Apache

With two groundbreaking Technicolour Westerns starring Burt Lancaster, Aldrich achieved his breakthrough right at the start of his directing career. To kick things off, he directed APACHE, the most radical film in a wave of genre films featuring “Native American” heroes, who were inevitably played by white Hollywood stars. Apache warrior Massai (Lancaster) continues to fight after Geronimo has surrendered and finds a worthy partner in the chief’s daughter Nalinle (brilliantly played by Jean Peters). Massai is a fanatical idealist and a terrorist in the name of justice: the prototype of Aldrich’s ambivalent outsider-protagonists who rebel against a hostile world. Thrilling and straightforwardly directed, APACHE ranks among the masterpieces of the (mildly) revisionist Westerns of the 1950s. With ULZANA’S RAID (1972), Aldrich and Lancaster undertook an uncompromising reinterpretation. Despite APACHE being a major success, Aldrich complained about the last-minute compromise concerning the film’s ending: “United Artists prevailed upon Hecht to shoot two endings […] in this country when you have somebody suggest two endings you know they’re going to use the other one.” This certainly contributed to his subsequent pursuit of independence. (Christoph Huber)

All retrospective films that will be shown at the Filmmuseum after the Viennale - from 04.11. - can of course also be reserved as usual at filmmuseum.at or by calling 01/533 70 54 and purchased at the box office of the Austrian Film Museum. The prices of the Austrian Film Museum apply.