Screenwriters know that if a plot element is proposed by a character (usually a main character), the viewer usually accepts it unquestioningly, no matter how absurd said plot element may be. Shalako contains such an element.
Sean Connery and crew (about six other people, to my recollection) are trying escape from the Indians by leaving a besieged fort and sneaking away to a distant mountain. This in itself is an absurd proposition. I mean, white people can't just sneak out of a fort in broad daylight and fool a band of Indians. Not even when, on Connery's order, they go the long way because, as he explains, "the Indians won't expect it".
Anyway, when our stealthy little gang gets to an outcropping of boulders, Connery gets busy. Sean tells them all to hide behind the rocks, and then he reaches into his bag of tricks. After all are safely hidden, he takes a tree branch and proceeds to (you guessed it) erase their tracks!! He obliterates about 20 feet of footprints, brushes around a corner and, just for good measure, erases the last 15 feet leading to the rocks. And sure enough, the Injuns are completely dumbfounded! They follow the tracks all the way up to where they end and then, 'Wow! Where did they go?!' They sit there on their horses for a few minutes scratching their heads and then, as the palefaces peek out from behind the rocks, they turn and trot off into the sunset. 'Paleface disappear into thin air. We no lookum anymore. Injuns go back'. Hard to believe, but Sean pulls it off. Maybe while the Indians were learning how to track footprints they should have also learned how to follow brush marks left by tree branches.
But whatever. As it turns out, our heroes could have saved themselves alot of trouble by simply staying where they were. In the end the Indians found 'em anyway, and the end the film's main conflict was solved in a typical Hollywood fight to the death. As it turns out, this little trek serves no purpose except to fill out about 45 minutes worth of run time. And to show us how crafty a really witty white guy can be.
Sean Connery and crew (about six other people, to my recollection) are trying escape from the Indians by leaving a besieged fort and sneaking away to a distant mountain. This in itself is an absurd proposition. I mean, white people can't just sneak out of a fort in broad daylight and fool a band of Indians. Not even when, on Connery's order, they go the long way because, as he explains, "the Indians won't expect it".
Anyway, when our stealthy little gang gets to an outcropping of boulders, Connery gets busy. Sean tells them all to hide behind the rocks, and then he reaches into his bag of tricks. After all are safely hidden, he takes a tree branch and proceeds to (you guessed it) erase their tracks!! He obliterates about 20 feet of footprints, brushes around a corner and, just for good measure, erases the last 15 feet leading to the rocks. And sure enough, the Injuns are completely dumbfounded! They follow the tracks all the way up to where they end and then, 'Wow! Where did they go?!' They sit there on their horses for a few minutes scratching their heads and then, as the palefaces peek out from behind the rocks, they turn and trot off into the sunset. 'Paleface disappear into thin air. We no lookum anymore. Injuns go back'. Hard to believe, but Sean pulls it off. Maybe while the Indians were learning how to track footprints they should have also learned how to follow brush marks left by tree branches.
But whatever. As it turns out, our heroes could have saved themselves alot of trouble by simply staying where they were. In the end the Indians found 'em anyway, and the end the film's main conflict was solved in a typical Hollywood fight to the death. As it turns out, this little trek serves no purpose except to fill out about 45 minutes worth of run time. And to show us how crafty a really witty white guy can be.