Italian cowboy movies are called spaghetti westerns, so maybe this German one should be called a schnitzel western, or a sauerbraten western, or some such thing, but it's definitely not a "western" western. This German-made film about a group of Germans traveling from the US through Canada to get to the Dawson gold-mining area in the late 1800s has some beautiful Canadian scenery, and a realistic look to it, but overall it's just too slow-moving and, frankly, depressing to qualify as a "western".
It has the cold, gritty look of Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" and Kevin Costner's "Open Range"--not necessarily a bad thing--but I think it's too relentlessly downbeat and, to be honest, depressing for most viewers' tastes. The film is totally and completely humorless--I know the West of the time was not exactly a laugh riot, but so many bad things happen to so many people so often that you actually start getting depressed watching this. Just about the only "light-hearted" moment is when one of the group stops in a saloon while traveling through a town and asks the bartender for three bottles of whiskey and one glass, while the other customers just stare at him. That's pretty much it.
The box cover says the film is 101 minutes long, but believe me--it seems a LOT longer than that. Unless you like dark, moody, somewhat self- indulgent westerns that move like molasses, I'd say skip this.
It has the cold, gritty look of Clint Eastwood's "Pale Rider" and Kevin Costner's "Open Range"--not necessarily a bad thing--but I think it's too relentlessly downbeat and, to be honest, depressing for most viewers' tastes. The film is totally and completely humorless--I know the West of the time was not exactly a laugh riot, but so many bad things happen to so many people so often that you actually start getting depressed watching this. Just about the only "light-hearted" moment is when one of the group stops in a saloon while traveling through a town and asks the bartender for three bottles of whiskey and one glass, while the other customers just stare at him. That's pretty much it.
The box cover says the film is 101 minutes long, but believe me--it seems a LOT longer than that. Unless you like dark, moody, somewhat self- indulgent westerns that move like molasses, I'd say skip this.