|
Rating:  -
I saw this movie in the theater in 1977 and I loved it. If you are playing movie critic, you can find some things wrong with the movie. If you are comparing it to special effects that are in later movies, you will find fault. The cast is really great but there are some exceptions in acting (not very good performance's) and for it's time, the special effects were adequate without over doing it.
But.....the story is very good. If you are a Bronson fan, you will love his portrayal of Wild Bill.Will Sampson is outstanding as Worm (Crazy Horse).The movie is dark and gloomy, and gives it almost (almost) a horror movie feel. I hope that some company will release this on DVD.The DVD PAL version (reg 2) will play in some players (in the usa) and not in some older ones.
Rating:  -
Something of a rarity these days, The White Buffalo is the kind of film that almost inevitably disappoints first time round but improves immensely on second viewing with revised expectations. Certainly casting Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickok sets up a lot of expectations that the film defies. His regular fans in the 70s probably WEREN'T expecting Bronson to play a haunted man with syphilis and fading eyesight hiding behind dark glasses and a false name from his nightmares of approaching death in the form of a giant white buffalo. While the film does provide a fair bit of action, it's not a typical western adventure, and while it's one of Dino De Laurentiis post-Jaws big beast movies (King Kong, Orca), it's not exactly a western Moby Dick either.
Haunted by dreams of a white buffalo charging at him and hoping to try his luck in the Black Hills gold rush, Hickok and ornery sidekick Jack Warden find themselves hunting the last white `spike' with Will Sampson's Crazy Horse, who's also hiding behind an assumed name until he can reclaim his own by wrapping the body of his dead child in the skin of the white buffalo that killed it so its spirit can rest in peace. It's a curious kind of quest: neither man really hates the beast but need to kill it to find some kind of peace of mind - rather than glory or adventure, it's an attempt to defeat death, though it's only a momentary reprieve. Both men are hunted themselves by foes old and new along the way, but as John Barry's dark and brooding score makes clear, their own legends are probably their biggest enemies as they approach extinction themselves. Unfortunately it never really makes enough of its own potential: it's certainly no The Last Hunt and it's tempting to think what a director like Richard Brooks or a younger Sam Peckinpah could have made of the material.
Technically it has its fair share of problems. It would be kind to describe much of the film's look as `stylised' when in reality large parts of the exterior scenes have very obviously been shot on soundstages and backlots with Paul Lohmann's cinematography making no attempt to give the illusion of shooting on location or even matching shots with the genuine location scenes. The buffalo itself is one of Carlo Rambaldi's better animatronic creations and even has a surprisingly good running motion, but though generally fairly well shot it's one film where some fluid CGi might have genuinely helped give the beast a bit more flexibility. It has a fine cast of familiar faces - Slim Pickens as a stagecoach driver, John Carradine as an undertaker ("You better lay them out in the snow until I get back. That will keep them fresh"), Stuart Whitman as a drunken no-account gambler, Kim Novak as Poker Jenny, Ed Lauter as Tom Custer and Clint Walker as Hickok's latest adversary - but there's often the feeling that they're used to add colour rather than substance to the mix. Yet though the film may never quite work anywhere near as well as it could, it's an interesting ride off the beaten trail that offers the odd striking moment like the heaps of millions of buffalo bones stacked up by the railroad tracks and has some marvellously literate language to savour. It's not the most accomplished of Bronson's collaborations with director J. Lee Thompson, but it is the most interesting. File under cult potential. Shame the fullframe UK DVD's such poor quality, though a French remastered widescreen DVD has recently been released.
Rating:  -
I can't believe my eyes when I saw the stars this film got. Bronson is not a good actor, and Lee Thompson is a not a good director. Even the white buffalo was a fake. There are acouple of years I saw it, but I was very disappointed when I left the theater. If this film gets five points it must be as good as High Noon, Shane or Warlock or the John Ford films. It is actually a below average western.
Rating:  -
I ordered a DVD from seaside cinema and it arrived in pristine condition and in time for Father's day.
It was easy to order and the price was much less than other providers.
Thanks
Rating: -
While I actually like this movie, it is old Dino's third attempt on JAWS (the other two being KING KONG & ORCA). Clint Walker is surprisingly good as Whistling Jack Kileen -- or as Jack Warden's Charlie Zane tells Bronson's Hickcock, "the meanest of son of a bitch alive." Entering with a supporting cast that includes Kim Novak, John Carradine, Slim Pickens & Stuart Whitman. I would be remiss in not mentioning Will Sampson as Crazy Horse (as good a performance as the one he gave two years earlier in the Eastwood classic OUTLAW JOSEY WALES.) A pity it isn't available in region 1. Hard to believe this movie was done by the same guy who did THE GUNS OF NAVARONE!
Television Show
Collectibles
Movie Searches
|
|
|
Search for posters,
art prints, photos, collectables, merchandise, toys, t-shirts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TV Guide
Program listings, celebrity profiles, industry
gossip, movie reviews, puzzle.
More
Entertainment
& TV Magazines
This site is
Hosted
by Bluehost
Read
my Bluehost Review
Most Popular TV collectibles
|
|
Home
Articles
Images
Forum
Search
Shopping
TV Trivia
Watch TV
Wallpaper
