Unter Geiern

Old Surehand and Winnetou investigate the murders of a mother and daughter. The surviving husband believes that his wife and daughter were murdered by Indians, but Old Surehand suspects that it is the work of a gang of robbers and bandits known as the Vultures, who disguise themselves as Indians while committing their crimes.

The fifth West German production of a film based on Karl May's Winnetou novels is a fairly entertaining western with some sharp cinematography, fine action and settings. Stewart Granger takes over from Lex Barker as old SureHand, and does a fine job adding his charm and wit to the character

Frontier Hellcat is slightly darker than the previous four films, opening as it does with house burning and murder. There's stunts, exciting practical effects (explosions, etc.). There's also a tense, character-building scene where Surehand must prove himself to a tribal chief by shooting down arrows fired his way-while he's tied up! It's a solid escapist western with comic book style leanings.

Continuing in the tradition of previous German-made westerns based on the books of Karl May, this later entry can't hold a candle to earlier films such as "The Treasure of Silver Lake". This one has Granger as leading man and, though he has occasional moments of wit and presence, for the most part he isn't interesting enough to carry the film. He is joined (as in most all of these films) by Brice as Apache Chief Winnetou. The chemistry between the two doesn't quite match that of Brice and Granger's predecessor Lex Barker (who played a different character, but the roles are very similar.) The plot involves Granger and Brice setting out to discover who murdered a frontier mother and daughter. The surviving father blames the Indians while Brice feels that it was a gang of thieves called The Vultures (they certainly don't SOUND like a very friendly band of men!) In the mix is Sommer who is en route to see her father and is wearing a belt filled with gold. The son of the murdered family (George) finds himself falling for her as he investigates the murders along with Granger and Brice. Their adventures take them across various terrain and eventually alongside a wagon train which is beset by infiltrating bandits. This film lacks the grandeur and the production values of earlier films in the series. The lighting is about the worst that can be without having everyone completely in the dark. There is some unintentional humor as in seeing Sommer's extreme bubble bouffant hair-do in an old west setting and the usual hilarity that results from the awful dubbing (Why do these old-fashioned vocal dubbers always sound like they smoke 4 packs of cigarettes a day?) Most fun is seeing George bounce all over the place as if he has springs in his boots. No American western ever had anyone quite so gymnastic in his approach to action scenes. (Also note that, perhaps due to a European sensibility, the men in these films seem to touch each other so much more often than in American westerns. Look for it, it's really unusual.) The film just seems to have a deadening pall over it for some reason. It does not have the style, energy or vividness of the earlier works. It comes to life briefly during a pretty rousing "circle the wagons" stand off and an interlude at an Indian camp at which Granger has to prove his word to a disbelieving (and hilariously bulked up) chief. It's an okay movie to see once, but has no real lasting impact.

The Karl May wave had already been going on for two years (since THE TREASURE OF SILVER LAKE) when AMONG VULTURES came to West German cinemas shortly before Christmas 1964. Packed with film stars and, thanks to the direction of Alfred VOHRER, also one of the most action-packed parts of the series! The fight against the vulture gang is always worth seeing.

Winnetou (Pierre BRICE) and Old Surehand (first appearance of Hollywood star Stewart GRANGER in the role) have their hands full trying to pacify a conflict between the rancher Baumann (Walter BARNES) and the Shoshone chief (muscle-bound as usual: Gojko MITIC). Behind the conflict are the brutal murders of the vulture gang of the unscrupulous leader Preston (Sieghardt RUPP). It's good that the powerful Martin Baumann (Götz GEORGE) and the stunning blonde Annie (Elke SOMMER, recently awarded the GOLDEN GLOBE for THE PRIZE) are also involved!

Fights, shootings, explosions: Alfred VOHRER puts on a great action show. There are also beautiful shots of the Krka waterfalls. A Karl May fan couldn't ask for more. 5.6 million viewers wanted to see the film in West German cinemas. The enchanting Dunja RAJTER (as a barmaid, of course) and Mario GIROTTI, who grew up in Dresden for a few years (not yet as powerful as he later became as Terence HILL), also appear in smaller roles.

Well worth seeing!

As another commenter said, this is pure fantasy in a Western setting. If you're looking for the gritty realism of a Spaghetti Western or an American Western from the Peckinpah era, this is definitely not your cup of tea.

For one thing, everyone is so clean -- even the Vulture Gang, whom you'd naturally expect to have less exacting standards of personal hygiene.

In many ways, these "Bratwurst Westerns" seem like throwbacks to an earlier style, namely, the 1930s brand of American horse opera. Except that in the Old Surehand series, the Native Americans are portrayed to an almost ridiculous degree as misunderstood Noble Savages. (Which is somewhat of an improvement over depicting them as mindless, bloodthirsty savages, but neither approach corresponds very closely to the reality.)

What's really disconcerting about the English language dub of the film is that someone else does Stewart Granger's voice. Which is a pity, because much of Granger's charm and presence as an actor resided in that inimitable bass growl. I wonder why they couldn't get him to do his own dubbing -- I'd have given this one an extra star just for that.

But it doesn't look as though the production values were skimped when it came to the costuming and props, and the cinematography is occasionally breathtaking. (If possible, you should try to catch this in letterbox format, just for the gorgeous scenery.) The action sequences come off fairly well, too, and the bad guys are appropriately villainous.

Overall, I can think of many worse ways to spend an hour-and-a-half.

I've seen more than several of these Karl May novels adapted for the screen and I'm not yet sure who has the better imagination. Its quite obvious that these are totally unrealistic depictions of ruthless heathens and downright savages trying to be put in a kinder light for whatever purpose that has yet to be explained. When Native American's watch these tall tales I'm sure they laugh even harder than I did. Way too far out of touch with cultural realities. To qualify them as interesting entertainment would be beyond logical reason. Some of the more obvious flaws are using model 94 Winchester rifles way before the time frame they came into being. Then to believe that one could shoot an arrow from mid-flight without aiming is especially difficult for even an expert marksman to comprehend. These films are pure fantasy from the word go. If you have 90 to 100 minutes to spare I'd suggest visiting the many Native American web pages instead and find out the truth about the culture and customs.