Shalako [1968] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Customer Reviews:

Not Bad--The Stars Help.......2006-02-01

I don't know if inept, snotty Euro-Aristos actually went on safaris in the middle of the Old West, but if you can get by that particular set-up, the rest of the film is pretty enjoyable, with good action scenes, lovely scenery well photographed, and a likeable cast giving value for money.

There have been complaints that Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot fail to Ignite The Screen--instead, they display a likeable, low-key camaderie as an indian scout and a titled Frenchwoman who's a lot faster on the uptake than most of her companions--crude sex appeal gives way to something more realistic and appealing. Bardot forgoes pouting and wriggling and is all the more likeable for it (1968 was also the year of her excellent cameo in the "William Wilson" segment of LES HISTOIRES EXTRAORDINAIRE, yet another renunciation of her sex-kitten persona). Stephen Boyd and Honor Blackman are equally good as a predatory criminal and the English noblewoman who runs off with him from a mixture of craven calculation and sheer boredom--Boyd is flat-out sinister yet also charming, and Blackman is a vivid portrait of a woman stifled by her circumstances yet also quite willing to exploit the advantages of those circumstances.

The director, Edward Dymytryk, was long past his peak years as a director, but he gives the film forward momentum and does good work with the actors. The final result is hardly a work of art, but it is solid craftsmanship, and that is nothing to sneeze at.

Big Game hunters get hunted........2001-12-03

This is a curious western that boasts some interesting stars yet never really produces the sparks one might expect when Sean Connery and Brigitte Bardot hit the big screen together.

It is a tale of Europeans on a safari in the wild west.Of course they are ill suited to such a venture and this is the basis of the film.They are double crossed,attacked by Native Americans and end up very shaken and stirred.Cue the hero whom the film is named after,played by Connery.

It is rather predictable after that with Connery saving most of them and getting the girl(he always manages to do that in films doesn't he?).

The ending is a bit weak and is too obvious.Yet one could pass a Saturday afternoon watching the film and be entertained which I suppose is all the Director intended.

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