Sean Connery is not an actor one would normally associate with Westerns, although he was known for his action-adventure roles, especially in the Bond films, so would have seemed well-suited to them. Plenty of Westerners would have been born in all parts of the British Isles, including Scotland, so his accent should not have been a problem. This, however, seems to be his only attempt at the genre, which was to go into a decline in the seventies and eighties.
"Shalako" was one of a number of European, mostly Italian or Spanish, Westerns from the late sixties. This one is ostensibly set in the New Mexico of 1880, but was actually filmed in Almeria, Spain, and was largely financed by European money, although it had an American director, Edward Dmytryk. (Dmytryk was actually born in Canada but was a naturalised US citizen). Perhaps appropriately, the cast includes an unusually high number of European characters.
Connery plays Moses Zebulon Carlin, a frontiersman and former Civil War officer better known by his Indian name, "Shalako". (The name is stressed on the first syllable). He becomes involved with a hunting party mostly composed of European aristocrats, although an American Senator and his wife are also involved, when they inadvertently stray into Apache territory. Shalako warns them of the danger they are in, as the Apache do not welcome outsiders on their land, but they arrogantly refuse to go, believing that it would be cowardly to flee from people whom they regard as "savages". When the Indians attack, the party are double-crossed by their guide Bosky Fulton and his associates who make off with their stage coach, ammunition, supplies and money, and it falls to Shalako to lead them on foot to safety.
Unusually for a Western, "Shalako" can be seen as a critique of imperialism. With their jewels, fine clothes and haute cuisine meals, eaten off a formal dining-table and china plates, the hunting party cut incongruous figures in the deserts of the American South-West. With their contemptuous talk of "savages" and "natives", it is clear that they have imported to the New World the same sense of arrogant superiority towards non-white peoples as they would display in their colonies. The film might also make uncomfortable viewing for Americans; the presence of a US Senator among the party makes it clear that in the nineteenth century American attitudes in this respect were essentially no different from European ones and that America's remorseless westward expansion was just another form of colonialism.
The film was advertised under the curious slogan "BB + 007 = !!!", playing on its two famous stars, Connery and Brigitte Bardot. Bardot plays the Countess Irina Lazaar, one of the party who becomes romantically involved with Shalako. Irina's nationality is never made clear; her name suggests that she is Russian, but Bardot plays her with a French accent. Actually, I doubt if Bardot, whose English was not good, could have played her with any other accent. BB was always happiest acting in her native language, and although she could be quite good in some English-language films productions such as "Viva Maria!", here she is quite dreadful. Despite the romance that develops between their characters, there is no chemistry between her and Connery and her performance is emotionless and wooden. BB + 007 = ???
Seen as an action hero rather than a romantic lead, however, Connery makes a decent cowboy, and there is a good performance from Peter van Eyck as Baron Frederick von Hallstadt, the German leader of the hunting party. At first Hallstadt seems like an arrogant and conceited bully, a Nazi officer transported back in time to the days of the Old West, but after the Indian attack we see another side to his character. He proves to be capable and resourceful with a certain sense of decency, and is responsible for the plan which eventually saves the lives of his party. (Despite his Dutch-sounding name, Van Eyck, originally Von Eick, was himself German. This was his penultimate film- his last was to be "The Bridge at Remagen"- before his early death at the age of 57).
Despite the failure of its romantic subplot, and a rather irritating theme song, "Shalako" is not a bad film. The idea of a party of upper- class Europeans stranded in the deserts of New Mexico is an interesting one, the action sequences are well done and overall this is well up to the standards of most "paella Westerns". Had more opportunities come up Connery's career might have taken a different path and we could have had the world's first great Scottish Western hero. We might today be talking about "haggis Westerns". 6/10
"Shalako" was one of a number of European, mostly Italian or Spanish, Westerns from the late sixties. This one is ostensibly set in the New Mexico of 1880, but was actually filmed in Almeria, Spain, and was largely financed by European money, although it had an American director, Edward Dmytryk. (Dmytryk was actually born in Canada but was a naturalised US citizen). Perhaps appropriately, the cast includes an unusually high number of European characters.
Connery plays Moses Zebulon Carlin, a frontiersman and former Civil War officer better known by his Indian name, "Shalako". (The name is stressed on the first syllable). He becomes involved with a hunting party mostly composed of European aristocrats, although an American Senator and his wife are also involved, when they inadvertently stray into Apache territory. Shalako warns them of the danger they are in, as the Apache do not welcome outsiders on their land, but they arrogantly refuse to go, believing that it would be cowardly to flee from people whom they regard as "savages". When the Indians attack, the party are double-crossed by their guide Bosky Fulton and his associates who make off with their stage coach, ammunition, supplies and money, and it falls to Shalako to lead them on foot to safety.
Unusually for a Western, "Shalako" can be seen as a critique of imperialism. With their jewels, fine clothes and haute cuisine meals, eaten off a formal dining-table and china plates, the hunting party cut incongruous figures in the deserts of the American South-West. With their contemptuous talk of "savages" and "natives", it is clear that they have imported to the New World the same sense of arrogant superiority towards non-white peoples as they would display in their colonies. The film might also make uncomfortable viewing for Americans; the presence of a US Senator among the party makes it clear that in the nineteenth century American attitudes in this respect were essentially no different from European ones and that America's remorseless westward expansion was just another form of colonialism.
The film was advertised under the curious slogan "BB + 007 = !!!", playing on its two famous stars, Connery and Brigitte Bardot. Bardot plays the Countess Irina Lazaar, one of the party who becomes romantically involved with Shalako. Irina's nationality is never made clear; her name suggests that she is Russian, but Bardot plays her with a French accent. Actually, I doubt if Bardot, whose English was not good, could have played her with any other accent. BB was always happiest acting in her native language, and although she could be quite good in some English-language films productions such as "Viva Maria!", here she is quite dreadful. Despite the romance that develops between their characters, there is no chemistry between her and Connery and her performance is emotionless and wooden. BB + 007 = ???
Seen as an action hero rather than a romantic lead, however, Connery makes a decent cowboy, and there is a good performance from Peter van Eyck as Baron Frederick von Hallstadt, the German leader of the hunting party. At first Hallstadt seems like an arrogant and conceited bully, a Nazi officer transported back in time to the days of the Old West, but after the Indian attack we see another side to his character. He proves to be capable and resourceful with a certain sense of decency, and is responsible for the plan which eventually saves the lives of his party. (Despite his Dutch-sounding name, Van Eyck, originally Von Eick, was himself German. This was his penultimate film- his last was to be "The Bridge at Remagen"- before his early death at the age of 57).
Despite the failure of its romantic subplot, and a rather irritating theme song, "Shalako" is not a bad film. The idea of a party of upper- class Europeans stranded in the deserts of New Mexico is an interesting one, the action sequences are well done and overall this is well up to the standards of most "paella Westerns". Had more opportunities come up Connery's career might have taken a different path and we could have had the world's first great Scottish Western hero. We might today be talking about "haggis Westerns". 6/10