Chato's Land
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Movie Reviews of Chato's Land
Movie Review: CHATO IS CHARLIE, CHARLIE IS CHATO
Summary: 4 Stars
Though I would consider Charles Bronson to have been one of my more favorite action actors, I had never seen this movie until a recent airing on the Western Channel. Low budget but well done.
Just a few comments: I enjoyed the movie and will certainly watch it again. I would also say for me the picture is on the same level as Breakheart Pass or a few other pictures from Charlie. Which means that it is a solid 3 to 4 star movie. Yes, I know, we have a non-Indian playing an Indian, well, that is how they did it back then. Also it isn't historical either, but then I doubt very much that it was meant to be. Accept it for what it was meant to be and is, very entertaining fiction.
A couple problems with the film: it does seem somewhat dated, the kind of low budget early 70s Hollywood movie being put out back then. And I would hesitate to use the word 'western' for this track and chase movie. A western novel of today would label it "historical fiction" not western. Good Hollywood here, but bad history. But then the movie is only fiction, isn't it. No connection to the real Chato and his famous circle raid.
I generally do not like chase and track down movies or books, but somehow with this one it never gets tiring as many do. And what a neat trick to have a few of the trackers begin to kill each other. How the hunter again can become the hunted. They begin to aid Chato in their own destruction.
One reviewer mentioned the word 'mimbreno' but the word as applied to Apaches is normally either seen as Mimbrenos or Mimbres. I must have missed the mentioning that Chato was of the Mimbres Apache tribe, will have to pay closer attention next viewing. The Mimbres were a part of the Chihenne group located near the Mimbres River and Mimbres Mountains of New Mexico. The locale of the shooting of the movie was not New Mexico (Almeria, Andalusia, Spain), but it does have some of the New Mexico western semblance to it. A couple of the more recognizable members of the Mimbres Apache would be Victorio and Mangas Coloradas.
All-in-all this is an enjoyable film, not a western in any sense of the word, but never-the-less a movie with a raw, stark, alkaline feel to it.
Semper Fi.
Movie Review: The hunted becomes the hunter
Summary: 4 Stars
A racist sheriff loses a gunfight in a saloon to an Apache (Chato - played by Charles Bronson) he was tormenting. Chato takes off into the bad lands, and a posse is formed to bring the Apache to justice (i.e. lynch him). Chato eludes the posse with ease until they find his home and rape his wife. He then turns on the posse, the hunted becoming the hunter, and starts to kill them one by one. The story centers on the dynamics of the members of the posse as they are initially enthusiastic about lynching an Indian (whom they view as little more than an animal). Jack Palance plays the wise, grizzled Civil War (Confederate) veteran who leads the posse. As the tracking becomes more difficult, many of the members of the posse are revealed to be less than upstanding members of society and they start fighting amongst themselves. After Chato's wife is raped by several posse members, it is no longer a question of bringing the Indian to justice, but simply of survival. Charles Bronson may have gotten top billing on this picture, but it is really Jack Palance's film and he carries it well. CB doesn't have more than a dozen lines or so. This is a well worn theme (the American Indian as the noble savage, and the white settler as the racist bigot), but perhaps not so cliched when this film first came out in the early 70s. Definitely entertaining, even if the story is fairly simple and the outcome is fairly predictable. Some great cinematography as well. Most of the members of the posse are pretty despicable and have it coming.Movie Review: "Apache don't leave tracks unless they got a reason"
Summary: 4 Stars
In this tough and unrelenting Western, Charles Bronson plays Chato, an Apache who shoots a sheriff in an ugly bar dispute, and then finds himself being hunted by a posse, led by Jack Palance, who is the menacing, bigoted Capt. Quincey Whitmore.
Chato turns tables on the posse, who become the hunted, as Chato leaves signs to make it easy for them to track him, and draws them into his territory, where things go from bad to worse.
There is a lot of brutality in this film on both man and beast, but for those of us who are Bronson fans, violence is to be expected, and this is a marvelous performance, with Bronson in superb physical condition, as he stealthily moves about on suede-booted cat-like feet.
Jack Palance is terrific, and the supporting cast consists of seasoned, excellent character actors, like Richard Basehart, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland and Richard Jordan.
Directed by Michael Winner, who also did the editing under the alias of Arnold Crust Jr., and who was to work with Bronson on another fascinating film the following year, "The Mechanic", and of course their big success with "Death Wish" in 1974, keeps the pace fast. Cinematographer Robert Paynter shot the film on location in Spain, and Jerry Fielding adds to the atmosphere with his score.
I've seen this film numerous times, and though it's not for the squeamish, it's a must for Bronson fans.
DVD extra is the theatrical trailer, and total time is 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Movie Review: I Shot The Sheriff
Summary: 4 Stars
Charles Bronson barely speaks and is probably actually onscreen no more then 10 minutes in this film but he is the driving force in Chato's land. He kills a sheriff in self defense and is pursued into the Arizona desert by a posse of local ranchers led by an ex-confederate officer played by Jack Palance. Palance's character begins by ceremoniously putting on his old uniform and is clearly caught up in recapturing his glory. He reminisces about Gettysburg and other battles at one point simply stating "it was a good war".
The rest of the Posse are a mixed group of evil men and good ranchers pressed into service. The tensions inevitably begin to mount as Chato eludes them and creates chaos by messing with their water supply and scaring off their horses. Since they refuse to give up he then methodically begins to take them out one at a time. The landscape plays as much of a role as any of the actors in this beautifully filmed, tightly scripted western. For fans of western films this is well worth checking out.
Movie Review: Lean, Mean, Revenge Western
Summary: 4 Stars
This one -- directed by the man who helmed the later Death Wish series -- is an early template of that revenge fantasy, except transposed to the Wild West. If possible, this one is leaner, meaner, and more focused than the Death Wish films, in that there is little in terms of plot other than exposition and set up, and then a slow, methodical execution of the revenge theme, brilliantly done.
I particularly enjoyed the characterization of the members of the doomed posse -- a motley crew of a few good souls, some in the middle, and quite a few on the wrong side of the tracks.
Bronson is silent, deadly, and in fine form.