IMDb RATING
6.1/10
5.5K
YOUR RATING
At the closing of 1874 a haunted, dying Wild Bill Hickok teams up with a grieving Crazy Horse to hunt a murderous albino buffalo.At the closing of 1874 a haunted, dying Wild Bill Hickok teams up with a grieving Crazy Horse to hunt a murderous albino buffalo.At the closing of 1874 a haunted, dying Wild Bill Hickok teams up with a grieving Crazy Horse to hunt a murderous albino buffalo.
Clifford A. Pellow
- Pete Holt
- (as Cliff Pellow)
Douglas Fowley
- Amos Bixby
- (as Douglas V. Fowley)
David Roya
- Kid Jelly
- (as David Roy Chandler)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe film correctly shows the way the historical Wild Bill carried his revolvers, butt-forward in a belt or sash without any holsters.
- GoofsCrazy Horse only learns of Hickok's true identity when Charlie curses him at the end. However, earlier in the film, as Jack Kylene is challenging Hickok on the mountain, he shouts his name numerous times before Crazy Horse kills him with arrows. Kylene's voice echoes repeatedly. Crazy Horse would easily have heard him.
- Quotes
Abel Pinkney: When you get through planting them two, I got three more customers (bodies) for you inside the coach. And I believe they got enough money to pay for their own box.
Amos Bixby: That's right kindly of you, Abel. You better lay them out in the snow until I get back. That will keep them fresh.
- Crazy creditsThe final credits play between two sepia oval portraits of the two principal actors in character, with the captions: "J.B.Hickok - Born 1837- Murdered 1876" and "Crazy Horse - Born 1842- Murdered 1877".
- ConnectionsFeatured in 100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994)
Featured review
...with shades of Moby Dick thrown in. Wild Bill Hickok has nightmares about a giant white buffalo (a foreshadowing of his own death?) which he feels can only be eliminated by hunting down a giant white buffalo that is striking terror in the Black Hills. Will Sampson plays Crazy Horse, also seeking the same creature after it rampaged through his village and killed his child.
It's all pure fiction, of course, and Charles Bronson's casting as Hickok is laughable, historically speaking, but, I suppose, no more so than that of half a dozen other actors over the years being cast as Hickcok. One historically accurate aspect of the film is that, rather than wearing a holster, Bronson wears a scarlet sash around his waist in which he tucks his guns, as did the real Hickok at times.
The performances are quite good, and there is a colorful supporting cast of familiar faces including Jack Warden in a sizable role as a one eyed Indian-hating frontiersman who goes on the buffalo hunt with Bronson as well as smaller guest star appearances by Kim Novak, Clint Walker, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman and Cara Williams. J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Mackenna's Gold) was the director.
The white buffalo is presented as an almost legendary larger than life destructive force, not unlike a lumbering four legged version of Melville's great white whale, one that causes rocks to tumble down the sides of mountains when it lets out a giant bellow and can charge though walls of ice and snow. At one point, in fact, in a direct parallel to Herman Melville's tale, Crazy Horse will leap on the animal's back to repeatedly stab it with a spear.
The problem for the film, though, are in those pivotal scenes involving the buffalo in which, unfortunately, the creature looks exactly like what it undoubtedly was, some kind of animatronic construction, lacking any sense of reality. It's far more effective when he frighteningly bellows in the mountains than when we actually see him. No amount of fast editing can hide the artificiality of those scenes with the buffalo. The poster advertising the film said "You Won't Believe Your Eyes." That's true, but, unfortunately, not in a good way.
It's all pure fiction, of course, and Charles Bronson's casting as Hickok is laughable, historically speaking, but, I suppose, no more so than that of half a dozen other actors over the years being cast as Hickcok. One historically accurate aspect of the film is that, rather than wearing a holster, Bronson wears a scarlet sash around his waist in which he tucks his guns, as did the real Hickok at times.
The performances are quite good, and there is a colorful supporting cast of familiar faces including Jack Warden in a sizable role as a one eyed Indian-hating frontiersman who goes on the buffalo hunt with Bronson as well as smaller guest star appearances by Kim Novak, Clint Walker, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman and Cara Williams. J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Mackenna's Gold) was the director.
The white buffalo is presented as an almost legendary larger than life destructive force, not unlike a lumbering four legged version of Melville's great white whale, one that causes rocks to tumble down the sides of mountains when it lets out a giant bellow and can charge though walls of ice and snow. At one point, in fact, in a direct parallel to Herman Melville's tale, Crazy Horse will leap on the animal's back to repeatedly stab it with a spear.
The problem for the film, though, are in those pivotal scenes involving the buffalo in which, unfortunately, the creature looks exactly like what it undoubtedly was, some kind of animatronic construction, lacking any sense of reality. It's far more effective when he frighteningly bellows in the mountains than when we actually see him. No amount of fast editing can hide the artificiality of those scenes with the buffalo. The poster advertising the film said "You Won't Believe Your Eyes." That's true, but, unfortunately, not in a good way.
- How long is The White Buffalo?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- Hunt to Kill
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 37 minutes
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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