Having collaborated the year previously on crime thriller St Ives (1976), director J. Lee Thompson and Charles Bronson didn’t waste any time in teaming up again, following the witty crime story up with western hybrid The White Buffalo (1977).
Produced by the infamous Dino De Laurentis, it was clear that he was in monster movie mode at this point in his career, with him turning out King Kong (1976) the year previously and then on to the frankly ridiculous Orca (1977).
The White Buffalo came between these two, and other than some especially poor effects, is by far the best of the three with King Kong having the disadvantage of being a remake of a beloved original and Orca unable to stand out from the packed crowd of many similar productions made in the wake of Jaws (1975).
In certain respects, the White Buffalo shares some similarities with Jaws. Both feature a small group of individuals teaming up to take down a deadly creature, with a crazed albino buffalo being in place of a great white shark. The group consists of “Wild Bill” Hickok (Charles Bronson), Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) and Charlie Zane (Jack Warden).
It turns out that Hickok has been haunted by dreams of the buffalo, and believes that if he doesn’t kill it that it will haunt him until he is driven mad. Crazy Horse’s reasons are more personal, as the buffalo rampaged through his camp and killed his granddaughter. In order to restore his honour, he must hunt the buffalo down and kill it. With Zane, he is simply along for the ride.
Bronson is in serious mode here, far removed from the character he played in St Ives, his previous collaboration with Thompson. His version of Hickok is a tired gunfighter with failing eyes, who would rather be left alone than take part in a gunfight. Unfortunately even using the pseudonym James Otis, Hickok’s reputation goes before him, with countless people wanting to make a name for them-selves by facing off with the famed gunslinger.
Unlike St Ives, Bronson is involved in a lot more action. Thompson stages a number of well-staged shootouts with the final confrontation between our heroes and the buffalo being suitably tense. Even the poor special effects don’t detract from how exciting the finale turns out to be.
Will Sampson makes a great impression as Crazy Horse, whose motives are much clearer than Hickok’s. Sampson is probably best known for his career making turn as Chief Bromden in the award winning One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1974). Perhaps Crazy Horse isn’t as iconic a role, but it is more substantial than what he had in his previous classic.
Backing them up is the always reliable Jack Warden as racist Charlie Zane. Throughout the film he always seems to be aiming to shoot Crazy Horse in the back. Even with this in mind, Zane isn’t exactly a villain, with him coming to the rescue of Hickok a number of times during the film.
There are smaller supporting roles for the likes of Kim Novak who is the only main female character in the film other than a brief role from Cara Williams.
Regular western actors Stuart Whitman and Slim Pickens also show up for one scene cameos in addition to Clint Walker who has a more substantial part as a villainous gunfighter out to kill Hickok. This was the first time Bronson and Walker had starred together since their work on The Dirty Dozen (1967).
Eagle eyed viewers may also notice blink and you’ll miss them appearances from Martin Kove and Ed Lauter.
It isn’t a surprise that Thompson handles the on screen carnage well, as he had shown considerable skill in this area with such classics as North West Frontier (1959) and The Guns of Naverone (1961).
As well as the exhilarating action scenes, Thompson gets generally good performances from his lead actors.
Assisting the atmosphere and tone is an excellent John Barry score, which is unlike most of the composer’s other work. Barry was a last minute replacement for composer David Shire, whose original score was deemed unsuitable.
Thompson additionally gets certain historical details correct such as how Hickok carried his guns and the fact that he wore sunglasses to assist with his glaucoma.
The historical facts could be partly down to script writer Richard Sale, who adapted the film from his own novel. Sale gives Thompson one of the better scripts that he had in a while, with interesting characters and an unusual plot for a western.
More prolific as a writer, Sale was additionally a director, with films like The Girl Next Door (1953) and Abandon Ship (1957) under his belt. By the time The White Bufallo came around, he hadn’t directed a feature film in almost twenty years. He did however work in television, directing episodes of western shows Yancy Derringer (1958) and The High Chaparral (1967).
The White Buffalo was Sale’s second to last film as writer, with his last feature being yet another Charles Bronson vehicle, the disappointing Assassination (1987).
Even with good performances and a well written script, Thompson can’t overcome the decision by the producers to shoot a good deal of the film on fake looking sound stages, which jar when the film transitions to the beautiful real life Colorado locations.
This was no doubt to cut down on costs, something that producer Dino De Laurentis was notorious for. As mentioned previously, the poorest aspect of the production is the buffalo itself, looking increasingly false as the film progresses.
Surprisingly, the buffalo was the work of Oscar winning special effects artist Carlo Rambaldi, who had won one of his Oscar’s only the year previous for his work on King Kong. Sadly his work here pales in comparison.
Thankfully, these poor elements aren’t enough to drag the film down, with The White Buffalo being a thrilling western with enough action to keep fans happy. It not only marked the final western of Bronson’s career but the last film he would ever make for Dino De Laurentis.
Rating: 4/5
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