Shalako

There are a number of good reviews about this item and I recommend them to you. This is a western starring Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Honor Blackman, Peter van Eyck, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins and others whom you would never place in a western. The plot is a gaggle of European aristos and USA big shots trespass on Apache land and Sean Connery strives to get them out of trouble.I found out that Shalako was filmed in Almeria, Spain, where so many Spaghetti Westerns were filmed. Most of the extras who played the Apache Indians were local Gypsies. It seems that American Indians were too overweight to play American Indians in the movies, or at least Hollywood's view of Indians in the movies.Hilarious.

This movie was based on one of the stronger Louis L'Amour books, a book to stand beside HONDO for its strength of hero. Unfortunately, the film is only a pale representative of the book. One thing I find strange in some of the listed reviews is the statement of the film being atypical as in "offbeat" or "unique". The plot of the book and movie can be seen as truly western in approach and outlook, nothing strange in either one that would warrant or support an 'offbeat' or 'unique' tag. The book opens in the year 1882, with Shalako coming down out of the Sierra Madres Mountains of Mexico, out of Sonora desert, through dangerous Apache country. This movie though filmed in Spain has a sweeping scope to it and offers good backdrop to L'Amour's western story, be it book or movie. The film has several notable actors and for the most part all aquit themselves very well. Foreign hunting parties such as portrayed in the book and movie were not unusual or unique at all in western history, a... Read more

Sean Connery's only Western is certainly an oddity. The failure isn't Connery's fault, he acquits himself rather well. Most might think it very strange that he was cast in this role but the casting was of Connery was perfect. The movie is based on the novel of the same name written by Louis L'Amour; the character of Shalako from the book had an European background &, for reasons that escape me at the moment, he immigrated to America. In fact, much of the film follows L'Amour's novel closely. As it states in the opening credits of the film many Europeans visited the West on hunting expeditions. Where the movie fails should be blamed on the production company. It was a British film company that was produced this & they didn't have much experience for this endeavor. Edward Dmytryk (Broken Lance, The Caine Mutiny) was chosen to counter this lack of experience. But Dmytryk hadn't directed but a handful of Western up to this point. The casting of Brigitte Bardot was simply atrocious. I'm ... Read more

The 5 stars are not for the director, actors, performance, or script translation. It's for the feeling it invokes when I watch it. I first saw this movie as a kid on the big screen. Quite an adult movie for one so young but they were the days before PC when kids actually had fun. Snuck into the cinema on a lazy Sunday afternoon with my friends. Bikes piled in a heap outside. BB gun safely tucked under a bush. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I'm just glad I can watch it again on DVD. Thank you Amazon for making this available and dare I say affordable.

This was an all European production based on a Louis Lamour novel and that's the most decent thing I can say. Well, to be fair Connery does acquite himself well as a western hero. Everyone else is truly wasted. An oddity as a film at best.

DIRECTOR: Edward Dmytryk WRITERS: Louis L'Amour (novel) and Clarke Reynolds (screenplay) CAST: Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Sephen Boyd, Honor Blackman, Jack Hawkins, Woody Strode and Valerie French RUNTIME: 1 hour 53 minutes LOCATIONS: Spain COUNTRY: UK/West Germany THE STORY: A pompous group of European nobles on a hunting vacation in New Mexico are beset by a band of Apaches who don't appreciate them trespassing on their lands. After the Europeans are abandoned by their cowboy guides they are helped by an intrepid loner named Shalako (Connery). Can they make it out alive? As you can see, this European film has a lot going for it. It's based on a Louis L'Amour novel and has a great cast. Yet, it bombed when it was originally released and I admit not liking it much the first two times I viewed it, but then maybe that's because I saw it on a crappy taped-from-tv vhs hampered by commercials. I decided to give it another chance and bought the excellent dvd; after all, how ca... Read more