Too much of everything

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Unter Geiern" or "Frontier Hellcat" or "Amongst Vultures" is a German-language movie from over 50 years ago and one of many installments to the pretty successful Karl May western series. German audiences really loved it back then. The film was co-produced by a handful other countries, such as Yugoslavia, which results in several actors from this country in the cast, mostly the bad guys. The director is Alfred Vohrer and he was one of West Germany's most successful filmmakers from that era and worked on many other prestigious projects, also several other Winnetou films. Now I keep calling them Winnetou films, but if you know a bit about the franchise, you will realize that this is not entirely true for this one here. Yes, Pierre Brice's Indian character does appear on some occasions in these slightly under 100 minutes, but he is far from a lead compared to the films that carry his name in the title.And I personally believe this is a good thing. The franchise's biggest star may also be his biggest weakness. Brice offers very little in terms of range, body language and face expressions in my opinion, so the fact that he does not have that much screen time is actually a pleasant change. Still unfortunately, his few moments are still fairly embarrassing, like the killing at the very end or when he comes to the rescue with his tribe a couple minutes earlier. I guess they really wanted to make sure we don't forget who the big star is. I wish I could. Lex Barker is also not in this one, but instead of his Old Shatterhand, we get a good dose of Old Surehand. Terence Hill (before stardom next to Bud Spencer) has a couple scenes too, but it is all fairly minor. What is not minor, is Götz George's performance. He is the lead actor in this one and he shows that he is ready to carry films on his own, what he did so many times during his long career. Now it is more than half a century later and he is still extremely well-known here in Germany. And then there is Elke Sommer, well she was pretty forgettable, but they needed a major female character and for that purpose I agree with her inclusion.All in all, mostly thanks to George, this was a decent watch. Yes there are weaknesses such as Sommer's acting, Winnetou's inclusions, the over-the-top acting (especially the theatrical dying scenes), but i dare say the good outweighs the bad in this one. The villains are interesting and the false prophet made a nice (main?) antagonist. If anybody is interested in starting to watch this series and does not want to take the chronological approach, I believe this is a good movie to start with. I give it a thumbs up.

¨Unter Geiern¨on ¨The vultures¨ is an exciting Western that contains adventures , action , crossfire and gorgeous Yugoslavian exteriors magnificently photographed and in which takes place the emotive meeting between and Winnetou (Pierre Brice) and Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) replacing to Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) . This is a thrilling and stirring adventure based on Karl May novel with two agreeable characters as Old Surehand and Winnetou , being stunningly played by Stewart Granger as an expert scout and Pierre Brice as an Apache chief respectively . Old Surehand and Winnetou investigate the murders of a mother and daughter at Bouman's ranch . The surviving husband named Bouman (Walter Barnes) and his son (Gotz George) think that the family was killed by Soshons Indians, but Old Surehand suspects that it was carried out by a band of gold thieves known as The Vultures . Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) helped by Winnetou (Pierre Brice) set out on pursuit of the bandits who disguise themselves as Indians while committing their crimes and both of whom prepare them a trap , but they get escape . Meanwhile , the desperado outlaws attack an Indian cemetery located at Valley of Death . Later on , they besiege a wagon caravan . At the end takes place a moving epilogue by shooting and fighting with no much sense . In successive episodes Old Surehand and his faithful half-brother Winnetou are ready on the trail to undertake new and risked adventures.This is an acceptable episode about one of the series of popular German made Western , featuring the intimate duo formed by valiant ¨Old Surehand¨ who agrees to guide the revolt against outlaws located at Indian territory and immortal ¨Winnetou¨ , both of them will repeat their same notorious roles as dignified as always . Highlights of the movie are the spectacular attack at Indian graveyard and the impressive bandit raid on the caravan . This enjoyable saga benefits from sensational adventures , shootouts , action , emotion , larger-than-life characters and spectacular scenarios shot in Roski falls, CCC-Atelier, Spandau, Berlin,Grobnicko Polje, Croatia , Krka Falls, Krka National Park, Paklenica Canyon, Paklenica National Park, Croatia , Perucko reservoir, Tolove Grede mountain, Vrlika, Yugoslavia . The immutable and incombustible Winnetou-Pierre Brice plays , as usual, his excellent and unforgettable role to be continued in a TV series. Lex Barker scored especially high marks , though he played as a serious and intelligent man who joins forces with Winnetou , while Stewart Granger as Old Surehand performs with humor and joy , he's the perfect counterpoint to Winnetou . Enjoyable relationship between Old Surehand/Stewart Granger and Winnetou/Pierre Brice is quite match . The highbrow Lex Barker played the most part of series : ¨Apache gold(1963)¨ by Harald Reinl, ¨Apaches last Battle(1964)¨ by Hugo Fregonese, ¨Last of renegades(1964)¨, ¨The desperate trail¨, being succeeded by Stewart Granger : ¨Old Surehand¨ (1965) directed by Alfred Vohrer, ¨Rampage at Apache Wells or ¨Der Olprinz¨ by Harald Philipp . Stewart Granger as Old Surehand took the role in three occasions ,he starred a diverse character but the role is pretty similar to Old Shatterland , he plays with mirth and liking manner but in ironic tone , almost parody style , as ¨Among vultures¨ and ¨Winnetou and Surehand¨ .Besides Rod Cameron starred only one : ¨Old Firehand¨ in which chemistry between stuffy Cameron and Brice is inexistent . This time the support cast is excellent such as Götz George as Martin Baumann Jr. , the gorgeous Elke Sommer (The prize) as Annie Dillman , Sieghardt Rupp (For a fistful of dollars) as Preston , Walter Barnes (who worked in lots of Spaghetti) as Martin Baumann Sr. , the Italian Renato Baldini as Judge George Leader , Terence Hill (future Trinity) as Baker Jr and Gojko Mitic who was one of the most famous and most loved actors in East Germany and in the other countries in Eastern Europe , and starred several roles as an Indian rebel . The film displays a colorful cinematography and a catching , sensitive musical score by Martin Bottcher , series' ordinary , and achieved super-retails , being eventually replaced in some episode by Peter Thomas . The motion picture produced by Rialto Productions (by producer Wendlandt who was subsequently succeeded by Arthur Brauner) was professionally directed by Alfred Vohrer who directed various Karl May episodes and was a German thriller expert called Krimi - Edward Wallace adaptation . Rating : 6 , acceptable and passable . Worthwhile seeing for marvelous scenarios and breathtaking outdoors from Yugoslavia including rousing falls , canyon, rivers and mountains; all of them as spectacular as Almeria- Spain- outdoors where at the same time were shot numerous European Western .

Continuing in the tradition of previous German-made westerns based on the books of Karl May, this later entry can't hold a candle to earlier films such as "The Treasure of Silver Lake". This one has Granger as leading man and, though he has occasional moments of wit and presence, for the most part he isn't interesting enough to carry the film. He is joined (as in most all of these films) by Brice as Apache Chief Winnetou. The chemistry between the two doesn't quite match that of Brice and Granger's predecessor Lex Barker (who played a different character, but the roles are very similar.) The plot involves Granger and Brice setting out to discover who murdered a frontier mother and daughter. The surviving father blames the Indians while Brice feels that it was a gang of thieves called The Vultures (they certainly don't SOUND like a very friendly band of men!) In the mix is Sommer who is en route to see her father and is wearing a belt filled with gold. The son of the murdered family (George) finds himself falling for her as he investigates the murders along with Granger and Brice. Their adventures take them across various terrain and eventually alongside a wagon train which is beset by infiltrating bandits. This film lacks the grandeur and the production values of earlier films in the series. The lighting is about the worst that can be without having everyone completely in the dark. There is some unintentional humor as in seeing Sommer's extreme bubble bouffant hair-do in an old west setting and the usual hilarity that results from the awful dubbing (Why do these old-fashioned vocal dubbers always sound like they smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day?) Most fun is seeing George bounce all over the place as if he has springs in his boots. No American western ever had anyone quite so gymnastic in his approach to action scenes. (Also note that, perhaps due to a European sensibility, the men in these films seem to touch each other so much more often than in American westerns. Look for it, it's really unusual.) The film just seems to have a deadening pall over it for some reason. It does not have the style, energy or vividness of the earlier works. It comes to life briefly during a pretty rousing "circle the wagons" stand off and an interlude at an Indian camp at which Granger has to prove his word to a disbelieving (and hilariously bulked up) chief. It's an okay movie to see once, but has no real lasting impact.

I've seen more than several of these Karl May novels adapted for the screen and I'm not yet sure who has the better imagination. Its quite obvious that these are totally unrealistic depictions of ruthless heathens and downright savages trying to be put in a kinder light for whatever purpose that has yet to be explained. When Native American's watch these tall tales I'm sure they laugh even harder than I did. Way too far out of touch with cultural realities. To qualify them as interesting entertainment would be beyond logical reason. Some of the more obvious flaws are using model 94 Winchester rifles way before the time frame they came into being. Then to believe that one could shoot an arrow from mid-flight without aiming is especially difficult for even an expert marksman to comprehend. These films are pure fantasy from the word go. If you have 90 to 100 minutes to spare I'd suggest visiting the many Native American web pages instead and find out the truth about the culture and customs.