|
|
Post by pimpinainteasy on Mar 27, 2019 13:16:19 GMT
an interesting CHARLES BRONSON western. i did not like it much, but it cannot be denied that the film had many interesting elements. i recommend it to Aj_June , who seems to like deep films about religion and spirituality. the film begins with an attack by a white buffallo and it is only BRONSON having a dream in a train and he shoots up the upper birth. i thought this would be some fun comedy western. but no. it turns out that BRONSON's badass character is having a nightmare that a white buffalo is attacking him. and he is serious about hunting down this white buffalo that is plaguing his dreams. he is not alone in this quest for the white buffalo. an indian (WILL SAMPSON from ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO's NEST), whose daughter was killed in an attack by the white buffalo, is also on its trail. he wants to kill the buffalo not for revenge, but for spiritual reasons. he believes killing the buffalo would let his daughters soul travel to the next world. BRONSON's friend - the racist one eyed CHARLIE also joins them. the three of them do not see eye to eye on everything. there are culture clashes but BRONSON and SAMPSON eventually begin to get along and realize they have a common purpose if not based on the same motivation. the ending where BRONSON denies his racist friend and chooses to help the indian fulfill his quest was a good one.
the special effects are cheesy for 2019. but the outdoor shots of the great snowy wilderness and mountains are great. even the action isnt that exciting or realistic. though the final encounter with the white buffalo was well done. some of the dialogs went over my head.
obviously, the presence of CHARLES BRONSON is the only reason that i watched this movie. WILL SAMPSON who was subdued in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO's NEST gets to shout a lot as the indian. KIM NOVAK makes a brief appearance and looked great. the film needed more realistic and gritty action. maybe the whole film was a windup. why else would BRONSON appear in cool shades in a film set in the 19th century?
(6/10)
|
|
|
|
Post by Aj_June on Mar 27, 2019 15:11:26 GMT
an interesting CHARLES BRONSON western. i did not like it much, but it cannot be denied that the film had many interesting elements. i recommend it to Aj_June , who seems to like deep films about religion and spirituality. Thanks, man. I stopped after reading that much. Will sure like to see it as I like westerns and movies with spiritual themes.
|
|
|
|
Post by hitchcockthelegend on Mar 27, 2019 15:16:37 GMT
Hee, a strange and divisive picture, but very much a cult item. I was pleased to find others on the old Imdb who liked it as well >
You're looking to wear a marble hat.
The White Buffalo is directed by J. Lee Thompson and adapted to screenplay by Richard Sale from his own novel of the same name. It stars Charles Bronson, Will Sampson, Jack Warden, Clint Walker, Slim Pickens and Kim Novak. Music is scored by John Barry and cinematography by Paul Lohmann. Plot finds Wild Bill Hickok (Bronson) and Crazy Horse (Sampson) teaming up to fight a giant white buffalo during the bleak winter of 1874. Hickok is plagued by nightmares of the beast, Crazy Horse is out purely for revenge after the rampaging creature laid waste to his village and killed his newly born son.
It flopped at the box office, which in all honesty is not hard to understand, for The White Buffalo had too many things to fight against to put up a good showing. It's very much an odd movie, a strange blending of genres, it often looks cheap and it had the unenviable task of trying to stay in the giant beast slipstream created by Jaws two years previously. After Spielberg unleashed his Carcharodon Carcharias on the cinema loving world, a number of film makers tried the same idea but with different creatures, Grizzly and the star studded Tentacles were just two around the same period, even King Kong got a re-imaging in 76, while The White Buffalo was also up against the Richard Harris led Orca: Killer Whale (also featuring Will Sampson) this same year. Was the 1970s film lover in need of a hybrid creature feature Western with shades of Moby Dick stitched into the narrative? One with an oddly cast Bronson playing a legendary man of the West with sun glasses and penis rot? No was the answer, but a cult fan base grew over the years and it's definitely worth more than a second glance these days.
Film pretty much thrives on mystical symbolism, shades of the supernatural hang over proceedings, while the Native American culture is given adherence as well. The idea of teaming up two legends of the West, enemies at that, also gives the picture a high novelty factor. As the two men, and Warden's gruff Charlie Zane who is along for the ride, go off in search of the beast, they must overcome hostilities of the human kind as well as the harsh winter that nature has provided for the back drop. Time is afforded development of story and principle characters, this is not merely an excuse to be a carnage based creature feature, it has ideas formed around man against nature, men against their fate, often it is philosophical, even literate. Of course this has proved to be seen as pretentious by some, and once the big white animatronic thunders into view with its awesome sound effects, it's easy to be steered away from the more brainy aspects of the piece!
John Barry lays a magnificent foreboding score over the top of it, a score that deserves a better film in truth, but it imbues the picture with a sense of dread, helping us to stay with Wild Bill and Crazy Horse to see if they can cut down the demon while casting off their own? The studio filmed sequences are unfortunate, but necessary considering the budget restrictions, yet the sets do have a garish quality about them, further aiding the weirdness on offer. Cast performances are perfectly in keeping with the material, Bronson as cool as ever, though it should be noted that Novak, Walker, Pickens and Stuart Whitman really are light support players here. Much has been made of the creature design, unfavourably so, but it's one of the better animatronic creations of the 70s. Put it alongside those used in the Kevin Connor pictures around this period and you can see its benefits. Though facial close ups should have been kept to a minimum!
It's obviously not high art and it has ideas above its station, while some of Michael F. Anderson's editing is so dizzying your head might explode. But this is no ordinary picture, surreal and hypnotic, intelligent yet off beat, it's better than you might think and worth viewing more than once with expectations levels correctly channelled. 7/10
|
|
