Thunder at the Border

source: Thunder at the Border

Winnetou (Pierre Brice) on an errand of justice, gets trapped in a town being besieged and destroyed for revenge by a maniac outlaw's gang. Other than that, Winnetou is merely an afterthought among a sprawling plot of the doings of myriad characters, none of whom make much of an impression except for a surprising Todd Armstrong who is more credible here as "Tom" than he was as "Jason" with the Argonauts. Rod Cameron tries hard but has little presence but not much can really be expected when Winnetou, supposedly an Apache, is always got up more like a Cheyenne or Sioux and lives in a "pueblo" like a Navajo. Hollywood Indians are sometimes just as bogus, but European Indians are always bad. One of the "teepees" in the previous film looked like a circus tent.

Winnetou (Pierre Brice) and his sister Nscho-tschi (Marie Versini) meet Old Firehand (Rod Cameron) and protect a Mexican town against bandits. In a time when the popularity of the series faded, even the return of Marie Versini didn't help much. Rod Cameron was the star of a Karl May western for the first and last time. He didn't appeal one tenth as much to the kids as his predecessor Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand had done. The affected manners of Viktor de Kowa as Ravenhurst did not make him another Castlepool (Eddi Aren't in „Winnetou II"). Besides, the Mexican setting took the movie one step closer to the cynical spaghetti westerns of the late 60s, far away from the myth-making „Silver Lake". Instead of Martin Böttcher, Peter Thomas of Edgar Wallace and „Raumpatrouille" fame composed the music, but this is clearly not his preferred genre. Almost nothing turns out right in this movie - mostly forgettable. Winnetou would return one more time for "Valley of Death", nevertheless.

"Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand" or "Thunder at the Border" is a West German & Yugoslavian co-production from 1966 that resulted in a German-language western film. It has its 50th anniversary this year and it is in color. Here we have another of the uncountable Karl May western films from Germany from the 1960s. The title including Winnetou is of course a giveaway. However, do not believe what you are told. These 90 minutes are one of the later installments from the Winnetou series, but actually this is not really a Winnetou film anymore. Pierre Brice's character is almost non-existent for the entire movie, only appears very briefly on several occasions. What still links this film to the Winnetou series is that many actors are in here that appeared in other Winnetou films such as Marie Versini or Rik Battaglia, who is fun to watch as always, but kind of wasted as one of the good guys this time. The antagonists were really boring and the heroes, such as Old Firehand weren't really more interesting either. You cannot blame them though. Obviously the people who made this film, such as director Alfred Vohrer, wanted to make as much cash as possible because the previous Winnetou films were huge commercial successes and this also explains the use of Brice's character in the name. Now I personally think Brice is not a good actor at all, so it may have been a chance to make a good film with him absent most of the time, but the plot and story are just way too weak. Luckily, the film is not as long as some of the other Karl May movies, but even at 1.5 hours, it dragged on several occasions. This film should have been when the Winnetou franchise really should have ended, but sadly there was still one (others may say two) more films to come. I do not recommend the watch. Go for something else.

The Moviemaker tried to make a Combination of the Winnetou Movies and the successful Spaghetti-Western. It didn't work well and there are several reasons why. First the Story wasn't made for Winnetou. We will never find out what Winnetou and his sister are really doing in this Mexico. It's obvious that they wrote his part into the Movie. The same is with his sister Nscho-Tsi, played by the beautiful actress Marie Versini. To give her some reason to be in the movie, the scriptwriter developed a Love Story. But the Love Story also doesn't work. After Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand and Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, you find a new hero next to Winnetou: Old Firehand. Old Firehand is played by Rod Cameron. There is no good Chemistry between Winnetou and Old Firehand. Maybe his second name is Old Sweathead because he is wearing a fur cap which he never takes off in hot sunny Mexico. Some elements seem to be taken from the magnificent 7. Old Firehand, Winnetou and others protects a Mexican Village from a gang of bandits. The public never really find out why, because there is also an Officer from the Army in the town. So why they just don't ask the army for help? There are many plot holes in this movie and you'll find bad scripted characters. One guy is an Englishman (or Scottish) Gentleman, and there you can find a good example of bad overacting on a bad scripted figure. There are many things which a viewer can complain on this movie, but the only good about it: watching Marie Versini as Winnetou's sister and Winnetou himself Pierre Price. In my opinion it is the worst Winnetou Western and maybe the worst Karl May Movie ever.

source: Thunder at the Border

source: Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand

"Winnetou und sein Freund Old Firehand" or "Thunder at the Border" is a West German & Yugoslavian co-production from 1966 that resulted in a German-language western film. It has its 50th anniversary this year and it is in color. Here we have another of the uncountable Karl May western films from Germany from the 1960s. The title including Winnetou is of course a giveaway. However, do not believe what you are told. These 90 minutes are one of the later installments from the Winnetou series, but actually this is not really a Winnetou film anymore. Pierre Brice's character is almost non-existent for the entire movie, only appears very briefly on several occasions. What still links this film to the Winnetou series is that many actors are in here that appeared in other Winnetou films such as Marie Versini or Rik Battaglia, who is fun to watch as always, but kind of wasted as one of the good guys this time. The antagonists were really boring and the heroes, such as Old Firehand weren't really more interesting either. You cannot blame them though. Obviously the people who made this film, such as director Alfred Vohrer, wanted to make as much cash as possible because the previous Winnetou films were huge commercial successes and this also explains the use of Brice's character in the name. Now I personally think Brice is not a good actor at all, so it may have been a chance to make a good film with him absent most of the time, but the plot and story are just way too weak. Luckily, the film is not as long as some of the other Karl May movies, but even at 1.5 hours, it dragged on several occasions. This film should have been when the Winnetou franchise really should have ended, but sadly there was still one (others may say two) more films to come. I do not recommend the watch. Go for something else.

Winnetou (Pierre Brice) on an errand of justice, gets trapped in a town being besieged and destroyed for revenge by a maniac outlaw's gang. Other than that, Winnetou is merely an afterthought among a sprawling plot of the doings of myriad characters, none of whom make much of an impression except for a surprising Todd Armstrong who is more credible here as "Tom" than he was as "Jason" with the Argonauts. Rod Cameron tries hard but has little presence but not much can really be expected when Winnetou, supposedly an Apache, is always got up more like a Cheyenne or Sioux and lives in a "pueblo" like a Navajo. Hollywood Indians are sometimes just as bogus, but European Indians are always bad. One of the "teepees" in the previous film looked like a circus tent.

The Moviemaker tried to make a Combination of the Winnetou Movies and the successful Spaghetti-Western. It didn't work well and there are several reasons why. First the Story wasn't made for Winnetou. We will never find out what Winnetou and his sister are really doing in this Mexico. It's obvious that they wrote his part into the Movie. The same is with his sister Nscho-Tsi, played by the beautiful actress Marie Versini. To give her some reason to be in the movie, the scriptwriter developed a Love Story. But the Love Story also doesn't work. After Lex Barker as Old Shatterhand and Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, you find a new hero next to Winnetou: Old Firehand. Old Firehand is played by Rod Cameron. There is no good Chemistry between Winnetou and Old Firehand. Maybe his second name is Old Sweathead because he is wearing a fur cap which he never takes off in hot sunny Mexico. Some elements seem to be taken from the magnificent 7. Old Firehand, Winnetou and others protects a Mexican Village from a gang of bandits. The public never really find out why, because there is also an Officer from the Army in the town. So why they just don't ask the army for help? There are many plot holes in this movie and you'll find bad scripted characters. One guy is an Englishman (or Scottish) Gentleman, and there you can find a good example of bad overacting on a bad scripted figure. There are many things which a viewer can complain on this movie, but the only good about it: watching Marie Versini as Winnetou's sister and Winnetou himself Pierre Price. In my opinion it is the worst Winnetou Western and maybe the worst Karl May Movie ever.