Mackenna's gold
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Mackenna's gold |
| Original title | MacKenna's gold |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1969 |
| length | 132 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 12 |
| Rod | |
| Director | J. Lee Thompson |
| script | Carl Foreman |
| production | Carl Foreman, Dimitri Tiomkin |
| music | Quincy Jones |
| camera | Joseph MacDonald |
| cut | Bill Lenny |
| occupation | |
| |
Mackenna's Gold is an American western by director J. Lee Thompson from 1969, based on a 1963 novel of the same name by Henry Wilson Allen under the pseudonym Will Henry. Gregory Peck and Omar Sharif play the leading roles.
action
According to an old story, the Cañyon del Oro, which is named after it, is said to be rich in gold that is guarded by the spirits of the Apaches . A man named Adams once discovered the precious metal, but the Indians found him, robbed him of his sight and killed his companions. When the US Marshal Sam MacKenna shoots the old chief Prairie Dog in self-defense several years later, he finds a map on him that apparently shows the way to the gold in question. The wearer of the tin star does not believe in the existence of the legendary treasure, but does memorize the map before burning it.
Mexican outlaw John Colorado and his gang had persecuted the chief over the map. To this end, Colorado broke into Judge Bergerman's home, stole provisions and mules for his expedition, killed the old lawyer, who was reaching for a rifle, and kidnapped his daughter Inga to protect herself from possible persecutors. When Colorado then encounters MacKenna in the wild, he assumes that MacKenna himself was after the wealth-promising map. But when it becomes clear that the old Prairie Dog's document was burned, he hopes for MacKenna's forced help to find the Cañyon del Oro after all. After all, Colorado knows the Marshal from before: MacKenna had him expelled from the state when he was in a relationship with an Indian named Hesh-ke. She is now part of the Colorado gang and in turn shows interest in the attractive white man. The tall Indian Hachita, one of Colorado's two important henchmen - the other is Sanchez - observes this constellation with justified suspicion.
Colorado keeps MacKenna and Inga trapped in his hiding place in the middle of the rocky landscape, where he feels safe. But one of his accomplices, Laguna, is long overdue; it turns out that he defected to the gang of Ben Baker and betrayed the protected Colorado domicile. Soon Baker, who also knows about the map, appears in front of the entrance and blackmailed Colorado; he has to give in, but not without killing the traitor Laguna. But Baker didn't just come with his loyal followers, because the news of the gold card excited a lot of other citizens. The two villains attend the negotiations: a newspaper editor, a shopkeeper, two Englishmen and even an old priest. And the former discoverer of the gold treasure, the blind Adam, is also present with his son. MacKenna tries again and again to talk these men out of the search - but in vain, especially since Colorado keeps portraying him as the murderer of Prairie Dog.
Alerted by Bergerman's death, a squadron of cavalry under the command of Sergeant Tibbs patrols the area, who - as it soon turns out - is also gripped by gold fever. Colorado wants to bypass the uniformed men by sending a completely drunk Indian woman to the soldiers. Of course, Tibbs quickly urged her to divulge the secret of the card; then he and his men set up an ambush in which many of those who set out to search for gold - Baker among others - fell victim; others prefer to withdraw. For his part, Tibbs is now only interested in getting rid of his own fellow riders, so he sends one by one back to the fort because of alleged reports; he shoots the last two cavalrymen when the hostage Inga, released thanks to MacKenna's persuasion from Colorado, has just joined the soldiers. Regardless of these actions among the whites, the Apaches always keep a watchful eye on what is happening, killing the trio of priests, newspaper publishers and shopkeepers who escaped the Tibbs massacre at the first opportunity. The initially enormous search party was reduced to four people: Colorado, MacKenna, Hachita and Hesh-Ke. In addition, Tibbs and Inga, who he brought back with him, join us.
They finally reach the point marked by a large rock needle. As the sun rises, its shadow marks the hidden entrance to the canyon. They ride in without hesitation. MacKenna, who had been skeptical until then, now believes in the legend. The walls of the canyon are criss-crossed with tree-thick gold veins. During the stormy ride down into the canyon, the jealous Hesh-Ke tries to push Inga off her horse, but falls into the abyss herself. While the others are celebrating their happiness, MacKenna and Inga escape to a rock settlement built into the steep wall. Tibbs is killed by Colorado and Hachita in the meantime. Hachita reveals himself to be one of the Apache guards and attacks Colorado, which however manages to defeat the great Indian. Colorado pursues MacKenna and Inga. It comes to a battle that ends in a draw when the Apaches attacked by Hachita. Due to the vibrations of the horde galloping into the canyon, a huge loose boulder loosens from a wall and falls to the ground. The walls of the canyon begin to shake, collapse, and bury the gold deep beneath them. The Apaches flee and MacKenna, Inga and Colorado also narrowly escape. Even the landmark rock needle collapses. Marshal MacKenna lets Colorado go but threatens to hunt and arrest him later. MacKenna and Inga ride back to Blacksburg with the marshal's saddlebags full of gold.
background
Clint Eastwood was initially scheduled for the lead role, but could not accept due to scheduling difficulties. George Lucas was an intern on the set. Some of his suggestions for camera settings were implemented in the film. Composer Dimitri Tiomkin was the first and only time in his career as a producer in the USA. Two years later he produced the film Tchaikovsky in the USSR .
In the film, the entrance to the "Canyon del Oro" is placed in the Canyon de Chelly , with the shadow of the "Spider Rock", a 240 m high rock needle pointing at the entrance with sunrise.
Reviews
The film service described the film as a "[s] perturbing [n] Western in a great natural setting". For the television magazine Prisma , Mackenna's Gold was “an exciting noble western with an outstanding cast, a magnificent Super Panavision photograph by Joseph MacDonald and a good soundtrack by Quincy Jones”. The Protestant film observer attested the film to have a “thin story”, which, however, “was somewhat balanced out by the tension resulting from interpersonal relationships and the good actors”. The conclusion was: "For Western friends."
Awards
Quincy Jones's score was nominated for a Grammy in 1970.
synchronization
The German dubbed version was created in 1969.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Marshal Sam Mackenna | Gregory Peck | Wolf Ackva |
| Colorado | Omar Sharif | Michael Chevalier |
| Tibbs | Telly Savalas | Gernot Duda |
| Inga Bergerman | Camilla Sparv | Christa Berndl |
| Sanchez | Keenan Wynn | Erik Jelde |
| Hachita | Ted Cassidy | Herbert Weicker |
| Newspaper publisher | Lee J. Cobb | Harald Wolff |
| priest | Raymond Massey | Karl Sibold |
| Shopkeeper | Burgess Meredith | Leo Bardischewski |
| elderly Englishman | Anthony Quayle | Norbert Ecker |
| Adams | Edward G. Robinson | Klaus W. Krause |
| Baker | Eli Wallach | Otto Preuss |
| Prairie Dog | Eduardo Ciannelli | Robert Klupp |
| teller | Victor Jory | Paul Klinger |
Web links
- Mackenna's Gold in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Mackenna's Gold in the online film database
Individual evidence
- ↑ Mackenna's Gold. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ See prisma.de
- ↑ Evangelical Press Association Munich, Review No. 129/1969.
- ↑ See synchrondatenbank.de ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) 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.
- ↑ Mackenna's Gold. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous file , accessed on June 17, 2017 .
