Winnetou (1963)

When violent conflict breaks out between greedy railroaders and a tribe of Mescalero Apaches, only two men, destined to be blood brothers, can prevent all-out war: chief's son Winnetou and German engineer Old Shatterhand.

Director:

Harald Reinl

Writers:

Karl May (novel), Harald G. Petersson (as H.G. Petersson)

Stars:

Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Marie Versini

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Lex Barker	...	Old Shatterhand
Pierre Brice	...	Winnetou
Marie Versini	...	Nscho-tschi
Mario Adorf	...	Frederick Santer
Walter Barnes	...	Bill Jones
Chris Howland	...	Lord Tuff-Tuff
Ralf Wolter	...	Sam Hawkens
Milivoje Popovic-Mavid	...	Intschu-tschuna (as Mavid Popovic)
Dunja Rajter	...	Belle
Niksa Stefanini	...	Bullock
Branko Spoljar	...	Bancroft
Husein Cokic	...	Will Parker
Demeter Bitenc	...	Dick Stone
Tomoslav Erak	...	Tangua
Hrvoje Svob	...	Klekih-petra

Storyline

The construction of the Great Western Railroad creates heavy conflict between the railway company and neighboring Indian tribes. Worse, criminal gang leader Santer sets his eyes on a gold mine located on holy Indian land and influences the construction supervisor to re-rout the planned railroad straight through Apache land. Old Shatterhand, who works as a measurement technician, discovers the evil plan and searches contact with the Apaches in an effort to avert war.

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Plot Keywords:

apache territory | spaghetti western | italo western | apache | railway | 

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Taglines:

Noch spannender - noch größer - noch schöner!

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Genres:

Western | Adventure

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Did You Know?

Goofs

The rope Lex Barker is tied with on the "torture tree" changes positions between shots.

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Alternate Versions

The English version (i.e. "Winnetou, the Warrior") omits all scenes with Chris Howland. Some other scenes are trimmed as well - including a sequence between the character Sam Hawkens and a fat Indian squaw. The German 2005 restored DVD version has a English soundtrack option in which the scenes that where not in the English version reverts to the German soundtrack. It is therefore possible to see the differences between the two versions. The German soundtrack on the same DVD issue has been remixed into stereo and at least one sequence that has previously been censored in German VHS copies - the death of Santer - has been restored as well.

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Connections

Followed by Winnetou: The Red Gentleman (1964)

User Reviews

The 2nd from the best movies about Winnetou

To my mind, "Winnetou I" is the second from the best movies about Winnetou after "Old Shatterhand" ("Apache's last battle"). These movies are different. "Winnetou I" or "Apache's gold" is very romantic, a nice fairy-tale about noble and human Indian and his blood brother. It's idealized story, far from cruel reality. "Old Shatterhand" has some similar features, but it is more realistic. However, I can see both these movies after 40 or 35 years with pleasure despite of the naiveness of both these films as examples of excellent cinema art reminding me about ideals of childhood and youth. Director Harald Reinl is a great master of romantic cinema. This movie is very beautiful with a great deal of poetic. A beauty of nature (filmed in Croatia) is a background for romantic drama. Two contrasting actors - Pierre Brice (Winnetou) and Lex Barker (Shatterhand) - looks excellent together. To my mind, this is the best Barker's movie: he acts with true passion. Unfortunately, he lost it in last Winnetou's movies.. Pierre Brice is very intelligent actor with a good taste and wit some mystery in his noble face. This mystery makes him very attractive. Marie Versini's Nscho-tschi is the best Indian woman I see in the European westerns. He looks excellent alongside Pierre Brice and his acting is touching. Mario Adorf is very strong as villain Santer, Ralf Wolter's comical characterisation is also very good. And music (Martin Boettcher) is very beautiful. .

Details

Country:

West Germany Italy Yugoslavia

Language:

German

Release Date:

1 May 1965 (USA)

Also Known As:

Winnetou

Filming Locations:

Zezevo, Croatia

Box Office

Budget:

DEM4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Atlantis Film, Jadran Film, Rialto Film Preben-Philipsen

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1