Thu 29 Nov 2018
A Western Movie Review by Jonathan Lewis: CAPTAIN APACHE (1971).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[5] Comments
CAPTAIN APACHE. Scotia-Barber, Spain-UK, 1971. Lee Van Cleef (Capt. Apache), Carroll Baker, Stuart Whitman, Percy Herbert, Elisa Montes, Tony Vogel. Director: Alexander Singer.
The thing I won’t forget about Captain Apache is undoubtedly the film’s theme song as it’s sung – spoken, really – by Lee Van Cleef, who portrays this quirky acid western’s titular hero, an Apache in the U.S. Calvary.
Investigating the enigmatic last words of a dying Indian Commissioner, he finds hemself caught in a web of deception as he begins to uncover a conspiracy to assassinate the President Ulysses S. Grant, who is traveling through Arizona on his way to California. As he proceeds with his investigation, Captain Apache encounters a witch who piles him with hallucinogens, a motley crew of Mexican bandits, and an urbane scoundrel played to the hilt by a scene-chewing Stuart Whitman who also wants to know what the cryptic phrase “April Morning†means.
There’s a lot of humor in Captain Apache, much of it goofy and borderline juvenile, one that surely was designed to elicit guffaws from European teenagers. It works for a while, but it soon wears out its welcome, making the scenes in which humor is employed less and less compelling as the movie begins to repeat itself. While there is a final sequence on a train that’s admittedly worth waiting for, it pales in comparison to so many other train scenes in so many other westerns, Spaghetti or not.
I wouldn’t recommend anyone go out of their way to catch this one, but fans of Lee Van Cleef might appreciate seeing him in a starring role, one that apparently required that he shave off his trademark mustache and give his vocal cords a nice workout.
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November 29th, 2018 at 11:21 am
I saw this at the local grindhouse when it first came out, and like you, I quickly lost patience with it.
Lee Van Cleef was one of those actors (I could name others) of limited range but powerful screen presence. I remember one reviewer of DEATH RIDES A HORSE saying he “Looks like a man who has pursued his lonely vengeance across the wind-swept plains for years. Or like an actor who realizes he’s going to be stuck in spaghetti westerns for the rest of his life.”
November 29th, 2018 at 12:07 pm
Director Alexander Singer regularly made above-average episodes of American TV series. He is not necessarily a Great Artist, but he does have a pretty good track record.
This sounds like it might have moments of interest.
November 29th, 2018 at 1:53 pm
Jon and I watched this one together over two nights when I was in CA visiting him. I liked the train sequence but after a good opening, it took a long time getting there.
November 29th, 2018 at 1:59 pm
A missed opportunity – Lee Van Cleef and Lee Marvin “sing” duets!
Early in his career van Cleef refused to have his nose fixed to play the deputy in High Noon, so it looks like he was willing to “be stuck in spaghetti westerns for the rest of his life†if necessary.
When he was “resting” he was an interior decorator – not quite as surreal as Jack Elam the accountant – but still a pleasant surprise.
November 29th, 2018 at 8:23 pm
Van Cleef’s first acting job was playing the muscular sailor on Broadway in SOUTH PACIFIC, the same role that Sean Connery played in London’s West End.
Like many Spaghetti Westerns this one goes on too long and is too repetitive, features humor that, though aimed at adult European audiences, seems juvenile and falls on deaf American ears, and generally feels “weak” despite Van Cleef’s strong performance and a few good set pieces.
I wasn’t surprised to hear the director did television (are we sure it is the same guy, so many of these are directed by Italian directors using Americanized names?) because this one plays like a pilot more than a Spaghetti Western, and Baker and Herbert are wasted. It lacks the particular blend of heightened reality that marks the best of the European Operatic Horse Operas.
I did like Whitman, whose scene chewing is in nice contrast to Van Cleef’s stony charisma.