Film Review: Among Vultures (Unter Geiern/Frontier Hellcat, 1964)
The author of this review got his first ideas about international nature of film business by seeing some of the very popular actors from his country's small screens appearing in major foreign cinema productions. One such film was Frontier Hellcat a.k.a. Among Vultures, 1964 West German western directed by Alfred Vohrer.
This is the fourth film in the series based on the popular novels by German writer Karl May. Pierre Brice repeats his iconic role of Apache chief Winnetou. Plot begins when Winettou help rancher Baumann (played by Walter Barnes) and his son Martin (played by Götz George) hunt down bear responsible for killing their sheep. While they are away, the ranch is attacked, burned and Baumann's wife and daughter killed in what looks like an Indian raid. Evidence points to the band of Shoshons and their leader Wokadeh (played by Gojko Mitić), especially after the testimony of wandering preacher Weller (played by Miha Baloh). The preacher is actually member of "Vultures", vicious gang of bandits that want to stir war between Indians and settlers and order to rob caravan of settlers travelling to Arizona. Their plans are going to be thwarted thanks to the arrival of Winettou's old friend, expert marksman Old Surehand (played by Stewart Granger) whose skills will come handy while protecting Annie (played by Elke Sommer), beautiful young woman traveling West carrying gold in her belt.
Like all the films in the series, Among Vultures was shot on locations in Yugoslavia, mostly areas of Dinarides, which could reasonably pass for American Southwest. Apart from locations, some of the local talents were also used, including some enjoying status of local film and television stars. Boris Dvornik, Croatian actor and arguably the biggest of them all, appears briefly as one of ill-fated "Vultures". Slovenian actor Miha Baloh has much meatier and better roles and double-crossing Weller. Serbian actor Gojko Mitić plays a role of a noble Indian warrior which soon become his specialty in East German cinema. But the best performance is given by comedian Milan Srdoč (here credited as "Paddy Fox") in the role of Old Surehand's goofy sidekick Old Wabble.
Viewers not that interested in Yugoslav cinema would, on the other hand, have opportunity to enjoy a solid piece of western. Vohrer directs action scenes quite well, and the only major problem is use of "day for night" in certain scenes. Script provides good combination of action, humour and even some romance, but the beginning seems to be strangely dark for this sort of films, obviously intended for family audience. Pierre Brice is effective as Winnetou, but his gravitas and seriousness look a little bit one-dimensional in comparison with more nonchalant Old Surehand, played by Stewart Granger in a way that he had the time of his life on the set. Some of that fun will surely rub on the viewers, so Among Vultures could be recommended to those wanting to enjoy old school solid westerns.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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