Chato's Land (1972)

recommended

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Excellent, smart action film.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I like the movie when I first saw it decades ago, and it still commands your attention; Bronson is good.But in the intervening years deconstruction has made us all take a closer look at what the movie is selling.Hollywood portrays the races and sexes and sells us the Hollywood moral system.This movie is an early example of Hollywood's hatred of White people, especially White men.This movie portrays White men from absolutely vile creatures to weak cowards who fail to stop their evil comrades.Big in Hollywood is the hatred of Christianity.This movie displays Hollywood's anti-Christian bigotry. One example of the bigotry is the incident wherein evil White men are justly killed by the non-White Chato and then the rest of the evil White men pray when they bury them.

This was Rambo...guy minds his own business and is hassled by the law. Then a posse is formed to get him and one by one, they are led into demise. Bronson was ripped in this movie. The guy looked the part. My dad said towards the end, "He didn't need to memorize many lines." He didn't have to, his physique and look did all the talking! This is a guy's flick, but there are deeper themes like the revenge, greed, lust, and the evil all men have in their hearts. It's there is you are willing to see it. Another movie that demonstrated man is sinful and at the core, we are all capable of murder. Grim? Yes it is. The answer to man's dilemma is in the movie if you are willing to hear.

Chato's Land is another classic from the legendary Charles Bronson.He was a man who's actions spoke louder than words and this is proof of that fact.Bronson plays Pardon Chato,an apache who shoots a racist sheriff in self defence and is then hunted by a posse led by Quincy Whitmore played brilliantly by Jack Palance.The hunt then turns against the hunters when Chato leads them into apache territory where he is in charge and knows it inside out.The hunters then realise they have underestimated their opponent because in Chatos land Chato is the hunter and Whitmore and his posse are now the hunted.Charles Bronson probably speaks 10 lines at the most and most of his lines are spoken in apache while a lot of focus is on the supporting cast.This was the first of six movies starring Bronson and directed by Michael Winner.Though Winner has become the butt of jokes and criticism in recent years his movies of the 60ties defined the decade and in the 70ties his revenge movies set the bar for all revenge movies that would follow and that should not be forgotten when talking about Michael Winner.This is a gritty,violent revenge story and is an underrated masterpiece.Far better than modern westerns of today.

Charles Bronson, in extraordinary physical shape, plays a quiet Apache in an apparently hate-mongering Old West town who kills the despicable white sheriff in self-defense; he doesn't stick around to explain his actions, of course--and the bartender who witnessed the shooting certainly isn't talking--prompting a prejudiced posse made up of hard-bitten locals to go after the Indian over rough terrain on horseback. Although beautifully-shot by Robert Paynter, and with several surprisingly literate passages in Gerald Wilson's screenplay, this dusty, grizzled western is all on one-note. It would be difficult to find another movie with as many loathsome characters as the ones we get here, which naturally puts the audience completely on Bronson's side (this, one presumes, the ultimate purpose). Distinctly unlikeable, nevertheless, and awfully long (and obvious) at 110 minutes. ** from ****