The White Buffalo

1977

Action / Adventure / Western

18
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 17% · 6 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Spilled 51% · 1K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.1/10 10 5178 5.2K

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Plot summary

In this strange western version of Moby Dick, Wild Bill Hickok hunts a white buffalo he has seen in a dream. Hickok moves through a variety of uniquely authentic western locations - dim, filthy, makeshift taverns; freezing, slaughterhouse-like frontier towns and beautifully desolate high country - before improbably teaming up with a young Crazy Horse to pursue the creature.


Uploaded by: FREEMAN
April 19, 2016 at 04:02 PM

Top cast

Charles Bronson as Wild Bill Hickok
Ed Lauter as Tom Custer
Kim Novak as Mrs. Poker Jenny Schermerhorn
John Carradine as Amos Briggs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLU
693.53 MB
1280*714
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 3
1.46 GB
1920*1072
English 2.0
NR
23.976 fps
1 hr 37 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by AlsExGal 6 / 10

Odd but interesting western...

...with shades of Moby Dick thrown in. Wild Bill Hickok has nightmares about a giant white buffalo (a foreshadowing of his own death?) which he feels can only be eliminated by hunting down a giant white buffalo that is striking terror in the Black Hills. Will Sampson plays Crazy Horse, also seeking the same creature after it rampaged through his village and killed his child.

It's all pure fiction, of course, and Charles Bronson's casting as Hickok is laughable, historically speaking, but, I suppose, no more so than that of half a dozen other actors over the years being cast as Hickcok. One historically accurate aspect of the film is that, rather than wearing a holster, Bronson wears a scarlet sash around his waist in which he tucks his guns, as did the real Hickok at times.

The performances are quite good, and there is a colorful supporting cast of familiar faces including Jack Warden in a sizable role as a one eyed Indian-hating frontiersman who goes on the buffalo hunt with Bronson as well as smaller guest star appearances by Kim Novak, Clint Walker, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman and Cara Williams. J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Mackenna's Gold) was the director.

The white buffalo is presented as an almost legendary larger than life destructive force, not unlike a lumbering four legged version of Melville's great white whale, one that causes rocks to tumble down the sides of mountains when it lets out a giant bellow and can charge though walls of ice and snow. At one point, in fact, in a direct parallel to Herman Melville's tale, Crazy Horse will leap on the animal's back to repeatedly stab it with a spear.

The problem for the film, though, are in those pivotal scenes involving the buffalo in which, unfortunately, the creature looks exactly like what it undoubtedly was, some kind of animatronic construction, lacking any sense of reality. It's far more effective when he frighteningly bellows in the mountains than when we actually see him. No amount of fast editing can hide the artificiality of those scenes with the buffalo. The poster advertising the film said "You Won't Believe Your Eyes." That's true, but, unfortunately, not in a good way.

Reviewed by ma-cortes 6 / 10

Charles Bronson as Will Bill Hickok confronts a giant buffalo that is making a cruel carnage

This rare but intriguing western deals with Will Bill Hickok ( Charles Bronson)who suffers several nightmares about an enormous white buffalo. Will Hickok join forces with Indian chief, Crazy Horse, previous to Little Big Horn battle, (here also named Worm and well played by Will Sampson) and a rifleman named Zane (Jack Warden) to track down a breathtaking white buffalo in the Black Hills . Hickok holds a dodgy obsession with the mythical animal until a spectacular final duel.

This strange picture packs nois action , thrills , chills, tension , violence and semi-surreal outdoors. The highlights of the movie are the impressive mountain of bones and the buffalo attacks with the victims running afoul that deliver excitement enough. Packs something of 'Moby Dick' theme with the obstinate fight of a man to chase his prey . Other reviewers say that the white buffalo represents the fear to mortality . Features good performances from starring trio , Bronson, Sampson and Warden. Ample plethora of veteran secondaries , such as Slim Pickens as a stagecoach conductor , Stuart Whitman as a passenger , Clint Walker as a gunfighter, Douglas Fowley as a train conductor and also narrator , besides John Carradine . Other supporting cast in minor roles are the following ones : Ed Lauter, Martin Kove and of course Kim Novak in a special appearance. Although much is filmed in studio, the freezing frontiers , filthy towns and snowy locations are shot in Bronson Canyon Los Angeles, Chana New Mexico and Canon City, Colorado. Appropriate and atmospheric musical score by the classic composer John Barry.

The picture is produced in average budget by Dino De Laurentis who made a trilogy with giant beasts (King Kong, Orca, White buffalo) and creature design by Carlo Rambaldi (E. T.). The film was professionally directed by J. Lee Thomson who directed good Western ( McKenna gold) and all kinds of genres such as Sci-Fi (Conquest and Battle of planet of apes), terror (reincarnation of Peter Proud, Eye of the devil), adventures (King of the sun, Taras Bulba) and Warlike ( Guns of Navarone, Von Braun). J. Lee Thomson working from the 50s in England, finished his career making Chuck Norris (Firewalker) and Charles Bronson vehicles (Evil that men do, Messenger of death, Death Wish 4 : Crackdown, Caboblanco, St Ives). Watchable results for this outlandish Western.

Reviewed by classicsoncall 7 / 10

"If I don't kill this buffalo, the dream will kill me."

Although the story had a number of ideas that didn't ring true for me, I still found it largely entertaining and interesting. Of course, having Wild Bill Hickok cross paths with Crazy Horse was one of the more creative elements in the picture, and that they didn't recognize each other was probably something of a stretch. In fact, having very few people recognize Hickok on his return from Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show was probably darn near impossible. I'm going by Hickok's reputation and the fact that his image would have been one of the more prominent ones featured in newspapers and dime novels of the day. But as far as fiction goes, this one gets points for the idea of a mythical white buffalo that haunts Hickok's nightmares and has caused Crazy Horse disgrace following the death of his daughter. Both have their reasons for revenge on the 'buff', and the events leading to their team up is handled skillfully.

You know, if I hadn't seen Clint Walker's name in the opening credits and been looking for him, I probably would have entirely overlooked his presence as Whistling Jack Kileen. He's one guy who never seemed to age following that successful run as Cheyenne Bodie in the 1950's. He's a bad guy here though, virtually unrecognizable under a beard and a brogue, but I don't think he ever did whistle.

If you listen closely, you might be shocked to hear Charlie Zane's (Jack Warden) comment the first time he and Wild Bill get a look at Crazy Horse before they know who he is. Under attack by a band of Crow Indians, Charlie says - "Look at that red nig-er take on". The only other time I've heard that reference in a movie before was in 1960's "The Unforgiven" in a similar context. Interesting but disconcerting to hear a racist remark like that regarding Native Americans.

For Western movie fans, the picture offers quite a notable cast heading off into their own personal career sunset, folks like Slim Pickens as a stage driver and John Carradine as a busy undertaker. Both have rather brief roles, along with Kim Novak as a former Hickok flame, Poker Jenny. Speaking for myself, it's always a treat to catch Will Sampson in any kind of role; my favorite has to be his portrayal of Chief Bromden in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".

Fans of Charles Bronson should be pleased with his effort here, about mid-way between his "Death Wish" appearances. Somewhat less charismatic is the white buffalo itself, a rather modest special effects effort even by 1970's standards. At times it looks more comical than fearsome, and I had to ask myself why they couldn't come up with something a bit more realistic looking, especially considering it had the power to wipe out Indian villages and knock down mountains.

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