Back home

Shalako

88 votes

Producing House

Sean Connery is Shalako, a guide in the old West who has to rescue an aristocratic British hunting party from Indians and bandits.

movie

Status: Released

Released Date: 1968-09-26

Runtime: 113 mins

Director: Edward Dmytryk

Spoken language: Deutsch, English, Español

Genres: Western

Original title: Shalako

Production Companies: Palomar Pictures International, Kingston Film Productions Ltd., CCC Filmkunst

Production Countries: Germany, United Kingdom, United States of America

Reviews

G

Geronimo1967
Right from the start, with a pretty awful theme song that struggles to rhyme “have a go” with “Shalako”, the writing is on the wall and it’s more graffiti than Pulitzer. A group of yesterday’s A-listers are assembled to form a hunting party traipsing the Wild West hunting at the tail end of the nineteenth century. They are led by the “Baron” (Peter Van Eyck) with the glamorous “Irina” (Brigitte Bardot), the cranky “Daggett” (Jack Hawkins) and his trophy wife (Honor Blackman) and are being guided by the duplicitous “Fulton” (a Stephen Boyd straight out of “Genghis Khan” from 1965). They need his assistance because this is Apache territory, and these folks are none too pleased that their territory is being invaded by these interlopers who dress for dinner end enjoy fine wines (courtesy of Eric Sykes) as they routinely slaughter for sport. Along the way, this unlikely group encounter the enigmatic “Shalako” (Sean Connery) who has some history with the natives which comes in handy when they attack and “Fulton” promptly skedaddles with their escort, their transport and most of their supplies. Now, a war of attrition ensues that puts the party at risk and, of course, encourages them all to expose their dirty linen and give each of these fairly insipid characters a few moments in the sun - and that’s where the whole thing just becomes a mess. Hawkins and Van Eyck are, frankly, dreadful and though Blackman tries to keep her tongue in her cheek, Bardot ought just to have stayed with her donkeys and Connery, well he really can’t seem to make head nor tail of his persona as this over-written and lacklustre drama lurches along to it’s fairly predictable conclusion. Quite why anyone agreed to produce this is anyone’s guess, but the end product has little to redeem it.
2025-08-31

Recommendations

The Silver Star
2.5

The Silver Star

1955-04-07

A third generation deputy sheriff doubts whether or not he has the guts for the job that killed both

The Shakiest Gun in the West
3.1

The Shakiest Gun in the West

1968-07-10

Jesse W. Haywood (Don Knotts) graduates from dental school in Philadelphia in 1870 and goes west to

The Hallelujah Trail
3

The Hallelujah Trail

1965-06-23

A wagon train heads for Denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the Temperance

Bone Tomahawk
3.4

Bone Tomahawk

2015-10-23

During a shootout in a saloon, Sheriff Hunt injures a suspicious stranger. The doctor's assistant, w

Comanche Station
3.3

Comanche Station

1960-01-31

A white man trades with the Comanche for the release of a female stranger and the pair cross paths w

Duel at Diablo
3.2

Duel at Diablo

1966-06-15

In Apache territory, a supply Army column heads for the next fort, an ex-scout searches for the kill

Fort Courageous
2.5

Fort Courageous

1965-05-01

In this western, a cavalry sergeant is wrongly court-martialed. To reclaim his good name, he takes o

Flaming Star
3.3

Flaming Star

1960-12-20

Sam Burton's second wife is a Kiowa, and their son is therefore born mixed-race. When a struggle sta

Pyramid of the Sun God
2.7

Pyramid of the Sun God

1965-04-17

Mexico, 1864. The country is divided by the struggle against the French occupation and emperor Maxim

Rampage at Apache Wells
3.1

Rampage at Apache Wells

1965-08-25

'The Oilprince' is an unscrupulous businessman. He looks forward to a lucrative deal with the "Weste

The Gunfighter
3.6

The Gunfighter

1950-05-26

The fastest gun in the West tries to escape his reputation.

The Deadly Companions
2.8

The Deadly Companions

1961-06-06

Ex-army officer accidentally kills a woman's son, tries to make up for it by escorting the funeral p

Forlorn River
2.5

Forlorn River

1926-09-27

A wanted-fugitive, called "Nevada," is wounded by a pursuing posse of lawmen, and is left to die on

The Mystic Warrior
1.3

The Mystic Warrior

1984-05-20

Saga about a proud band of Sioux Indians, and the efforts of one brave to save his people from destr

The Valley of Death
3.3

The Valley of Death

1968-12-12

An army gold shipment and its escort vanish in the Ozarks, prompting accusations of theft and desert

The Outlaw Josey Wales
3.7

The Outlaw Josey Wales

1976-06-30

After avenging his family's brutal murder, Wales is pursued by a pack of soldiers. He prefers to tra

How the West Was Won
3.5

How the West Was Won

1962-11-02

The epic tale of the development of the American West from the 1830s through the Civil War to the en

High Plains Drifter
3.7

High Plains Drifter

1973-04-19

A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gunmen who tr

Tombstone
3.8

Tombstone

1993-12-25

Legendary marshal Wyatt Earp, now a weary gunfighter, joins his brothers Morgan and Virgil to pursue

The Revenant
3.8

The Revenant

2015-12-25

In the 1820s, a frontiersman, Hugh Glass, sets out on a path of vengeance against those who left him