Chato's Land

In 1972, a movie called Chato's Land was released, written by Gerald Wilson, Directed by Michael Winner, and starring Charles Bronson and Jack Palance. This is in my opinion one of the most underrated westerns ever made.

Westerns of the time were gritty and violent, and few lines of dialogue. Most of the heroes were one step from being villains. This movie isn't far from that, but it takes things one step farther. In this movie, the Americans western drunks are the villains and the natives are the protagonists, even though the movie follows the drunks.

This movie starts out with a native (Bronson) called Chato who murders a sheriff out of self-defense in a saloon. He flees into the desert, and a posse is raised by an ex-Confederate soldier names Quincy (Palance) to hunt and kill the native. Chato leads the men deeper into Indian territory, and toys with his pursuers, slowing taking them out one at a time. As the chase goes on, the group begins to splinter. Quincy begins to start questioning why they are going after Chato, as does a few others, but the more powerful of the group are more ardent than ever to kill Chato. In the middle of the posse's splintering, they find Chato's woman and a few of the crazier men tape her and leave her for bait. Chato rescues her, then begins to kill off the rest of the men one by one, even the ones who wants to quit the chase.

This movie is unapologetic, as are most westerns of its type and time. It's far different than the John Wayne and Alan Ladd movies of twenty years earlier. It is full of character-driven story with the posse, and the slow disintegration of the cause which had rallied them. Bronson has the usual cool composure which adds to his mystery, but also to our hoping he succeeds in his revenge. But when Quincy begins questioning the purpose of the posse, then we feel the inevitable tug that a good Western gives: who do we cheer for? I highly recommend this movie if you can find it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find a trailer, but I found a few scenes from the movie. The first one shown is the first in the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0eTRk7YYTI