The Mississippi River Pirates
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The river pirates of the Mississippi Agguato sul grande fiume (Italy) Les pirates du Mississippi (France) |
 | |
| Country of production | Federal Republic of Germany , Italy , France |
| original language | German |
| Publishing year | 1963 |
| length | 102 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Jürgen Roland |
| script | Werner P. Zibaso |
| production | Wolf C. Hartwig |
| music | Willy Mattes |
| camera | Rolf Kästel |
| cut | Herbert Taschner |
| occupation | |
| |
The Mississippi River Pirates is a German-Italian-French co-produced Western from 1963 that wanted to share in the profits of the then very successful Karl May films . It was based on the novel of the same name by Friedrich Gerstäcker . Directed by Jürgen Roland ; Starring alongside Hansjörg Felmy and Sabine Sinjen , Horst Frank and Brad Harris .
action
A gang of pirates under the leadership of the black-clad bandit Kelly terrifies the citizens around the city of Helena on the Mississippi by raiding mail ships and on land. The small town's citizens appoint the intrepid ranger James Lively as their sheriff . Lively, too, has a terrible event associated with the gang; the murder of his bride Mary is on her account. However, there are also fellow citizens who distrust him and evil contemporaries who incite the Indians. Lively has a friendly relationship with the neighboring Cherokee Indian tribe , and is even their blood brother. When their tribal elder is on his way to Washington to pick up the document that secures the Indians' territory, Kelly uses this opportunity to win the Indians on his side with lousy tricks and infamous machinations. So it happens that they help him to rob the mail ship, which not only has a large amount of money on board, but also the chief of the Cherokees, who is carrying the certificate he received in Washington with the guarantee of the Indian land. They fatally injure the Indian chief "Old Buffalo", but cannot prevent the dying man from entrusting the certificate to his daughter Wichita.
Lively, on the other hand, was captured by the incited Indians at the same time. Evelyn, the niece of the host Smart, who is very fond of Lively, and Deputy Sheriff Tom Quincy ensure that the citizens of Helena prepare for the attack by Kelly and his gang. Fortunately, Lively, who was able to free himself with a trick, also shows up in time to help the residents. However, the soldiers expected by the citizens of Fort Bernadotte are none other than Kelly's bandits, who have put on the uniforms of the men they murdered on the mail ship. And then it turns out that the "honorable" Judge Dayton is the mysterious boss of Kelly and his gang of bandits. When it already looks like Lively and his followers may not win the fight, the Cherokees appear and rescue the settlers of Helena, putting an end to the evil doings of Judges Dayton and Kelly and his gang. But Lively finds in Evelyn the woman who wants to share his life with him from now on.
Production and Background
The production company was Rapid-Film GmbH , Munich, in collaboration with Gianni Fuchs SPA, Rome, and Production Nouvelle Cinematographique, Paris. Some scenes in the film were directed by Gianfranco Parolini . In Italy the western ran under the title Agguato sul grande fiume . The main track was released on the single CBS 1297. Roy Etzel played the trumpet . The cost of the film was 3.2 million DM, making the film one of the most elaborate German adventure films of the time in which it was made. 200 riders of the Yugoslav army including high-quality horses were necessary for the film plot, as well as weapons, ammunition, accessories and equipment for 200 Indians and as many whites in the style of the southern states of the middle of the last century. In addition, the complete construction of the main street and Washington Square of the city of Helena in Arkansas shown in the film had to be accomplished, as well as the reconstruction and construction of a river steamer for the southern states; its demolition and sinking. Hans Berthel and Johannes Ott were responsible for the film construction.
The river photographs were taken on the Save . The other recordings were also shot in Yugoslavia near Rijeka .
The film distribution was done by Gloria-Film , the world distribution was by Export-Film, Bischoff & Co.
Cinema release and DVD
The film was released in the Federal Republic of Germany on October 18, 1963, in Italy on February 8, 1964 and in France on October 13, 1965. The international title is Pirates of the Mississippi . More publishments:
- Denmark on December 26, 1964 under the title Flodpiraterne fra Mississippi
- Mexico on October 6, 1966 under the title Los piratas del Misisipi
- Spain under the title Los cuatreros del Mississippi
- Greece under the title Oi peiratai tou Mississipi
- Ireland under the title The Pirates of Mississippi
- Portugal under the title A fronteira do Mississipi
The film was first broadcast on television on June 22, 1969 in the ARD program.
On November 26, 2010, Koch Media GmbH released a DVD under the title “Teutonenwestern Collection”, which, in addition to the river pirates on the Mississippi, contains the films The Gold Miners of Arkansas and The Black Eagles of Santa Fe .
criticism
Few positive aspects from the critics: "A pale copy of American models.", Wrote the lexicon of international film . The English magazine Films and Filming attested the film lack of character and called the plot a collection of clichés, which might have worked as a comedy. In 1963, the Spiegel also wrote in its review of the characters: “a pseudo neurotic villain, a disheartening pale hero”, but praised some minor characters and the arrangement of the fight scenes. Paimann's film lists confirmed that the film had a "solid story", in which, however, "too much and often naive words" were spoken. “The direction has speed”, and “the Yugoslavian landscapes could be accepted as American.” Bluntwolf from sphaghetti-western spoke of a “cheaply produced but still quite entertaining little Euro-Western with a great cast. The story [was] not particularly original and reeled off the scheme of the town terrorized by bandits, which is often used in the Euro-Western, where the Indians are once again drawn into the maelstrom of the White Man's intrigues. "
synchronization
- Sabine Sinjen: Ursula Herwig
- Brad Harris: Heinz Engelmann
- Dorothee Parker: Rosemarie Fendel
- Karl Lieffen: Thomas Reiner
- Tony Kendall: Reinhard Glemnitz
- Luigi Batzella: Herbert Weicker
- Bruna Simionato: Helga Trümper
- Dan Vadis: Christian Marschall
- Danilo Turk: Werner Lieven
- Vladimir Bacic: Erich Ebert
Web links
- The Flußpiraten the Mississippi in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Mississippi River Pirates at filmportal.de
- The River Pirates from the Mississippi movie poster
- The River Pirates from the Mississippi whole movie
Individual evidence
- ^ Roberto Poppi, Mario Pecorari: Dizionario del cinema italiano: I film Vol. 3 . Rome 1992, pp. 22/23
- ↑ Illustrated Film-Kurier No. 2 Die Flusspiraten vom Mississippi , United Publishing Companies Franke & Co. KG, Munich, p. 9
- ↑ Brad Harris and Friedrich Gerstäcker on brad-harris.de
- ^ Teutons Western Collection DVD
- ↑ The Mississippi River Pirates. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Robin Bean, quoted from Joe Hembus : Das Western-Lexikon. Munich 1995, pp. 212/213
- ↑ The River Pirates from Mississippi In: Der Spiegel No. 52/1963, December 25, 1963.
- ↑ The Mississippi River Pirates. (No longer available online.) In: old.filmarchiv.at. Paimann's film lists , No. 2845_2, March 4, 1964, archived from the original on October 18, 2016 ; accessed on October 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The Mississippi River Pirates at spaghetti-western.net. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
