No mercy for Ulzana

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Movie
German title No mercy for Ulzana
Original title Ulzana's raid
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1972
length 110 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Robert Aldrich
script Alan Sharp
production Carter DeHaven
music Frank De Vol
camera Joseph F. Biroc
cut Michael Luciano
occupation

No Mercy for Ulzana (original title: Ulzana's Raid ) is an American western directed by Robert Aldrich from 1972. The German premiere was on March 16, 1973 in the 101-minute European version created by Burt Lancaster. In the USA, on the other hand, the film was shown in the version authorized by Robert Aldrich with a length of 103 minutes, the same version on which all DVDs are based. Despite the similar running time, both versions contained different scenes that only appeared in one of the two versions. On September 7, 1986, Westdeutscher Rundfunk broadcast a reconstructed (but unauthorized) version (FSK for this version: from 16), which merged all scenes from the two versions and lasts about 111 minutes.

action

The Apache Ulzana of the Chiricahua tribe can leave his reservation in San Carlos with seven tribal warriors. Murdering and plundering, the Indians repay the settlers in the area for what was done to them on the reservation. At Fort Lowell, the inexperienced Lieutenant De Buin is assigned to pursue and capture the Apaches with a cavalry unit. He has two scouts at his side: the experienced scout McIntosh and the young Apache Ke-Ni-Tay.

In their search for the escaped group, the soldiers find a trail of devastation. Farms were destroyed, settlers were cruelly killed, women raped. The two scouts try to empathize with Ulzana in order to predict his next step. De Buin should be held back from hasty actions.

McIntosh kills Ulzana's son while exploring. With that he draws the Indian's vengeance on himself. With an escort, the old scout wants to distract Ulzana and lure him into an ambush. The plan fails and a terrible bloodbath ensues.

Reviews

“Aldrich does not take sides, he does not say the whites are good and the Indians are bad, nor does he say that there is evil on both sides. He says everyone is evil, all human beings are cruel and violent. The only hope is that there will always be a few people who have this experience for the first time in this life and still not give up, who try to do what happens with the limited possibilities their brain offers understand. One of them is the young officer in this film. "

- Rudolf Thome , 1973

“Western with a calm tempo and restrained tension. A version reconstructed by WDR approximates the version intended by Robert Aldrich; it reveals the differentiation and critical references more clearly than the German theatrical version from 1973 and casts a prejudice-free look at the misconduct and misconduct on both sides. The film sees itself as a criticism of the 'civilized' American society (after the Vietnam War), of militarism and the destruction of cultures through lack of understanding and narrow-mindedness. "

"Aldrich's still brilliant aesthetic of violence degenerates into the cynical, unreflective and barbaric demonization of an ethnological minority ."

- Barbara Buhl [?], 1973

“Twenty years after his first western, Apache , Robert Aldrich returns to the Apaches and is no longer able to see the cause of the red man with the idealism that carried that early film: is the idealistic young lieutenant in Ulzana's Raid an image of the early Aldrich, the figure of the old McIntosh reflects the disillusioned, cynical attitude of the late Aldrich, who has experienced enough of the heroism of barbarism to still make differences or burden himself with conflicts. "

- Joe Hembus , 1976

“20 years after ' Maasai ', director Robert Aldrich presents the Indians again as a proud people. Because of the unbridled ferocity of the murdering Apaches, the radical film was released in 1972 shortened by about 10 minutes. "

“In terms of thematic radicalism, this Hollywood western is a milestone. Never before, never afterwards has a film - using the means of entertainment cinema - so precisely and relentlessly reflected the relationship between native and 'white' violence. "

- Norbert Grob , 1986

"[V] recognized [s] masterpiece [...] [and] critical Vietnam parable [], [...] anti-racist [] [and] [...] radical []."

background

  • The film was shot in Arizona and Nevada.
  • The budget was comparatively low at $ 1.2 million.
  • Oscar winner Burt Lancaster ( honored as best actor in Elmer Gantry in 1961 ) worked as an unnamed co-producer on this film.
  • Richard Farnsworth , who later received two Oscar nominations, can be seen as a cavalryman .
  • The film's cameraman was Joseph F. Biroc, who won an Oscar for Flaming Inferno in 1975 .

Historical background

  • The San Carlos Apache reservation mentioned in the film actually existed.
  • The Chiricahua Apaches were known and feared for their guerrilla tactics also depicted in the film.
  • The shown campaign by Ulzana with 10 Apache warriors actually took place (1885), primarily because Ulzana wanted to free his wife who had been kidnapped by the US Army. Ulzana returned after several months of unsuccessful things to the so-called "Apache fortress" in Mexico and surrendered together with Geronimo in 1886. Geronimo fled again, whereas Ulzana was banished to Florida with the rest of the Chiricahuas living in San Carlos. During their campaign, the group killed dozen of settlers and were hunted in vain by over 1,000 soldiers.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Rudolf Thome: No mercy for Ulzana. In: Bernd Kiefer, Norbert Grob with the collaboration of Marcus Stiglegger (Ed.): Filmgenres. Western . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 315-318, here 315, gives 113 minutes. - See also: Norbert Grob: Cruel Western . In: Die Zeit , No. 37/1986.
  2. ^ Rudolf Thome: No mercy for Ulzana. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 5, 1973. Reprinted, supplemented by references, in: Bernd Kiefer, Norbert Grob with the collaboration of Marcus Stiglegger (Ed.): Filmgenres. Western . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 315-318, here 317.
  3. No mercy for Ulzana. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. BB [Barbara Buhl?]: [Section] Questionable . In: EKP [u. a.]: Film tips. [Collective review.] In: Die Zeit , No. 14/1973. The monogram BB is ascribed to Barbara Buhl here, as the abbreviation BB can be found in: Thomas Koebner with the assistance of Kerstin-Luise Neumann (Ed.): Film Klassiker. Descriptions and comments (= RUB . No. 9414–9418). 4 vols. Reclam, Stuttgart 1995, ISBN 3-15-030011-8 , vol. 1, p. 17.
  5. ^ Joe Hembus: The Western Lexicon. 1567 films from 1894 to the present day . [Extended new edition by Benjamin Hembus.] (= Heyne Film Library . No. 32/207). Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1995 [first edition 1976], ISBN 3-453-08121-8 , p. 355f, here 356.
  6. cinema.de
  7. ^ Norbert Grob: Cruel Western . In: Die Zeit , No. 37/1986. - The assessment can also be found in: Norbert Grob, Bernd Kiefer: Introduction. In: Bernd Kiefer, Norbert Grob with the collaboration of Marcus Stiglegger (Ed.): Filmgenres. Western . Reclam, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-15-018402-9 , pp. 12-40, here 23.
  8. Marcus Stiglegger: [Article] Robert Aldrich. In: Thomas Koebner (Ed.): Film directors. Biographies, descriptions of works, filmographies. 3rd, updated and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2008 [1. Edition 1999], ISBN 978-3-15-010662-4 , pp. 7-10, here 8.