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| A blazingly colorful poster for Alexander Singer's Captain Apache |
QUICK REVIEW:
Captain Apache is a damn fine Spanish-British, romantic low-budget western with a funky score (by Dolores Claman (Mr. Scrooge (1964), TV movie), heavy 70's-style and so many western elements and corny lines in it that a western fan (and especially a lover of Euro-westerns) simply has to love it.
Lee Van Cleef (God's Gun (1976)) is the titular Indian captain, who is hated by every evil white man, can lay every lady down, and who hunts for the truth behind the mysterious codeword, 'April Morning'.
The film was possibly thought up as an Indian counterpart to the burgeoning blaxploitation sub-genre. Apache also has one odd, gratuitous scene in which Cleef disrobes before a chief as if his bulgy muscles were supposed to carry forward some inherent meaning. Cleef also performs the film's opening and credit songs, for the first and only time in his career.
Apache is directed by New Yorker director Alexander Singer (The Fugitive (1965-66)), who mostly directed TV.
Here's an example of the film's many straight-faced, funny dialogs:
New Indian chief: "We're gonna move the Indians to Yellow Snake Creek."
Captain Apache: "Yellow Snake Creek...? - But it's full of snakes!"
Watch the cheesy trailer for the movie here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: 25.6 mil. ESP (Spain only)
= Uncertainty
[About half a million people paid to see the film in Spain, and 75,000 in Sweden. But with no other numbers, it's impossible to say whether or not Captain Apache was a hit or not.]
What do you think of Captain Apache?
Know of any other movies that could count as 'Indiansploitation'?
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