Last of the Renegades

The cast is as cosmopolitan as it can be : German (Dor,the director's wife , Kinski) ,French (Brice) ,English (Steele) ,Italian (Massimo Girotti aka Terence Hill) ,American (Barker), .....

But this is not my favorite Winnetou:Hugo Fregonese did a better job with "old shatterhand "even though the principal's role is reduced to his well-known philosophy ;"old shatterhand " had a better screenplay and a much more effective directing .

There are shades of "broken arrow " in it ,and too many plotholes ; the love of Lieutenant Merrill is a fait accompli; out of the blue ,he decides to marry the beautiful Indian ,and the father and Suzanne (his sister? ) accept it without a moment's hesitation ; this kind of marriage is common in westerns since "broken arrow",but they often meet a bad end (Delmer Daves ' film) or are strongly disapproved by the daddy ("gunman's walk" )

Gallic Pierre Brice is true to himself as the Indian Gandhi ; peace is the key to everything in his philosophy and his words of wisdom always make sense;he's ready to give it all to preserve it,even though he must sacrifice his love for Ribanna ;but ,a bachelor , he will be able to follow his paleface brother in further adventures; the comic relief and his six-dollar-hat are not very funny. Kinski makes up for it as the baddie: but , his count-the-steps trick is far-fetched .

This film essentially starts with Apache chief "Winnetou" (Pierre Brice) riding on horseback to meet a Native American tribal chief of the Assiniboine about joining comprehensive peace talks with America. Along the way, he encounters a young Assiniboine maiden named "Ribanna" (Karin Dor) being attacked by a bear and rushes in to save her. Grateful for his help, she introduces herself and reveals that she is the daughter of the Assiniboine chief. His bravery strengthens his cause, and he convinces the Assiniboine chief to collaborate with several rival Native American tribes to negotiate peace with the American government. Additionally, while he's there, he frees three American soldiers held captive by the Assiniboine, including one named "Lieutenant Robert Merrill" (Terence Hill), who just so happens to be the son of the officer in charge of a nearby Army garrison. However, there is a wealthy oil baron named "Bud Forrester" (Anthony Steel) who has been causing chaos among the Native Americans to claim their lands--and he'll stop at nothing to sabotage all peace efforts. Rather than reveal more, I'll just say that I enjoyed this particular installment of the Winnetou series a bit more than the three films that came before it, especially due to the romantic drama involving Winnetou, Ribanna, and Lieutenant Merrill. Additionally, just like its three predecessors, it also features beautiful scenery and background music. In any case, I enjoyed this film for the most part, and I've rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

This is an epic western-adventure-movie. It is highly entertaining and has in fact the potential of being a lot better than it is. Dances with Wolves reminds me a lot of this movie. And with a better script and stronger directing Winnetou II could have been a timeless piece of art like the Costner movie. The yugoslavian landscape seems a bit out of place sometimes, but the movie has a lot of the "Karl May - feeling".

This second picture of Karl May's Winnetou trilogy has everything required on a western movie, the upcoming war over White men and Indians, peace agreement, a white soldier marrying a native girl, ambush, a cruel gang extracting oils, a Fort's soldiers, settlers have been slaughtered by outlaws, for Indians be blamed, the casting are absolutely stellar, Lex Barker, Pierre Brice, Terence Hill, Klaus Kinski, Anthony Steel and Renato Baldini, although the high point is the marvelous breathtaking Yuguslavian landscape, calm clean rivers, blue lagoon, green forests, rocky peaks and a fabulous wide natural cave, like a greatest cathedral, where the showdown took place, apart some contrived scenes the picture allowed us see this amazing place, no blue screen or studio's sets, just shot on the wildest Yuguslavia countryside, not bad at all!!!

Resume:

First watch: 2019 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 7

"Winnetou 2" is the lucky one of the Winnetou trilogy, because in between the tragic events of part 1 and 3, none of the central characters needs to die. So it's a somewhat easier going show with a lot of great actors: a very young Terence Hill (then still Mario Girotti), Klaus Kinski, and notably Karin Dor ("The Green Archer", "You Only Live Twice") as Ribanna who falls in love with Winnetou but is expected to marry Lt.Merril for the sake of peace. Very impressive are the scene with countless extras (i.e. the meeting of the Indian chieftains) and in the cave when Winnetou comes to the rescue of Ribanna - and Merril whom he doesn't bear a grudge, that's noble Apaches for you. Director Reinl would take Lex Barker and Karin Dor into an even scarier place later with "Castle of the Walking Dead" ("Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel"). To sum it up: "Winnetou 2" was a good sequel that disappointed none of the audience, therefore part 3 was immediately on the schedule.