the audience applauded

Sorry, this movie sucks

Really Surprised!

Beautiful, moving film.

It's testament to SHALAKO's efficiency that it ably passes for a Hollywood western despite being a British/West German production; the mountainous Spanish scenery accounts for much of the authenticity here and the story that follows is surprisingly decent, although perhaps not one of the absolute classics of the era. I'm just surprised that the team made a likable western despite the problems that could have arisen with it.One of these is Sean Connery, perhaps playing one of the most unlikely cowboys ever; he acquits himself well and gives a taciturn performance which suits the film nicely. Brigitte Bardot doesn't have much to do other than stand around and look ravishing, which of course she does with ease. The excellent supporting cast includes the likes of Jack Hawkins, Eric Sykes (!), Honor Blackman, Peter van Eyck, Stephen Boyd, and, in an odd but effective bit of casting, Woody Strode as a Native American leader.The spare narrative doesn't have a great deal of plot structure but that fits well with the survivalist tone. The action scenes are very effective, particularly a mini siege that brings to mind ZULU. The film was based on a book by popular western writer Louis L'Amour, and was directed by old-time Hollywood pro Edward Dmytryk.

DIRECTOR: Edward Dmytryk. WRITERS: Louis L'Amour (novel) and Clarke Reynolds (screenplay). CAST: Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Sephen Boyd, Honor Blackman, Jack Hawkins, Woody Strode and Valerie French. RUNTIME: 1 hour 53 minutes. LOCATIONS: Spain. COUNTRY: UK/West Germany.THE STORY: A pompous group of European nobles on a hunting vacation in New Mexico are beset by a band of Apaches who don't appreciate them trespassing on their lands. After the Europeans are abandoned by their guides they are helped by an intrepid loner named Shalako (Connery). Can they make it out alive?As you can see, this European film has a lot going for it. It's based on a Louis L'Amour novel and has a great cast. Yet, it bombed when it was originally released, but it's actually a very good realistic Western. Besides, how can you go wrong with Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot?Disregarding the horrible title song, the opening is reminiscent of "Duel at Diablo" and the rest of the film resembles "Hombre," which were both released in the late 60s as well. "Shalako" has the same tone, so if you like those films you'll probably appreciate "Shalako."Although there's a lot of good Western action, including one excellent long battle sequence between the whites and the Natives, there's quite a bit of drama. As such, I encourage you to utilize the subtitles due to the heavily-accented dialogue; it helps you to keep up with the story and characters. There's also some good character definement. The film is a story of arrogance and betrayal -- the arrogance of the Europeans who have no respect for the "lowbred" cowboys or "savages," and the betrayal of the American guides, headed excellently by Stephen Boyd (Messala in "Ben-Hur"). But, to my pleasure, "Shalako" is mostly a survival story. I love survival stories, like "Sands of the Kalahari" and "Flight of the Phoenix." This brings to mind other survival-themed Westerns like "Escape from Fort Bravo," "They Came to Cordura" and "Duel at Diablo." "Shalako" stands well with these films.Can you believe Woody Strode, a black man, is cast as the main Native American antagonist? It works, believe it or not, as he looks convincingly Indian.THE BABE REPORT: Of course, Brigitte Bardot is one of the most beautiful women to ever grace God's earth. With the exception of one bathing scene she's dressed to the hilt throughout. But -- man -- she has such a cute, pouty face and incredible locks of full blond hair. Interestingly, she was chosen to play Bond's love interest in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" (the only non-Connery Bond picture of the 60s with George Lazenby as Bond), but she was ironically booked with Connery doing this movie. Honor Blackman, who played Pussy Galore in "Goldfinger," is also on hand. I never thought she was all that beautiful, although I like her as an actor.Of great interest to me was the appearance of the underrated brunette Valerie French. She played the hottie in "Jubal" (1956) when she was 28. "Shalako" was her final film and she was 40 at the time of release. She's mainly a background character but she does have some lines and you'll catch quite a few good glimpses of her. She's almost as beautiful as Bardot, albeit brunette. And, no, it makes no difference that she's 40.FINAL ANALYSIS: I fully expected to not like "Shalako" due to the bad or lukewarm reviews, but I was pleasantly surprised. The critics are way off. This is a really good late-60's Western. Those with ADHD might not like it 'cause there's a lot of character-defining drama, but I found it worthwhile for all the above reasons.Some criticize the ending as ridiculous, but I liked it. Would it likely happen in real life? Probably not. But I didn't find it all that unbelievable. In other words, the filmmakers pulled it off. It's a good MOVIE ending. That's why they went with it.GRADE: B+

So, you've got a Scot, a couple Englishmen, an Irishman, a Pole and a French woman in a film....who would believe that it would be a western?! But somehow, the film folks decided this bizarre casting would be great and somehow they persuaded Sean Connery to abandon the lead in the next Bond film ("On Her Majesty's Secret Service") for this movie. While I know Connery was aching for some other sort of acting challenge, he must have been real desperate for a change to pick a movie like this. It isn't that it's bad--it's just badly miscast. And, to top off the bad casting, black-American actor/athlete Woody Strode is cast as an American-Indian!! Wow...that's so weird. What was also weird were the 1960s hair styles many sported--particularly Bardot with her VERY distinctive doo. Louis L'Amour, who wrote this story, must have been frustrated at the casting.Brigitte Bardo is among a group of Europeans out in the old west on a hunting expedition. Their party is attacked by Indians and Sean Connery comes to her aid. Eventually, he's able to get the Apache chief to agree to let him and Bardot leave...provided they got off Indian land by sundown. On their way out, they meet up with Bardot's bizarre friends--who insist on staying in their surreal camping expedition. Surreal, because they come provisioned like kings--complete with linens, fine wines and the like. Apparently they are rich and regal....and totally stupid, as they want to stay and "teach the Indians a lesson"! Sixteen upper class twits versus an entire Indian nation--I like them odds!! Why Connery didn't just leave them all to die is beyond me. Instead, he plans on setting out to get the help of the Cavalry--though why they'd want to help these idiots, I have no idea! But before this can happen, the Apache attack and things look dire for the band of idiots. Watch the film if you'd like to see what happens next. However, aside from the odd cast, it's a pretty standard 'let's not get slaughtered by the Indians flick'. Not bad overall, but just a bit strange. I was ready to give this film a mediocre score of 5, but the closing song was so bad that I just needed to shave off another point. Yuck!By the way, this is definitely NOT a film for dog lovers. While it's rare to see dogs killed in films (other than "Old Yeller"), here several are brutally killed by Indians and it probably will disturb some viewers. Plus, I felt these scenes lacked realism, as real German Shepherd dogs would have acted quite differently considering they WERE supposed to be guard dogs!

A great film Director Edward Dmytrk created this very different Western film with the title of SHALAKO meaning the word Rain Bringer. Sean Connery, (Shalako Carlin) a hunter and tracker is employed by a group of European people who like to hunt and they decide to visit the Western area of America. Brigitte Bardot, (Countess Lazaar) loves to hunt dangerous animals and is enjoying her trip while she kills a mountain lion. However, all these people never thought that this area of Western America was occupied by Native American Indians and that they were really being threatened and hunted by these people. These European people were so relaxed that they had a large dinner table set up with all the finest china and candle light and food right in the middle of a desert and had no fears of any harm. This is truly a great Louis L'Amour story written by a great American Western Writer. Enjoy.