From the dancing native Americans, a sudden cut to a locomotive rushing threateningly towards the camera, puffing clouds of dirty black smoke. Inside the wagons, a discussion about the Indians takes place. Many whites want their land at the Black Hills. "Kill'em all!", someone demands unscrupulously. Bludgeon (Hannjo Hasse) wears black because he is the leader of the bad guys and replies: "That's not a bad thought...". It seems even better, though still inhuman, after gold is discovered in the hills! The barren mountains of Georgia (belonging to the Soviet Union at that time) provide an impressive location. "Spur des Falken" is one of the westerns from behind the iron curtain, an uncanny sub-genre regularly starring Yugoslavian actor Gojko Mitic who had experience from the West German Karl May films. "Spur des Falken" knows how to keep the action moving and its photography is lively and colorful - good craftsmanship, all in all. Its well deserved success led to a sequel: "Weisse Wölfe".
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unbrokenmetal9 April 2007
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proviant9 July 2017This is another wonderful piece of Eastern, a Eastern-German sub-genre of Western. The fast paced and action packed Gojko Mitic vehicle is rather enjoyable watching. It has its flaws, but it also has a charm. The cinematography is almost fantastic, and the use of Georgian (that was part of the USSR at that time) mountains give some authentic Western feel. Although it was weird to see the town built in the pine forest. Mitic again stars as Native-American hero fighting against white man's injustice. An evil Tycoon Snaky-Joe (Hannjo Hasse who has uncanny resemblance of Hollywood's evil guy legend John Carradine) is trying every possible sneaky ways to force Indians out of their land. Chief Farsighted Falcon sees through the plans to deceit the Indians, and starts fighting back. As these Red-Westerns were kind of part of Communistic propaganda machine, the Indians (Reds) were depicted flawless and Whites were all merciless and greedy (with few exceptions like Sam Blake and Emmersons, but they were sort of cowards). Like I said, the film has its charm, and I would dare to recommend it to any serious Western fans, and to people who are just into peculiar obscure movies.
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suchenwi2 August 2007This sure is a fascinating piece - an East German Western (they made a series of 14 films, this is the second). Partly filmed in Brandenburg (round Berlin), mostly in (European) Georgia. The "reds" (American Indians) are depicted without flaws (though they have some collaborators with the white), the "whites" less so. There's good ones (Sam Blake, the Emmersons), pure evils (Snakey Joe Bludgeon and his guys), and the US cavalry is initially shown as somehow neutral - later they side with Bludgeon and get totally defeated.
The steam locomotive was rebuilt from a Reichsbahn one, and pretty convincingly. But the coaches of the train are plain ridiculous - four-wheelers, with four windows per side.. that may be classic Prussian, but surely not American, where bogeys were used very early on, in order to deal better with uneven track. Painting them yellow and lettering them UNION PACIFIC doesn't help.
But such niggles aside, the story is certainly gripping. In Dakota territory, there's settlers, gold-diggers, and of course the cavalry. Many moves appear like in chess... kill buffaloes, raid train, burn Indian village, burn western town, send the cavalry, final showdown.
In the end, the Dakotas win the day. (But there were other days to come...) I liked most the wordless date between hero (Far-looking Falcon) and heroine... throwing pebbles, throwing broken arrows, swapping amulets, the hands game.
For Europeans, Western movies have some kind of slightly exotic touch. But this European production might feel exotic to Americans too - but in any case, I found it really interesting. Recommended for the curious. -
lyubitelfilmov16 October 2020Western. In the wake of the success of the films of the East German film studio DEFA, the Soviet Union decided to help in the creation of new films with the participation of Goiko Mitic. The result is the painting "Trail of the Falcon," which is the fourth of twelve that I will see. Moreover, it was this picture that opened to me the whole series and personally to the actor Goiko Mitic in early childhood, for which I am very grateful to her. And here is my brief opinion - the greedy cunning of the pale-faced. I did not notice any flaws in the picture, but there are small clarifications, which I will talk about in a separate paragraph, but for now, let me focus your attention on the merits of this excellent western. So, here they are: 1. The story told - the picture tells that gold was found in the mountains belonging to the Indians, which threatens another break in the treaty between the American government and the Indian tribes inhabiting this territory. Of course, various suspicious personalities, scoundrels and scoundrels, accompanied by the army immediately rushed there. This is opposed by the leader of the Dakota tribe Zorky Sokol (Goyko Mitich), who does not want to allow the pale-faced to their native land, but not all leaders agree to go to a direct military clash. Obstacles, pain, defeats and victories, all this awaits the leader of the Sharp-Sighted Falcon and his brave warriors, who dared to go against the pale-faced almost with bows and arrows. The painting itself is a kind of prelude to the War of the Black Hills - the historic and last major clash between indigenous peoples and the US government. The picture even shows one of the real leaders of the Indians, namely Crazy Horse, or Crazy Horse, so named for perseverance and fearlessness on the battlefield. The script tells about the greed and meanness of the pale-faced, but does not smear everyone with black paint, showing noble and even decent Americans. As a child, I was sick with the whole picture, worried and supported the Indians, from whom the vile conquerors take the house for the sake of gold. The finale turned out to be relatively encouraging, especially given the real historical facts. They did not forget to show the barbaric extermination of buffaloes in order to deprive the Indians of food. Well, the struggle between the Vigilant Falcon and the main enemy is simply interesting to watch. All the ingredients of a good story are here. 2. Entourage - atmosphere, costumes, scenery, music, cameraman - everything breathes the Wild West a little more than completely, immersing the viewer in it literally from the head. Dressers and decorators have clearly perked up on the Indian theme, so everything looks even better than it was in the previous pictures. The music has become similar to Indian motives, and in dynamic scenes exactly the music sounds that emphasizes these very scenes. There were more extras, which made me happy again. Nature still evokes trembling admiration, especially since the shooting took place in Soviet Georgia, for nature is painfully reminiscent of its native land. 3. Fights, chases, skirmishes - this picture is a step forward for Westerns by DEFA studio, because not only have there been more such scenes and there have been much more extras, the Indians also began to use military tactics that allowed them to fight on equal terms with the regular the American army. Yes, and the dynamics of these scenes clearly cannot be denied. And they became a spectacle unambiguously. 4. Final battle - the climax of the battle is precisely the confrontation between the noble Indian and the greedy gold digger, who is ready to do anything to achieve his goals. The fight is intense, dynamic, and even somewhat emotional. Its ending is obvious and predictable. A little about the main characters: 1. Vigilant Falcon performed by Goyko Mitich - the leader of the Dakota tribe, who knows how to understand people and the current situation, understands the clear advantage of the pale-faced, so he makes a number of decisions in order to have at least one chance to win. A noble savage, a true leader and a good warrior, fighting for his land and his tribe. Goiko again perfectly played the already familiar character. Bravo! 2. Mr. Blagen performed by Hannyo Hasse is an insidious and greedy gold digger, the leader of a small gang, a notorious scoundrel and villain, who received the nickname "Poisonous Snake" from the Indians. He hates Indians, but will not tolerate rivals in the face of other gold diggers. Hannyo is very good at this role. Bravo! 3. Sam Blake performed by Helmut Schreiber is a pale-faced merchant who is quite successful in trading with the Indians, but the discovery of gold promises trouble not only for him, but for all civilians. He does not despise the Indians, even opposes Blagen's plans as best he can. A worthy role and a good embodiment. The future Nadia Sheveleva from "The Irony of Fate" also starred here - Polish actress Barbara Brylska, who played a brave and kind girl who went to the very border of the United States at this turbulent time. Of course, such an explosion of emotions, as in the year of release, this western is not able to provide now, in our age of "Avengers". The blood was delivered, though a little, again pressing to the wound site, but already better. And besides, we will make a discount for the release time. Okay? Agreed! Well, next time Goiko Mitic will take revenge on the pale-faced. It will be in the painting "White Wolves". As a result, we have a good western with a magnificent Goyko Mitic, with a great exciting story, great surroundings, great music, exciting shootings and excellent acting.