View source for Apache Gold

{{Short description|1963 film}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Apache Gold
| image          = Apache Gold.jpg
| caption        = 
| director       = [[Harald Reinl]]
| producer       = [[Horst Wendlandt]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[Winnetou]]'' novels|[[Karl May]]}}
| writer         = [[Harald G. Petersson]]
| starring       = {{ubl|[[Lex Barker]]|[[Pierre Brice]]|[[Mario Adorf]]|[[Marie Versini]]}}
| music          = {{ubl|[[Martin Böttcher]]|[[Marie Versini]]}}
| cinematography = [[Ernst W. Kalinke]]
| editing        = [[Hermann Haller (film editor)|Hermann Haller]]
| studio         = {{ubl|[[Jadran Film]]|[[Rialto Film]]}}
| distributor    = {{ubl|[[Constantin Film]] (West Germany)|[[Columbia Pictures]] (United States)}}
| released       = {{film date|1963|12|11|df=y}}
| runtime        = 101 minutes
| country        = {{plainlist|
* [[West Germany]]
* Italy
* [[Yugoslavia]]<ref name="soviet-foreign">{{cite web|url=http://kinanet.livejournal.com/13882.html|title=Зарубежные фильмы в советском кинопрокате|author=Sergey Kudryavtsev|author-link=Sergey Kudryavtsev (film critic)|website=[[LiveJournal]]|date=4 July 2006|accessdate=4 February 2019}}</ref>
}}
| language       = German
| budget         = 4 million [[Deutsche Mark|DM]]<ref>{{cite web |title="Золото Апачей" (Winnetou - 1. Teil, 1963) |url=https://www.kinopoisk.ru/film/32388/ |website=[[KinoPoisk]] |accessdate=4 February 2019 |language=ru-RU}}</ref>
| gross          = $36.7 million ({{estimation}})
}}

'''''Apache Gold''''' ({{lang-de|'''Winnetou'''}}, later retitled to ''Winnetou – 1. Teil''), also known as '''''Winnetou the Warrior''''',<ref>{{Cite web|url= http://www.lex-barker.com/index.php?med=scr&lang=eng&film=win1&menu=filmo#win1
|title= AKA: Winnetou the Warrior (UK)|accessdate=2012-05-18}}</ref> is a 1963 [[Western (genre)|Western film]] directed by [[Harald Reinl]]. It is based on the story of [[Winnetou]], a fictional [[Native Americans in the United States|Native-American]] [[Apache]] hero from the ''Winnetou'' series of German novels. It was a major commercial success, selling about {{nowrap|77 million}} tickets at the worldwide box office.

It was shot at the [[Spandau Studios]] in [[Berlin]] and [[location shooting|on location]] in [[Croatia]], then part of [[Yugoslavia]], near the city of [[Zadar]]. The film's sets were designed by [[art director]] [[Vladimir Tadej]].

==Plot==
Santer ([[Mario Adorf]]) and his gang are after the Apache Gold. They intrude Apache land and intercept a courier named Black Eagle. The young warrior is killed as the outlaws attempt to extract information from him.

Meanwhile the young [[chartered surveyor]] Charlie aka „Old Shatterhand“ ([[Lex Barker]]) discovers that the „Great Western Railway“ commits a breach of valid contracts by taking a shortcut through  Apache land. He is told that certain geological complications would leave the company no other choice but he can refute these allegations as a pretext to save money even at the costs of lives.

[[Winnetou]] ([[Pierre Brice]]) observes how the railway is built right into the land of his tribe. On his way back to his village he  comes across the corpse of Black Eagle. He brings Black Eagle to his family and reports to his father  Intschu-tschuna.

Chief Intshu-tshuna is deeply worried that even more villains like Santer will get to the Apache land and consequently kill his people if the „Great Western Railway“ can carry on.

A [[missionary]] called „Klekih-petra“ beseeches him not to start a war. He talks the aristocratic chief and his son Winnetou into setting up a meeting with a deputation of the Great Western Railway. Proceedings are prepared and Old Shatterhand is chosen to convince the Indians that the company will respect the contracts after all.

But Santer doesn't let go of his ambitions. He strives to give Winnetou's people a bad name, so that the [[U.S.Army]] will come and drive the people off their land, hereby making way for his personal ambitions.

Santer persuades the chief of a  [[Kiowa people|Kiowa]] tribe to attack the meeting. Klekih-petra is hereby killed and Winnetou is captured by his arch enemies who plan to torture him.

Old Shatterhand risks his life in order to save Winnetou. At night he sneaks into the Kiowa's camp and cuts the chief's son's fetters.  Winnetou can escape but doesn't see his saviour.

Now Old Shatterhand and his supporters commence a crusade against Santer and his henchmen. They go to Santers strongpoint, a town called Roswell. There a tremendous fight takes place. But Winnetou also has unfinished business with Santer and goes there too. As an outsider he cannot tell the good men from the bad ones. He and his warriors attack the whole town.

Old Shatterhand gets wounded and is captured. Winnetou has him brought to the Apache village. Thanks to the dedication of Intschu-tschuna's daughter Nsho-tshi ([[Marie Versini]]) he survives. But once he has recovered he must stand trial. He claims an ordeal by battle. Chief Intshu-tshuna himself takes him on and Old Shatterhand narrowly wins.

After Old Shatterhand has spared the chief and Nsho-tshi has discovered proof that Shatterhand did free her brother, Shatterhand and Winnetou become officially friends.

Although this tribe is at the brink of civilisation and the leading family does already build houses,  Nsho-tshi wants to attend a school in [[St. Louis, Missouri|St. Louis]] before she marries Old Shatterhand. In order to cover the looming expenses her family goes to their source of gold. But Santer is still alive and hasn't ceased to pursue his evil plans. He follows and ambushes them.  Winnetou's father dies during the fight and Nsho-tshi dies only little later in the arms of Old Shatterhand.

==Cast==
{{cast listing|
* [[Pierre Brice]] as [[Winnetou]]
* [[Lex Barker]] as [[Old Shatterhand]]
* [[Mario Adorf]] as Frederick Santer
* [[Walt Barnes]] as Bill Jones
* [[Marie Versini]] as Nsho-tshi, Winnetou's sister
* [[Ralf Wolter]] as Sam Hawkens
* Milivoj Popović as Mavid as Intshu-tshuna, Winnetou's father
* [[Antun Nalis]] as barkeeper Hicks
* Dunja Rajter as Belle
* Niksa Stefanini as Bullock
* [[Branko Špoljar]] as Bancroft
* [[Chris Howland]] as Jefferson Tuff-Tuff
* Husein Čokic as Will Parker
* [[Demeter Bitenc]] as Dick Stone
* Niksa Stefanini as Bullock
* [[Karl Dall]] as saloon guest
* Hrvoje Svob as Klekih-petra
}}

==Awards==
*[[Goldene Leinwand]] ("Golden Screen")
*[[Bambi (prize)|Bambi]]

==Background==
The English version is shorter than the original German one. Many of Ralf Wolter's scenes are shorter. Moreover, Chris Howland's appearances as a preposterous and naive English [[photojournalist]] have been dropped completely.

==Box office==
It was the highest-grossing film of 1963 in [[West Germany]], selling {{nowrap|10 million}} tickets and grossing {{€|10 million|link=yes}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Die erfolgreichsten Filme in Deutschland 1963 |trans-title=The Most Successful Films in Germany in 1963 |url=http://www.insidekino.com/DJahr/D1963.htm |website=Inside Kino |year=1963 |language=de |accessdate=4 February 2019}}</ref> ({{US$|{{To USD|10|EUR|year=1971|round=yes}} million|long=no}}).

In France, it sold 1,126,887 tickets in 1964,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Winnetou I (1964) |url=https://www.jpbox-office.com/fichfilm.php?id=21646 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=JP Box-Office |language=fr}}</ref> equivalent to an estimated {{US$|{{#expr:<!--ticket sales-->1126887*<!--average ticket price-->0.62 round -4}}|long=no}} in gross revenue.{{Efn|See {{Section link|Box office|Average ticket price}}.}} In Poland, it sold about {{nowrap|11 million}} tickets in 1968, breaking the all-time record for the highest-grossing foreign film in Poland.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ford |first1=Charles |last2=Hammond |first2=Robert |title=Polish Film: A Twentieth Century History |date=2015 |publisher=[[McFarland & Company]] |isbn=978-1-4766-0803-7 |page=107 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tiYkCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA107}}</ref>

It was later released in the [[Soviet Union]], where it sold 56 million tickets in 1975, becoming the third highest-grossing foreign film of the year and the 12th [[List of highest-grossing films in the Soviet Union|highest-grossing foreign film ever in the Soviet Union]].<ref name="soviet-foreign" /> This was equivalent to an estimated {{US$|{{#expr:<!--ticket sales-->56*<!--average ticket price-->0.47 round 0}} million|long=no}} in gross revenue.<ref name="Messenger">{{cite journal |date=1975 |title=Cinema Going |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BvwcAQAAMAAJ |url-status=live |journal=The Asian Messenger |publisher=Center for Communication Studies, [[Chinese University of Hong Kong]] |volume=1-4 |page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118133359/https://books.google.com/books?id=BvwcAQAAMAAJ |archive-date=2023-01-18 |access-date=2020-07-18 |quote=More Russians (4.5 billion) go to the movies more times (an average of 17.7 times per person) each year than people in any other country, according to UNESCO statistics for 1973, the last year for which figures are available. Tailing the Russians are Singaporeans, 17.1 times a year, and Hong Kong people, 15.1 times a year. Italians go 10 times, Britons 2.4 times and Frenchmen 3.5 times a year. The high frequency of movie going in Russia is attributed to the low price of movie admission, the drab quality of Soviet TV and the difficulty in getting seats at a restaurant or other places of entertainment. In Russia, where a movie ticket costs about 47 US cents, there are 154,200 cinemas.}}</ref>

In total, the film sold {{formatnum:{{#expr:<!--Germany-->10000000+<!--France-->1126887+<!--Poland-->11000000+<!--USSR-->56000000}}|}} tickets at the worldwide box office, including an estimated gross revenue of {{US$|{{#expr:<!--Germany-->10+<!--France-->0.7+<!--USSR-->26}} million|long=no}} in Germany, France and the Soviet Union.

==United States==
Released on a limited basis in the United States by [[Columbia Pictures]], the film was aired on television in several cities.

==See also==
*[[Broken Arrow (1950 film)]]
*[[White Feather (1955 film)]]
*[[Last of the Renegades]]
*[[List of highest-grossing non-English films]]

== Notes ==
{{Note list}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|id=0057687}}
*{{Allmovie title|83836}}
*[http://www.rialtofilm.de/en/index3.htm?winne2i.htm ''Apache Gold'' (as ''Winnetou I'')] at [[Rialto Film]]
*[http://mondo-esoterica.net/Winnetou%201.html In-depth review by Timothy Young]

{{Harald Reinl}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1963 films]]
[[Category:1963 Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Winnetou films]]
[[Category:Films based on German novels]]
[[Category:Films directed by Harald Reinl]]
[[Category:1960s German-language films]]
[[Category:German Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:1960s Italian-language films]]
[[Category:Italian Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Spaghetti Western films]]
[[Category:West German films]]
[[Category:Films shot in Croatia]]
[[Category:Films shot in Yugoslavia]]
[[Category:Films produced by Horst Wendlandt]]
[[Category:1960s buddy films]]
[[Category:Columbia Pictures films]]
[[Category:Constantin Film films]]
[[Category:Films set in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Films set in New Mexico]]
[[Category:1960s historical films]]
[[Category:German historical films]]
[[Category:Italian historical films]]
[[Category:Yugoslav historical films]]
[[Category:Films shot at Spandau Studios]]
[[Category:1960s Italian films]]
[[Category:1960s German films]]
[[Category:Foreign films set in the United States]]
[[Category:Yugoslav Western (genre) films]]
[[Category:Apache in popular culture]]
[[Category:Films scored by Martin Böttcher]]