Old Surehand (1965)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

Alfred Vohrer

Writers:

Karl May (novel)
Fred Denger (writer) ...

Release Date:

February 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Western | Adventure

Tagline:

They turned the frontier into a river of blood overflowing with the West's most dangerous passions.

Plot Keywords:

Based On Novel

Cast

Stewart Granger	...	Old Surehand
Pierre Brice	...	Winnetou
Larry Pennell	...	Gen. Jack O'Neal
Letícia Román	...	Judith
Terence Hill	...	Toby (as Mario Girotti)
Milan Srdoc	...	Old Wabble (as Paddy Fox)
Wolfgang Lukschy	...	Dick Edwards
Erik Schumann	...	Capt. Miller
Velimir 'Bata' Zivojinovic	...	Jim Potter (as Bata Zivojinovic)
Dusan Antonijevic	...	Maki-moteh
Vladimir Medar	...	Ben O'Brian
Hermina Pipinic	...	Molly
Jelena Zigon	...	Delia
Voja Miric	...	Joe
Dusan Janicijevic	...	Clinch

Also Known As:

Flaming Frontier (USA)
Lavirint smrti (Yugoslavia: Serbian title)
Old Surehand I. Teil

Runtime:

Germany:90 min | USA:93 min

Country:

West Germany | Yugoslavia

Language:

German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

CCC-Atelier, Spandau, Berlin, Germany

Company:

Jadran Film

Trivia:

Initially, Producer Horst Wendlandt planned to do an "Old Surehand" trilogy (that's why this film was announced as "Old Surehand -- Part 1"). However, after this first film wasn't the expected box office success, the other two parts were never made.

Goofs:

Continuity: Stewart Granger's character lassos a man off a raft about to go over a waterfall, the next scene shows Stewart from in front and below looking up at him pulling the rope in and the waterfall is above and behind him.

Movie Connections:

Follows Winnetou - 1. Teil (1963)

Many scenes stick to my memory...

The movie was originally entitled „Old Surehand I", because famous German novelist Karl May wrote a trilogy around the Old Surehand character. Yet movie no.1 was not followed by any sequel. Stewart Granger had played the same role before in „Der Ölprinz" and „Unter Geiern", though, and his portrait of a tricky, tongue-in-cheek westerner was loved by many fans, though others argued his Old Surehand was a completely new creation, not one of May's novels.

The movie tells how the son of an Indian chief is murdered. A villain simply called the General (Larry Pennell) is responsible for this - and much more. Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) tries to stop the Indians from attacking the innocent settlers.

Among the cast, you will notice a very young Terence Hill, still under his real name Mario Girotti in 1965. Also Milan Srdoc deserves mentioning. He portrays Old Wabble, Surehand's friend, as a nervous coward with an unexpected tragic edge. Overall, the movie is well paced, funny and tremendously entertaining. Many scenes stick to my memory: the precise shot from long distance which saves the passengers of the train in the opening scene, the night at the station when bandits try and poison Surehand and certainly the most unusual „battle" between the army and the Indians, while Pierre Brice as Winnetou and the great landscape of Slovenia and Croatia are strong and trusted trademarks of the series.