Movie Reviews: The White Buffalo
Wild Bill Hickok (Charles Bronson) is haunted by dreams of a monstrous white buffalo. The dreams have gotten so bad that Hickok travels to Colorado to put the beast to rest. Along the way Hickok encounters Crazy Horse (Will Sampson), who has his own reasons for hunting the white buffalo. The beast killed Crazy Horse's infant daughter during an earlier rampage. A grizzled old prospector type by the name of Charlie (Jack Warden) is also along for the ride, but he isn't so happy about riding with Crazy Horse.
This was an odd little western. It seemed like the filmmakers wanted to inject a dying genre with a little bit of monster movie madness. It would be easy to consider this movie to be an attempt to cash-in on the success of Jaws. The parallels with Moby Dick are quite obvious as well. Both involve men obsessing over the pursuit of a giant white beast.
After all those tiresome one man vigilante movies where he sleepwalks through the whole thing, I found it quite a surprise to see Charles Bronson do some proper acting for once. I guess this movie comes from a time before Cannon scooped up Bronson and forced him to make all that trash.
The supporting cast were pretty decent, but I wish I could say the same for the other famous faces that pop up throughout. Slim Pickens, John Carradine and Kim Novak all play parts that never really go anywhere. They appear in once scene and are promptly forgotten about. The characters seem to superfluous that they seem like little more than gimmicky cameos.
The titular buffalo wasn't especially convincing, but I didn't let that spoil my enjoyment. In some scenes the tracks where the beast was moved along were quite noticeable. The buffalo is only seen in extreme close-up in very brief cuts, so you don't really get a clear look at it.
The movie may not be perfect, but I found it an interesting movie. Definitely something different. Three and a half pointy hats.
Next time: Batman Unlimited- Animal Instincts
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