A decidedly odd combination to be sure but that was my impression after seeing this atypical Charles Bronson Western again after more than 30 years (I first saw it on its original release in 1977). The supernatural elements of the story along with the unreal reality of some of the lighting and use of color recall such Hammer horrors as THE GORGON and THE BRIDES OF DRACULA. The beauty of some of the images and the uneven editing resemble the later films of D.W. Griffith. Portions of the movie were even filmed where Griffith shot the battles for BIRTH OF A NATION back in 1914. The town sequences were shot at a Western museum in Colorado while most of the mountain scenes were shot in New Mexico.
The sometimes jarring editing, lapses in continuity, and occasional sloppiness are typical of director J. Lee Thompson’s (THE GUNS OF NAVARONE, CAPE FEAR) later films probably the results of tight budgets. A good example of this is Jack Warden’s glass eye make-up which changes from scene to scene. Sometimes he doesn’t appear to be wearing any make-up at all. But these are minor distractions. Thompson’s pace is excellent. He knows how to move the film along while staging his action set pieces effectively.
The setting is 1874 during the gold rush that took place in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Wild Bill Hickok (Bronson) has come there not for gold but to find a monster white buffalo which has been haunting his dreams. He has syphilis (“caught a cold in the pants that won’t go away” is how it’s described) and needs to wear shades to protect his eyes. Chief Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) also seeks the white buffalo to avenge the death of his child and regain his lost honor. Take this storyline, add a number of seasoned performers like Slim Pickens, Clint Walker, and Kim Novak, along with Paul Lohmann’s striking cinematography and you have a Western unlike any other.
The film flopped on its original release and it’s not hard to see why. Too strange for Western purists, not enough action for Bronson fans, and bad word of mouth about the title animal (which was mechanical not CGI) kept people away. Looked at today the unreal quality of the buffalo fits the dreamlike nature of the film and several striking images such as the mountain of buffalo bones and the cave scenes linger in the memory long afterwards. THE WHITE BUFFALO is another in the new MGM DVD-R series of requested but previously unreleased films which means no extras of any kind but the widescreen transfer is gorgeous and John Barry’s vivid score sounds as haunting as ever
The Capsule Critic 