Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Maleeha Vincent It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

dbdumonteil Born in Brest,Britanny ,and recently deceased,Pierre Brice is a French actor who is virtually unknown in his native country whereas he is considered an icon in Germany;his resemblance with Alain Delon was probably the main reason which led him to work abroad;the only movie of his which is frequently broadcast on French TV is a horror classic ("Il Mulino Delle Donne Di Piétra"="Le Moulin Des Supplices" ).But,although played by a French actor,Winnetou is not part of French popular culture:Pierre Brice,a Breton ,achieved ,however ,a hard task:portraying an Indian without being ludicrous ,as so many of his peers ;he is not only credible,but he retains dignity and greatness. His legendary friendship with Old Shatterhand (Lex Barker) will be a long time coming but they will become blood brothers -and almost brothers-in-law ,a la "broken arrow" ,had the screenwriters saved Marie Versini's squaw .Action scenes are well directed ,with a good sense of space ;the only irksome character is the photographer ,a very bad comic relief.It's all the more pointless since Shatterhand's mates do not take their fate seriously ,even tied to the torture post .Best scene : Shatterhand ,on the canoe compared by Winnetou to an old toothless squaw for he's made a hole in it,trying to row the boat ashore near the sacred totem.

Horst in Translation ([email protected]) "Winnetou - 1. Teil" is a 100-minute movie from Germany, written by Harald G. Petersson based on Karl May's work and directed by Harald Reinl a couple years before his Oscar nomination. This film was done over 50 years ago and still you find some cast members still alive such as Mario Adorf or Marie Versini. Lead actor Pierre Brice died earlier this year. Like I already wrote in the title, western films and European cinema is always a difficult combination. There are some good examples, but sadly, despite its popularity, this is not one of them. It's been a while since I witness a title character who seemed totally forgettable like Winnetou in this one. Lex Barker does a decent job and certainly elevates the material here. Versini I found totally bland and uninteresting like Brice. Adorf id a truly charismatic actor and he makes up for the fact that his character is really stereotypical in here and wasn't written interestingly at all.As a whole, this film delivers adequately for the genre in terms of visuals. Costumes, makeup and cinematography are okay, but all this is just another example of style over substance. The acting is mediocre overall and the story is probably the film's biggest letdown. The music is okay, but sometimes sounds almost too epic for what we see. I believe Reinl is among the best Austrian/German directors of his era, so this is quite a letdown. Still German audiences loved it and really many went to see this movie, which was awarded the Golden screen as well. This is certainly also the explanation why there were so many other Winnetou movies or movies based on Karl May's novels. I myself, after watching this one, have to admit i am not too eager to watch them. Thumbs down for "Winnetou Part 1".

mattek76 Winnetou is a fictional Native American hero of several novels written by Karl May (1842-1912, with about 200 million copies worldwide one of the best selling German writers of all time) in German, including the sequels Winnetou I through Winnetou III. According to Karl May's story, first-person narrator Old Shatterhand encounters Winnetou and after initial dramatic events, a true friendship between Old Shatterhand and the Apache Winnetou arises; on many occasions they give proof of great fighting skill but also of compassion for other human beings. It portrays a belief in an innate "goodness" of mankind, albeit constantly threatened by ill-intentioned enemies. the movie is great and it was filmed in CROATIA. that country that you are mentioning do not exist any more, it was CROATIA before and it is CROATIA now so there is no point to write that it was filmed in that not existing country, this is 2009. so learn-those are CROATIAN national parks!

FilmFlaneur Arguably the start of the notable German Western cycle of the 60's, along with Treasure of the Silver Lake (Der Schatz I'm Silbersee of the previous year). In this early adaption of the tremendously successful Karl May novels which formed the backbone of the series, Ex Tarzan Lex Barker, blonde hair slicked back in vague echo of Kirk Douglas, plays Old Shatterhand. French actor Pierre Brice is Winnetou, good Apache, his Indian blood brother. Unlike the cynicism of the Spaghetti Westerns which followed shortly afterwards, the German version is backward looking - nostalgic, perhaps, for the more simplistic and romantic version of the genre, common in Hollywood before the psychological complications wrought by the 50's. Thus Shatterhand and Winnetou are more Lone Ranger and Tonto than Trinità and Bambino. The present film is fully equal of its rivals elsewhere on the continent in recreating the old west in mid europe, wagon trains marauding indians and all. Winnetou 1 also has the distinction of a marvellous score by Martin Bottcher, its sweeping main theme instantly memorable and looks superb in the widescreen transfer. Recent months have seen the release of three or four boxes of the films featuring Winnetou et al, with another one including the 1980's TV series, also worth investigating. However prospective buyers should note that the English dialogue/subtitling is not consistent; box 1 for instance only has 2 out of the 4 films in English while even in those that do minor characters and small scenes often lapse back into German - not a problem when the plot is relatively straightforward but unless bought cheaply the annoyance is enough to dampen a full recommendation of a greatly entertaining series of films hardly known to western fans, at least in the UK.