Winnetou's return
Winnetou's Return (Part 1 and 2) is a two-part television production. It was based on the books by Karl May in 1998 for ZDF with Pierre Brice in the title role.
Both parts can also be viewed as independent films, as the second part is based on the first, but the plot is laid out in such a way that you can understand it without the first part.
action
prehistory
After Chief Winnetou was shot by a bandit, his blood brother Old Shatterhand and friends buried him.
Part 1
Years have passed since Winnetou's death , but he has not been forgotten , especially among the Indians. Even among the Assiniboin tribe , his name is still legendary. Winnetou once fell in love with the beautiful Ribanna , the daughter of the chief of the Assiniboines. But she married the son of Colonel Maril to keep the peace. Since then, Winnetou's heart was broken and he had not found new love.
One day a visibly aged Indian prevents a potential murder by the scalp hunter Spencer on Tanka, the grandson of Tah-Sha-Tunga, the chief of the Assiniboines. The old chief, who wants to thank the aged Indian, recognizes him immediately. It is Winnetou who survived the supposedly fatal shot of the bandit through the unshakable care of a wise medicine man and now leads a second life as a hermit in the mountains.
Winnetou can convince Chief Tah-Sha-Tunga that the newly arriving settlers do not pose a threat to the Indians. The country is big enough and even if the Quakers think differently from the Indians, they should still be welcome.
On the other hand, Winnetou's brothers from the Assiniboines urgently need help, because Spencer continues to roam the area and has nothing but mischief up to now. When he meets Tah-Sha-Tunga, he shoots the old chief. He appoints his grandson Tanka as his successor and asks that they bring Winnetou over as a consultant. Tanka, however, goes his own way and since Spencer left him his wife Mary, who Tanka worships as the reborn "White Buffalo Woman", in exchange for his own life, he considers himself inviolable. He expresses his displeasure with the new settlers and wants them to leave the Indian country within a week.
The surrounding tribes think Tanka's behavior is dangerous and ask Winnetou for help. After thinking about it for a while, he slips on his old robe, which was still marked by the fatal shot, grabs his old “silver rifle” and moves down into the valley to Tanka's trunk. The young chief admits that he is obsessed with the “white buffalo woman” and that he can no longer think clearly. But Winnetou also has to realize that Mary means something to him, he offers Tanka his horse in exchange for Mary. When he refuses, they fight for Mary and Winnetou wins. Tanka doesn't want to admit his defeat right away, but the news reaches him that Spencer has turned the Crows against him and that they have dug up the hatchet. A first attack quickly follows, which kills Tanka, but ends without further bloodshed thanks to Winnetou's duel with the chief of the Crows.
Part 2
Winnetou releases Mary, who joins the settlers. They have been influenced for some time by the rich DeWill, who wants to cut down the Indian forest and turn it into paper. Support from the settlers in the fight against the Indians is very welcome to him.
After Little Beaver befriends the settler boy Jimmy, they form a blood brotherhood, following the example of Winnetou and Old Shatterhand . While visiting Winnetou's village, he learns of DeWill's plans to destroy the sacred Indian forest. He tries to convince Jimmy's father not to allow this and to influence his people.
Soon there are first clashes between the loggers and the Assiniboines. Wash-Ti, the new chief, calls for a fight against the white men. So that the situation does not escalate, Winnetou intervenes and appeals to reason and experiences from the past. Although he makes sure that the Indians only chase the woodcutters away and not kill them, but he cannot convince his brothers to keep the peace. The young warriors are desperate to do great things, and they are given that opportunity when DeWill hires a gang of gunslingers. When Winnetou found out about this, he turned to the settlers. They have family ties with the army that they could ask for support. But the settlers still disagree about their future. Hermann is on DeWill's side, while Jimmy's father wants to live in peace with the Indians. So that Winnetou cannot interfere again, the gunslingers want to bring him down. They engage in an exchange of fire with him, which this time he wins only with Jimmy's and his father's help.
Meanwhile, Wash-Ti is preparing for battle. He and his warriors go against DeWill and Winnetou thinks of a plan to prevent bloodshed. Jimmy's great friend Balthasar first supplies the woodcutters with whiskey so that they are completely incapable of fighting. Meanwhile, Winnetou outwits Wash-Ti and ties him to a tree. He can convince his warriors to follow him and to chase DeWill and his people out of the country a second time. But DeWill takes Mary hostage and rides into the mountains, where he fights a duel with Winnetou, which he has to pay with his death.
Winnetou thanks Jimmy's father for his wise intervention. He says goodbye to Mary and the settlers and rides away.
Production circumstances
The film was produced in southern Spain and cost over 6 million DM (almost 3.1 million euros ). Many actors from the film Dances with Wolves played in the production . Winnetou's return ends with the remark that Winnetou will be back. This left the possible production of further Winnetou parts that continue the story open, but this should not happen after the death of Winnetou actor Pierre Brice in 2015.
Others
- Unlike the previous Winnetou films, Pierre Brice was not dubbed in this film. So Winnetou speaks with a French accent in this film. The lack of synchronization became one of the main criticisms of this film. In the Winnetou parody The Shoe of Manitu it is said that Abahachi's father spoke fluent French and no one would have known where he could do this from.
- In contrast to Mein Freund Winnetou , the music was composed again by Martin Böttcher .
- There was a legal dispute between the producer Regina Ziegler and the Karl-May-Verlag over the use of the name Winnetou in the film title, in which the producer ultimately prevailed.
Reviews
Eva Keintzel at widescreen-online.de thinks the sequel is pretty "pale" and "loveless". She writes: “The story drips along rather slowly and has hardly any highlights or new ideas to offer. Little is left of the charm of the old films, everything looks artificial and fake. Pierre Brice's French accent seems completely out of place and the question arises as to why it wasn't dubbed. The acting performances of all those involved are more than average and you can clearly see that this is just a TV production. "
“He wasn't completely dead, he just gave himself over to the hermitage as an organic dropout for a few decades. There he was probably brooding over the script, […] It doesn't matter! Winnetou has already mastered completely different problems: in 1963, for example, when 'Winnetou II' was to be shot, the black stallion Iltschi from 'Winnetou I' had meanwhile said goodbye to horse heaven. Only a mold was available as a useful replacement. Then you just painted it a little black. According to this principle, 'Winnetou's return' was created, […] - the eternal Winnetou. Until at some point the Oil Prince gives him the last anointing. Hugh! "
media
- DVD : Winnetou's return - ZDF and NEW KSM
- Music : Winnetous Returns - Polydor (Universal)
literature
- Winnetou's resurrection . In: Berliner Zeitung , January 3, 1998
Web links
- Winnetou's return in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Two-part TV series "Winnetous Returns" on wunschliste.de
- Winnetou's return in the Karl May Wiki
References and comments
- ↑ The individual television parts are approximately 90 minutes long.
- ↑ In the book, Ribanna was in love with Winnetou's white friend Old Firehand, who returned her love, married her, and went away with her. In the film Winnetou 2. Ribanna married the colonel’s son, as mentioned here.
- ^ Return of Winnetou . Cinema.de
- ^ Regina Ziegler wins: Federal Court of Justice allows "Winnetou's return" . In: Die Welt , January 25, 2003
- ^ Eva Keintzel: Winnetou's return ( memento from November 27, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) at widescreen-online.de, accessed on November 26, 2015.
- ↑ Saturday, January 3rd . In: Der Spiegel . No. 1 , 1998 ( online ).