Captain Apache (1971)

This is an outlandish and muddled American/Spanish Western starred by the great Lee Van Cleef. A native-American Captain Apache (Lee Van Cleef in the title role) is investigating a murder , some words : ¨April Morning¨ hold a special key about its solution. He deals with a suspect gunrunner (Stuart Whitman) and a gorgeous saloon girl (Carrol Baker). Meanwhile the captain is pursued by some cutthroats ( Percy Herbert, Tony Vogel) and uncovers an assassination scheme.This offbeat Western packs shootouts, action Western, violence, some touches of humor and strange images about witchery and necromancy. Packs a cynic and ironic portrayal of a rough captain Indian and his exploits in Old West gunning down enemies with one-dimensional roles and dozens of stereotypes who cross his path. The picture turns out to be another Spaghetti Western which during the 60s and early the 70 were ordinarily shot in Spain. Numerous support cast full of secondaries from Spanish/Italian Western as Jose Bodalo,Ricardo Palacios, Dan Van Husen,Charly Bravo, Milo Quesada, among others. The tale is filmed in Texas Hollywood,(Almeria,Andalucia, Spain) and partially in the fortress built for ¨El Condor¨(John Guillermin also with Cleef) by the production designer Julio Molina . Nevertheless, today the fort has been crumbled and only remains some ruins. Rare musical score and songs are played by Lee Van Cleef. Atmospheric and colorful cinematography by John Cabrera. The movie is produced by Milton Sperling (¨Battle of Bulge¨), Irving Lerner(¨Royal hunt of sun¨) and the prestigious screenwriter Philip Jordan (the classic ¨Johnny Guitar¨ and ¨Bad man's river¨ again with Van Cleef). The motion picture is regularly directed by Alexander Singer. The flick will appeal to S.W. buffs and Lee Van Cleef fans .

"Captain Apache" is indeed a hidden cult classic of the 1970s. As other reviewers have written, the overall lasting impression of the film is that it is too hilariously amusing to deem irredeemably bad. It's like a ten cent roller-coaster ride: pointless, but fun. This "unique" film begins with a summarizing montage of the entire story. As this montage is seen, we hear an utterly cheesy, yet incredibly addicting title song -- "They call him Captain Apache!" -- a wacky combination of Western rawhide chorusing and 1960s guitar mayhem. Upon watching this cinematic opening, the viewer instantly realizes two key things: 1. this movie is going to be very bad and 2. this movie is going to be a lot of fun.The plot, what little there is, pertains to a U.S. cavalry scout called Captain Apache searching the American West for the meaning of the two words: "April Morning." This eventually, and let me re-emphasize that "eventually," leads him to discover -- spoiler warning -- a "plot" to assassinate the U.S. President.Entire segments of this film seem unnecessary and are merely thrown in for increasing the on-screen action. On the upside, nearly everything unfolds at a break-neck speed in the subtle form of ten-minute long episodes. As a result, this fast-pace helps hide the non-existent storyline and the viewer need only remember that Captain Apache has... a "red ass." :)And, yes, I will confess: I liked "Captain Apache." :P

This film heads my list of all-time worsts. The overacting competes with "Rocky Horror Picture Show." The best scene is Lee Van Cleef rising from the ground, muscles flexed and body oiled. They don't do it this well in body building competitions! We laughed for weeks after the first time we saw it. It pops up on TV occasionally. It is a MUST SEE movie.

I would call this a spaghetti movie, but somebody forgot to put in the pasta. An extremely low budget, coupled with a dreary story and low-end talent provided the viewer with a look at how sloppy a movie can be. There must be a market for this bilge, for there are plenty of these turkeys to be seen.