, and the Great Spirit is offended by the behavior of the white man.
In order to take this movie seriously, you have to laugh at it. If anyone intended this to be serious, they failed miserably. Even the background music makes it clear we are supposed to laugh.
Alvin Cowan as Bugle shows all the emotion of, say, Jean Claude van Damme. He's also just as heroic. And he does occasionally show some actual talent beyond fighting ability. Amazing fighting ability.
Katy Maloney shows a lot of courage. Patricia is willing to do whatever it takes, even die. And with these people, she just might.
James McCarthy also gives a good performance, or at least he seems talented because of the British accent. He seems out of place in the old West, but quite sophisticated and able to handle himself if needed.
It's different from the average Western. Not the gold standard of "Blazing Saddles", but .... interesting.
1hefz
Lighting is bad. In the same scene, some skin tones were washed out while others were almost totally unlit. The sound is bad (speech is similar to 'projecting' high school stage actors before rehearsals are complete)
The amount of stereotyping is shocking; Native American war chants and 'whooping' are only one example. Actors seemed totally unconvincing.
At the date of this review, there were 13 ratings of 10/10 and some reviews were written in decent English but were totally accepting of the nearly unprecedented-for-even-modern-TV flaws (November update, the trend continues: out of 139 ratings there are now 18 ratings of 10/10. Making this more suspicious, there is only 1 rating of 9/10 and another 2 ratings of 8/10. On the 10 point scale, the median rating is a more representative and honest 2/10).
My guess is that the cast, and the directors etc, solicited friends and other friendly people to watch and vote on, and in some cases review, this mess (The November update data above suggest that that guess is still on target).
The amount of stereotyping is shocking; Native American war chants and 'whooping' are only one example. Actors seemed totally unconvincing.
At the date of this review, there were 13 ratings of 10/10 and some reviews were written in decent English but were totally accepting of the nearly unprecedented-for-even-modern-TV flaws (November update, the trend continues: out of 139 ratings there are now 18 ratings of 10/10. Making this more suspicious, there is only 1 rating of 9/10 and another 2 ratings of 8/10. On the 10 point scale, the median rating is a more representative and honest 2/10).
My guess is that the cast, and the directors etc, solicited friends and other friendly people to watch and vote on, and in some cases review, this mess (The November update data above suggest that that guess is still on target).
Would give it one star but the sheer horrendous nature of the film gives one at least a little bit of fun mocking it.
Where to start.
The acting and script are beyond bad. It seems like they were almost trying to be more campy than the old racists Westerns from the 50's and failed. I an shocked they were able to find that many really horrible Amerind actors. I've seen third grade plays with more depth to the characters.
Set and costuming: Okay I get that they have no budget but honestly the anachronisms were over the top. Surely there must have been someone around at the time that could have dug up some props that weren't entirely composed of shiny new plastic. None of the weapons, be they native or European, were period and the costumes seem to be entirely composed of items the director had found in the back of his closet. I imagine the beads were probably left over from the previous years Mardi Gras celebration.
Would not watch again. Wish I hadn't watched in the first place.
Where to start.
The acting and script are beyond bad. It seems like they were almost trying to be more campy than the old racists Westerns from the 50's and failed. I an shocked they were able to find that many really horrible Amerind actors. I've seen third grade plays with more depth to the characters.
Set and costuming: Okay I get that they have no budget but honestly the anachronisms were over the top. Surely there must have been someone around at the time that could have dug up some props that weren't entirely composed of shiny new plastic. None of the weapons, be they native or European, were period and the costumes seem to be entirely composed of items the director had found in the back of his closet. I imagine the beads were probably left over from the previous years Mardi Gras celebration.
Would not watch again. Wish I hadn't watched in the first place.
I just got done watching this movie. I rated it as a "1" only because the scale didn't go any lower. This is, by far, the absolute worst film I've ever had soil my poor eyeballs. I have to echo the sentiments expressed by some of the other reviewers about the poor acting, shoddy camera work, and generally bad editing.
When writing a review there's a "spoiler alert" button you need to click if your review contains any. There's no worry about that with this film. The only thing that's going to be spoiled is the 86 minutes you will lose out of your life watching it. It's sad because I've seen a lot of bad movies. Most have some redeeming value that present the possibility of them becoming a cult classic in the future. There's no such hope here.
The best (and funniest) thing about the movie was reading the end credits. The two brothers sure wore a lot of hats.
When writing a review there's a "spoiler alert" button you need to click if your review contains any. There's no worry about that with this film. The only thing that's going to be spoiled is the 86 minutes you will lose out of your life watching it. It's sad because I've seen a lot of bad movies. Most have some redeeming value that present the possibility of them becoming a cult classic in the future. There's no such hope here.
The best (and funniest) thing about the movie was reading the end credits. The two brothers sure wore a lot of hats.
First, let me say that I've directed low budget Old West street plays for fairs and events and that I've done a few films in my time. That being said, I would not have been very comfortable with the outcome of this project.
We knew this was going to be what appeared to be a weekend production by a relatively new director, actors and crew when we saw the modern grip sole pattern clearly visible on the boots of one of the actors in the first fight scene. Not much time was taken to age or research the clothing, most of which appeared as if it had been purchased the previous day from an outfitter I know in Tucson. The horse saddles and rigs were so new looking you could practically identify the brand of coating on the leather. And, all through the production, we spotted items that were anomalous to the late 1800's. However, the weapons and Colt pistols appeared to be used and reasonable looking if only the actors had known how to fake a recoil when shooting blanks.
Generally speaking, there are moments and scenes in this film that work as a story of people of the Old West who did not really take themselves too seriously. However, there were so many mistakes in the production and the story line that you had to marvel at the ingenuity needed to pull off the project on what was obviously a low budget, student level film. I've seen local student films at Watsons School of Film here in Nashville that either compare favorably with, or thoroughly outclass this production. Many of the actors gave us the impression of being weekend reenactors who had been given a film opportunity.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed watching simply so that I could learn more about what does and doesn't work on these type productions. Most of the actors had enough chops that, given time and direction, they could have pulled off some very convincing characterizations. For that effort, most of them deserve to be commended for committing themselves to the part for some level of realism.
All in all, had I been the producer, I think it might have been much easier to simplify the story line, dispense with scenes that needed a town or backdrops that were obviously modern, and invest in some better establishing shots and quality lighting and reflection equipment. With those kinds of changes, this production could have been shot to play just like a high budget project by a major studio.
We knew this was going to be what appeared to be a weekend production by a relatively new director, actors and crew when we saw the modern grip sole pattern clearly visible on the boots of one of the actors in the first fight scene. Not much time was taken to age or research the clothing, most of which appeared as if it had been purchased the previous day from an outfitter I know in Tucson. The horse saddles and rigs were so new looking you could practically identify the brand of coating on the leather. And, all through the production, we spotted items that were anomalous to the late 1800's. However, the weapons and Colt pistols appeared to be used and reasonable looking if only the actors had known how to fake a recoil when shooting blanks.
Generally speaking, there are moments and scenes in this film that work as a story of people of the Old West who did not really take themselves too seriously. However, there were so many mistakes in the production and the story line that you had to marvel at the ingenuity needed to pull off the project on what was obviously a low budget, student level film. I've seen local student films at Watsons School of Film here in Nashville that either compare favorably with, or thoroughly outclass this production. Many of the actors gave us the impression of being weekend reenactors who had been given a film opportunity.
Don't get me wrong. I enjoyed watching simply so that I could learn more about what does and doesn't work on these type productions. Most of the actors had enough chops that, given time and direction, they could have pulled off some very convincing characterizations. For that effort, most of them deserve to be commended for committing themselves to the part for some level of realism.
All in all, had I been the producer, I think it might have been much easier to simplify the story line, dispense with scenes that needed a town or backdrops that were obviously modern, and invest in some better establishing shots and quality lighting and reflection equipment. With those kinds of changes, this production could have been shot to play just like a high budget project by a major studio.
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