User Reviews

It's testament to SHALAKO's efficiency that it ably passes for a Hollywood western despite being a British/West German production; the mountainous Spanish scenery accounts for much of the authenticity here and the story that follows is surprisingly decent, although perhaps not one of the absolute classics of the era. I'm just surprised that the team made a likable western despite the problems that could have arisen with it.

One of these is Sean Connery, perhaps playing one of the most unlikely cowboys ever; he acquits himself well and gives a taciturn performance which suits the film nicely. Brigitte Bardot doesn't have much to do other than stand around and look ravishing, which of course she does with ease. The excellent supporting cast includes the likes of Jack Hawkins, Eric Sykes (!), Honor Blackman, Peter van Eyck, Stephen Boyd, and, in an odd but effective bit of casting, Woody Strode as a Native American leader.

The spare narrative doesn't have a great deal of plot structure but that fits well with the survivalist tone. The action scenes are very effective, particularly a mini siege that brings to mind ZULU. The film was based on a book by popular western writer Louis L'Amour, and was directed by old-time Hollywood pro Edward Dmytryk.

When you think of a movie western, surely the words Brigitte Bardot DON'T come to mind. Well there she is decked out in black from head to toe and wearing A LOT of make-up in SHALAKO, an interesting adventure tale of a European hunting party out in the badlands led onto an Apache Indian reservation by their unsavory guide. Edward Dmytryk directs with uncharacteristic flair as the Indians close in to remove the "arrogant white men (and women)" from their land. Sean Connery appears out of nowhere playing the title role and while he's his usual solid self, it's difficult not to see him as James Bond gone wild west. There's surprisingly little chemistry between Connery and the great Bardot. As the villain, Stephen Boyd is very dull. He seems to have less and less personality with each film he makes. He's nearly invisible here. Woody Strode plays a particularly nasty Indian and Honor Blackman (perhaps in a nod to GOLDFINGER, in which she and Connery tussle in the hay) is a kinky British Lady who tussles in the hay with Boyd and is later disposed of by a very imaginative Indian.

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

I thought Stephen Boyd and Honor Blackman were great in this movie. They are the only ones I really enjoyed watching here. Like someone else commented, Stephen Boyd is back in his element. He made a great villain. What a shame he died so young!

Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot on the other hand are awful to watch. He is very badly miscast.The script did not give a lot of depth to the character he portrayed,and they might as well have put a TV actor in (such as James Drury, Richard Chamberlain, or Chad Everett) that was trying to make their transition from television to films. Connery's tremendous talent was wasted here. Most of the time (except for the part where he sees Bardot giving herself a sponge bath) he looks like he can't wait for the scenes to be over. I found myself fast forwarding through his scenes as well. Perhaps he did try to give something to the character, but the script didn't give him much to work with.

Bardot is interesting in the beginning, (and of course, interest piques a little during the sponge bath scene with Connery towards the end of the film) but in between she seems bored and just shrugs a lot, or pouts. At any rate, she too is badly miscast. Her hair and makeup are pure 1968, she doesn't look like she's in the 19th century at all, and her English is barely recognizable. They should have put someone like Liv Ullman or Catherine Deneuve in the part instead.

Another flaw in the film is that the two major love scenes are badly timed. Stephen Boyd and Honor Blackman romp in the hay as the Indians are shooting, and one of the cowboys has to yell "Hey, Bosky! The Indians are coming over the wall!" He gently breaks away of course and begins shooting again. When Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot are high in the mountains with the other Europeans, and the Indians could attack any moment, Brigitte is sponge bathing so Connery will notice her. Seems very out of place for people that are on the verge of being killed.

If they would have changed the script to give Connery a more interesting character, and had him actually doing something, perhaps the film would have been better. Otherwise, Stephen Boyd and Honor Blackman are the only enjoyable characters in this film.

What an oddity this is.

If you put to one side the Louis L'Amour source novel, and Woody Strode in the supporting cast, this traditional western has no US input at all. Even the spaghetti westerns usually had a Yank at the top of the cast list.

This European western has quite a high profile cast list - Sean Connery (Scots), Brigitte Bardot (French), Stephen Boyd (Irish), Peter van Eyck (German), Jack Hawkins and Eric Sykes (English) - none of whom would be obvious choices for a western. The Spanish locations are, I suppose, redolent of some American desert areas, but still aren't really the sort of places which evoke the US places where one might expect a European hunting party to visit.

This sense of geographical dislocation gives the movie a weird feel. When you factor in the fact that this is quite a sadistic picture, with a level of violence not commonly seen in westerns in 1968, you get a movie which doesn't easily bear comparison with anything else. It's like wandering through an art gallery looking at portraits by old masters and suddenly seeing a landscape painted by Steven Spielberg - yes, it's a painting, and yes, Spielberg is undoubtedly a man of great artistic vision and ability, but this particular item simply doesn't fit.

Is it any good? It's OK, and I think it would be better if you could shake off the air of weirdness which is there whe whole time you're watching it.

"Shalako" was the last of four westerns "Raintree County" director Edward Dmytryk helmed during his long, eventful Hollywood career. "Broken Lance" (1954) came first, "Warlock" (1959) followed, and "Alvarez Kelly" (1966) was third. Former James Bond actor Sean Connery and sexy French bombshell Brigitte Bardot co-starred in this handsomely produced and elegantly lensed horse opera. Connery and Bardot kiss about 70 minutes into the outdoor action. This horse opera appears to have been shot primarily on location. As westerns go, "Shalako" contains a sufficient amount of shooting and killing to keep you stimulated. The slaughter of guard dogs is incredibly sadistic considering the method the Native Americans use. Honor Blackman's demise is gruesome but befitting her treacherous character. Basically, this is a good sagebrusher but rarely as sensational as it should have been. This Indians Versus Settlers plot was popular during the 1950s. The U.S. Cavalry is conspicuously absent from this oater. Villains appear on both sides in "Shalako" and provide suitable obstacles for our heroes. The story is fairly straightforward. Apaches attack a party of European aristocrats on safari in the Southwest after they trespass onto their reservation. Dmytryk's western never wears out its welcome, and a few surprises crop up. The supporting cast is exceptional, including Peter Van Eyck, Jack Hawkins, Woody Strode, and Stephen Boyd.

"Shalako" opens with a Louis L'Amour preface. Essentially, the best-selling American novelist explains that Europeans enjoyed hunting game in the American West. The leisurely opening credits show a mindful Shalako riding lonesome through barren territory. Dmytryk cuts to a noisy hunting party. They have a cougar at bay. Irina Lazaar (Brigitte Bardot) bags the beast while evil Bosky Fulton (Stephen Boyd of "Ben Hur") watches. The Baron Frederick Von Hallstatt (Peter Van Eyck of "The Longest Day") celebrates Irina's marksmanship. Later, the reckless Irina leaves her companions to chase coyotes. What neither she nor her companions realize is murderous Apaches are on the prowl. Meantime, Moses Zebulon 'Shalako' Carlin (Sean Connery of "Thunderball") has maintained a low profile and observed the Apaches without attracting their attention. The Indians torture and kill West, the man Fulton sent to watch over Irina. Shalako saves Irina from the Native Americans after they kill her guide. Shalako kills one, smashes another with his rifle, while Irina shoots a third brave. Later, they find the unfortunate West staked out, squatting backwards over a huge arrow.

The Apaches in "Shalako" are more savage than noble, but they know when to quit. Meantime, they show no qualms about slaughtering guard dogs. After he saves the Countess, Shalako explains he has come to escort the hunting party off the reservation. Irina takes Shalako to the new encampment. Our hero warns the Baron they must be prepared to leave the reservation. Shalako is an ex-Army man who attained the rank of colonel. Sir Charles Daggett (Jack Hawkins) refuses to cut short their hunting trip. Bosky refuses to run either. The pompous Senator Henry Clarke (Alexander Knox of "You Only Live Twice") feels nobody should be bound by their honor to keep a promise to a savage. Shalako considers the Europeans "stone, dumb, useless trouble," but he feels Irina is "too beautiful to die." We learn Daggett financed the safari so Julia (Honor Blackman of "Goldfinger") could play matchmaker between Irina and the Baron. Daggett and Julia quarrel, and he consigns her fate wishfully to the Apaches. This serves to foreshadow Julia's grisly death later at the hands of the Apaches.

Shalako leaves the temporary camp on Irina's horse before dawn. Chato's Apaches spring a morning raid, burning wagons, killing dogs, and people. This scene has enough violence to pass muster, but the body count is moderate considering what Spaghetti western might have had. The Europeans and Fulton's men believe they have repulsed the marauding redskins. Actually, shrewd Shalako created smoke signals that compelled the Native Americans to retreat. Fulton takes Julia and his men abandon Daggett and company. They blast holes in their water barrels and leave them without cartridges. Happily, Shalako had them stockpile water and ammunition. He leads the survivors to a mountain. They scale it and take up positions against the Indians.

The craggy Spanish scenery stands out splendidly, and Tom Moore's sensational widescreen cinematography captures the epic proportions of the arena. Aside from Connery and Bardot, the cast contains several other well-known thespians, such as 1940s B-movie star Don "Red" Barry and Julian Mateos of "Return of the Seven." James Bond stunt man Bob Simmons staged the combat scenes, particularly the lively roughhouse between Connery and Strode during the final quarter-hour. "His Majesty O'Keefe" composer Robert Farnon provides an atmospheric orchestral score, but the title song seems out of place for a western in the 1970s.