Winnetou El Guerrero

I first saw this film at the age of 10 in Germany and at that age found it captivating for it's quality of cinematography and sound-track.

The film was one of a series that attempted for the first time to capture the unique and high romantic Western novels of Germany's greatest adventure writer Karl May. Now, more than 30 years later, and with a video copy of the film in my library to look at when in the mood, I find this version of Karl May's novel rather quaint and clumsy in terms of script/screenplay and certainly out of step with the more popularised versions of the Wild West.

However, May's portrayal of late 19th century America was always a mixture of well researched facts mingled with high romantic fantasy adventure in the "Knights of the Round Table" or "Star Wars" vein. In this regard, the film does capture the spirit of Karl May's novels pretty well, if rather geared towards an assumed prior knowledge by the audience of the characters and of May's novels. From today's sophisticated movie audience's perspective this film version of "Winnetou I" is still noteworthy for its magnificent soundtrack rivaling any John Williams score, and for the noble portrayal of the hero by French actor Pierre Brice, who made this role his own in numerous sequels and stage shows.

Winnetou I.

When i hear this name some of the nicest childhood memories come rushing back to me. when i first saw this movie at the age of seven or so Winnetou became my hero for years to come. Based on the novels written by Karl May german director Harald Reinl came up with one of the first wild west movies who didn´t copy the american movies. The german audience rewarded that and Winnetou I ( followed by II and III ) became a huge success. Actually it became a huge success all around the world. Nonetheless Winnetou I wasn´t Reinls first Winnetou movie. One year earlier he had released the movie "Der Schatz im Silbersee" which became the most successful movie of the season 62/63 beating such movies as James Bond : Dr.No. The story is basically every time the same. The two friends Winnetou and Old Shatterhand try to solve the problems between the red and the white poeple and of course in the end they succeed. Winnetou I is starring Lex Barker in the role of Old Shatterhand and french actor Pierre Brice as Winnetou. They both came up with a very fine performance and especially Pierre Brice, who is now 68, stayed winnetou throughout his whole life. He played Winnetou in several sequels and after the Karl May period started to fade he performed this role on several stages in germany. In my opinion the movies are most fun to watch, when they remind you of your childhood. When you watch them for the first time as a grown up they may seem a bit too naive and cheesy. But even if you might dislike the movie you simply have to love the soundtrack. I am not joking here!!! German composer "Martin Böttcher" came up with the best soundtrack ever composed. Forget the Jurassic Park Theme or the Batman Theme. The Winnetou Theme is much better. In the year 1962 the theme stayed at top of the german charts for more than 17 weeks. It is simply breathtaking and works so well with the romantic landscape ( the movie was shot in Jugoslavia ). Give it a try you won´t be disappointed.

10 out of 10

Hugh Winnetou has spoken!!!

Now I have not checked the timeline, there possibly is at least another movie adaptation of Winnetou before this movie was made. But this is the first one of a trilogy that quite likely changed the landscape - no pun intended. I may also not be entirely correct, but I'm fairly certain that this is a nice and progressive look on native Americans ... something we did not really get from America - the land where you'd think they should have been eager to give us both sides of the story.

I have not read the novels by Karl May (shame on me), but I remember the movies I watched in my childhood fondly. Rewatching them now is really refreshing and while they have aged to a certain degree, the message is still clear! And a good one - giving a moral compass that was really good and helped in creating a mind set. It still has cliches and it certainly is not perfect, but the intentions are more than noble. I really like what they did here and the cast is incredible too. Not sure how this translates and apparently there are english versions that cut out some of the jokes (inappropriate ones if I understand correctly). So many side characters here ... so much fun, but also a lot of action in this one too.

One stunt in particular is quite incredible! Someone hanging of cliff and it seems to be the actor himself - there was no green screen back then, so I can only imagine how tough it was to shoot that ... really great work there. Of course there is the obligatory plastic lances, dolls being thrown from high grounds (though I've seen worse ones than are being used here) ... still these are things that you can easily just overlook ... because of the strong story and bond that gets established here ... I hear and see you brother.

I love actors in this film. Pierre Brice and Lex Barker are very good as Vinnetou and Old Shatterhand. My favourite character is Vinnetou, because he is clever and skillful. In this film there aren´t simular things as in the book. I think it´s a very good film.

"Winnetou 1" is packed with images not only I shall remember forever: the train crashing into the house, Nscho-tschi sitting on the edge of the canyon (shot in Yugoslavia as usual for the Karl May productions), Klekih Petra giving his life to save Winnetou, Old Shatterhand freeing Winnetou secretly, and much later becoming blood brothers. This is a myth larger than life, and it is admirable how well balanced it is with all its ingredients, Ralf Wolter playing the funny Sam Hawkens and Mario Adorf the intense villain Santer, while Marie Versini as Nscho-tschi adds a bit of romance. How often do you find a movie that has nothing to improve and you wish you just could see again and again? Yet I do understand people who think this is a naive or even lame flick - they just weren't at the cinema all those years ago, I suppose.