★ 5 / 10
_**This is what-were-they-thinking bad, but sorta enjoyable if
Wuchak
_**This is what-were-they-thinking bad, but sorta enjoyable if you can acclimate**_ Wild Bill Hickok (Charles Bronson) is haunted by nightmares involving a…
_**This is what-were-they-thinking bad, but sorta enjoyable if you can acclimate**_
Wild Bill Hickok (Charles Bronson) is haunted by nightmares involving a legendary white buffalo and so travels to the Black Hills region to hunt the creature with his old geezer pardner (Jack Warden). The problem is Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) is seeking vengeance on the beast for killing his daughter. Meanwhile Clint Walker appears as a heavy.
"The White Buffalo" was ready for release by 1976, but was withheld for over a year before being dumped into the general-circulation market. Based on a 1975 book, Director J. Lee Thompson described it as Moby Dick of the West. There’s also a “Jaws” (1975) angle with the three guys teaming up to find and slay the beast.
The wintery outdoor locations are wonderful and the cast is great, also including notables Kim Novak, Stuart Whitman, Slim Pickens, Ed Lauter and John Carradine. I also appreciate the sensitive story of Wild Bill and the great chief Crazy Horse overcoming prejudice to discover common ground and friendship of sorts. In addition, there’s some profound explorations of finding yourself, seeking your destiny, ridding yourself of fears to become more human.
Regrettably, the indoor sets are too artificial and the bison animatronics leave a lot to be desired, resembling a giant shaggy toy, but I guess producers had limited options in the pre-CGI era, especially if they lacked the necessary funds. These elements plus the comic book vibe will leave you wondering “What were they thinking?” The white bison’s godawful attack on the Oglala camp is Exhibit A. Another glaring issue is that not enough backstory is given for Hickok’s nightmares that would provoke him to suddenly wake-up all guns blazing and travel to some remote area to slay this legendary beast (I’m assuming such scenes were cut).
But, if you can adjust, there’s a lot to enjoy here. It’s basically a cult Western — bad, for sure, but somehow entertaining and profound, IF you can adapt to its peculiarities.
The film runs 1 hours, 37 minutes, and was shot partially in the studio & Bronson Canyon, Los Angeles, but also in Colorado, Arizona & New Mexico.
GRADE: C
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★ 6 / 10
Odd but interesting western...
AlsExGal
...with shades of Moby Dick thrown in. Wild Bill Hickok has nightmares about a giant white buffalo (a foreshadowing of his own death?) which he feels can only…
...with shades of Moby Dick thrown in. Wild Bill Hickok has nightmares about a giant white buffalo (a foreshadowing of his own death?) which he feels can only be eliminated by hunting down a giant white buffalo that is striking terror in the Black Hills. Will Sampson plays Crazy Horse, also seeking the same creature after it rampaged through his village and killed his child.
It's all pure fiction, of course, and Charles Bronson's casting as Hickok is laughable, historically speaking, but, I suppose, no more so than that of half a dozen other actors over the years being cast as Hickcok. One historically accurate aspect of the film is that, rather than wearing a holster, Bronson wears a scarlet sash around his waist in which he tucks his guns, as did the real Hickok at times.
The performances are quite good, and there is a colorful supporting cast of familiar faces including Jack Warden in a sizable role as a one eyed Indian-hating frontiersman who goes on the buffalo hunt with Bronson as well as smaller guest star appearances by Kim Novak, Clint Walker, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman and Cara Williams. J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Mackenna's Gold) was the director.
The white buffalo is presented as an almost legendary larger than life destructive force, not unlike a lumbering four legged version of Melville's great white whale, one that causes rocks to tumble down the sides of mountains when it lets out a giant bellow and can charge though walls of ice and snow. At one point, in fact, in a direct parallel to Herman Melville's tale, Crazy Horse will leap on the animal's back to repeatedly stab it with a spear.
The problem for the film, though, are in those pivotal scenes involving the buffalo in which, unfortunately, the creature looks exactly like what it undoubtedly was, some kind of animatronic construction, lacking any sense of reality. It's far more effective when he frighteningly bellows in the mountains than when we actually see him. No amount of fast editing can hide the artificiality of those scenes with the buffalo. The poster advertising the film said "You Won't Believe Your Eyes." That's true, but, unfortunately, not in a good way.
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Could somebody please reseed this ?