Scott LeBrun
In fact, "The White Buffalo" may on the surface appear to be just another Dino De Laurentiis production of the time like "King Kong" or "Orca", but it's rather intriguing and very moody. It's really an offbeat character study in which the character in question, none other than Wild Bill Hickock (Charles Bronson) has to face an internal demon of his by also doing battle with a real one, supposedly the last of the great white buffaloes that have mostly been wiped out.On his way to meet his destiny, Wild Bill - now travelling under the alias James Otis - meets a variety of colourful characters, including his old friend Charlie Zane (a hearty Jack Warden) and Poker Jenny (Kim Novak, looking as beautiful as ever). Some of his encounters get intense, with the requisite amount of gunfire and bloodshed, but things really pick up once Bill and Charlie make the acquaintance of the Indian named Crazy Horse (Will Sampson), who is on his own quest to slay the beast.The special effects may draw criticisms from some viewers, but this viewer never had any problem with them, and certainly appreciated seeing old style animatronics. The wintry atmosphere of "The White Buffalo" is incredible, accompanied by genuinely spooky music by John Barry, and the film has a wonderful spiritual quality not to be found in other collaborations between Bronson and director J. Lee Thompson. It's an unconventional choice of material for them, and today it rates as an under-rated entry on their resumes.Much of the cast are relegated to cameo roles, but make the most out of their brief screen time: Clint Walker, Stuart Whitman, Slim Pickens, John Carradine, Cara Williams, Douglas Fowley, Ed Lauter, and Martin Kove, among others.With this assemblage of talent and a decent script (by Richard Sale, based on his novel), this makes for fairly compelling viewing.Seven out of 10.
Merciful_Wolf
--My review doesn't spoil any of the plot development, twists, or ending, but I've added a spoiler warning because I do discuss the characters' motivations, which might be spoilery to some viewers.--This is a surprisingly effective and unique film; ostensibly a Western, but proving to have more parts supernatural thriller and mythical quest. The premise seems so ridiculous that it'd have to be either a comedy or an over-the-top action flick: Wild Bill Hickock and Crazy Horse team up to hunt a evil white buffalo. Instead, this film takes itself completely seriously and, amazingly, succeeds. I'm not going to call this one of the greatest Westerns or any of that stuff, but it's uncommonly absorbing and not quite like anything else I've seen.The Western elements are thus: the setting, the tension between whites and Native Americans, the gunslinger of little words who is frequently attacked by snarling baddies wherever he goes but guns them down with hardly a blink (usually the Clint Eastwood role). Yet the main plot is part quest, part supernatural thriller: Hickock (Charles Bronson) is plagued by nightmares of the White Buffalo attacking him, and must confront the beast in order to keep from being driven insane; likewise, the Oglala chief Crazy Horse -- who was stripped of his rank and name after weeping like a woman at the death of his infant child when the White Buffalo attacked his village -- must kill the beast "in the old way" to regain his honor and provide peace for his child in the afterlife.The White Buffalo itself appears nearly demonic -- in addition to invading Hickock's dreams even while he was living hundreds of miles away in the East, it stalks them from the shadows of snowy mountains, plays psychological games by making noises at night, kills their horses to deprive them of easy transport, and causes avalanches to intimidate them and cause mayhem. It reminded me of equal parts Moby Dick and the Red Bull from "The Last Unicorn".The movie is directed in a slow, slightly surreal, not completely steady manner. In the first ten minutes of the movie, I wasn't sure if it was well made or not. The outside nighttime settings look limited, as if filmed on dark stages perhaps, the lighting was low and natural (often obscuring landscape or facial details due to darker-than-normal-for-movies shadows). The acting for the Native American characters is stiff and stereotypical of old Western portrayals -- flat voices, no emotion, somber faces. And the White Buffalo itself is filmed mostly in lightning quick, almost shaky-cam shots, up close, so you can't quite get a good look at it. Since it's likely a big puppet they had, this kind of choppy shooting was probably to disguise the artificiality. And it works. Sure, we're used to big CGI shots of creatures, and a bigger budgeted movie in 1977 could probably have done more, but this limited approach WORKS for this movie. It makes the White Buffalo more surreal, more monstrous, and more threatening. It's not a real buffalo -- it's practically a demon! I think that's the point, and it really helps build the suspense and eerie atmosphere for this movie. And this goes for the whole movie -- as it progresses, the directing feels more assured and the narrative finds its focus.Bronson is one of the iciest action heroes of his time, all the moreso because of his leathered face and deep-set, stern eyes. He doesn't emote much, but he doesn't have to. His character is hard and driven, knows he's done bad in the past and doesn't apologize for it, but also seems to be looking for a way to atone for it. I think he ends up finding a way towards something resembling peace, by the end, although it's not much, and you can decide for yourself.The supporting cast are all pretty excellent, though may not notice until the end. Jack Warden starts as an entertaining cliché, but by the end becomes a more complex, and, in a moral view, tragic figure. Will Sampson plays Crazy Horse with solemn dignity; somewhat of a living caricature of the noble, steel-eyed savage, but with such presence as to match the ominous White Buffalo's and lift this story further into the realm of legend. The character of dark-hearted Whistling Jack Kileen I swore was played by Gregory Peck, but in fact is played by towering, deep-voiced Clint Walker. A deadly, fearsome opponent even for the likes of Charles Bronson.There's very little humor in "The White Buffalo," but it never gets as depressing as it threatens. I enjoyed it -- it's cool, if grim, and has a sense of honor about it. And it's fascinating for how it mixes the genres of the Western, the personal quest, and the supernatural beastly thriller.
