Bandits under the direction of Gen. Jack O’Neille (Larry Pennell) rob a train of an army payroll, then try to stir up trouble with the Comanches as a distraction.
It works, and the chief’s son who travels to Mason City hoping to preserve the peace is shot in the back and killed.
That has Comanche Chief Mahki-Moteh on the verge of declaring all-out war with the whites and offering a small piece of the tribe’s land in enchange for 100 brand new rifles to wage that war.
Guess who’s dealing him the rifles? That’s right, Gen. Jack O’Neille, because his men have since killed a miner named Ben O’Brien and stolen the map to his mine.
O’Neille thinks the piece of land he’s receiving from the Comanches includes that mine, but he has a surprise in store for the Comanches just in case it doesn’t.
Meanwhile, fiesty Judith, niece of the slain miner, and her bookworm boyfriend Toby (Terence Hill as Mario Girotti) are trying to find out who killed O’Brien.
And Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) and Winnetou (Pierre Brice) are trying to find out who murdered the chief’s son to prevent war now that the Comanche drums have stopped beating.
Stewart Granger as Old Surehand makes a new acquaintance in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Pierre Brice as Winnetou warns of impending trouble in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Review:
This is the third and easily the best of the Winnetou films featuring Stewart Granger, featuring plenty of action, some comic touches that work and a plot with a couple of unexpected twists.
Oddly, though, it seems like this should have been the first Old Surehand film because it’s like we’re being introduced to Old Surehand for the first time. His real named is Johnny German (or something close to that) and he’s on the trail of the man who killed his brother three years earlier.
We also get an introduction to Old Wabble, Old Surehand’s sidekick in the other Winnetou films starring Granger, and he has lots more screen time in this film.
What we don’t get is much of Winnetou. He doesn’t show up until 43 minutes into the version of the film I watched and he and Granger aren’t often seen together. Reportedly, they weren’t exactly bosom buddies, let alone blood brothers.
Another plus for this film is the presence of blonde beauty Leticia Roman in the part of the niece. She professes her love for a bookworm named Toby (played by none other than Terence Hill), but certainly does her damnedest to get Old Surehand — a real man — to notice her.
Leticia Roman as Judith wishes Toby a safe return in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Terence Hill (Mario Girotti) as Toby, in need of a rescue, in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Directed by:
Alfred Vohrer
Cast:
Stewart Granger … Old Surehand
Pierre Brice … Winnetou
Larry Pennell … Gen. Jack O’Neille
Leticia Roman … Judith
Terence Hill … Toby
as Mario Girotti
Milan Srdoc … Jeremy Old Wabble Sanders
as Paddy Fox
Wolfgang Lukschy … Judge Edwards
Erik Schumann … Capt. Miller
Bata Zivojinovic … Jim Potter
Dusan Antonijevic … Clinch
Vladimir Medar … Uncle Ben O’Brian
Hermina Pipinic … Molly
Jelena Zigon … Della
Voja Miric … Joe
Dusan Janicijevic … Mahki-Moteh
Mate Ivankovic … Wynand
Nikola Gec … Cat
Other cast members: Veljko Maricic, Miroslav Buhin, Sime Jagarinac, Martin Sagner, Predrag Ceramilac, Marijan Habazin, Lujo Knezevic, Mate Ivankovic, Ivan Novak , Marin Ercegovic, Leo Butorac, Stjepan Jurcevic, Dani Segina, Josip Zappalorto, Ivo Kristof
Runtime: 90 min.
aka:
Old Surehand – 1.Teil
Old Surehand
Music: Martin Bottcher
Larry Pennell as Gen. Jack O’Neille, getting a glimpse of a gold nugget, in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Vladimir Medar as Uncle Ben O’Brien, a miner who can’t keep his gold strike a secret in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Memorable lines:
Bill Branson, after Old Surehand guesses where his mine is from the dust on his pants: “You got a good pair of eyes in that head, mister.”
Old Surehand: “If I had a gold mine, I’d have eyes in my behind too.”
Old Surehand after Tu-Won is shot in the back and killed: “Are you satisfied? Now are you satisfied?” He points to a banner. “Welcome to Mason City. Welcome, it says. And the son of Mahki-Moteh believed those words. He wanted to talk to you, so he came here unarmed. And you murdered him. Tenth anniversary of Mason City. And now, maybe, you will never see the 11th.”
Old Surehand: “I have to say thank you again, miss.”
Judith, who’s just prevented him from being ambushed: “Couldn’t you be a bit more … well, demonstrative?”
Old Surehand: “Well, I don’t rightly know how, miss.”
Judith: “Well, you’re a man, and I’m a girl, and.”
She puckers her lips.
Old Surehand gives her a peck on the forehead.
Jelena Zigon as Della, lover of one of the bandits in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Hermina Pipinic as saloon owner Molly with Old Surehand (Stewart Granger) during a barroom brawl in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Judith, watching Old Surehand: “That’s a man, a real man.”
Toby: “Don’t you think you ought to at least get dressed up before he gets here?”
Judith, lying topless: “I can’t wear wet clothes. Besides, I want to see his face when he sees me.”
Toby: “He’s sure going to laugh when he sees you lying smack on top of an ant hill.”
Gen. Jack O’Neille to his second-in-command: “This fear that you have that I might die with the secret of the mine — it’s the best possible life insurance a man could have.”
Old Wabbles, waking up from fainting; “Am I dead?”
Old Surehand: “I’m not sure. But I’m no angel.”
Dusan Janicijevic as Mahki-Moteh, the Comanche chief in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Stewart Granger as Old Surehand with Erik Schumann as the cavalry captain sent to quell the Comanche uprising in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Trivia:
Prior to this film, Granger was known as Old Shatterhand in Winnetou films. Old Surehand was the name reserved for Lex Barker, who appeared in seven of the Winnetou films made in the 1960s. By order of release, this marked the seventh of those 11.
IMDb reports that producer Horst Wendlandt made this film as the first part of a planned Old Surehand trilogy, but ditched parts two or three when the film wasn’t as successful as hoped. On the Spaghetti Western database, Simen Gelten reports that it was the first Karl May movie that didn’t receive a Goldene Leinwand for attracting more than 3 million people German theaters within 12 months of its release.
Leticia Roman made her film debut at age 19, opposite Elvis Presley in “G.I. Blues” but told the press she wouldn’t go out with him because it would seem too much like a publicity date. Her second film was the Western “Gold of the Seven Saints” and she also starred in “Russ Meyer’s Fanny Hill” (1964). She was also engaged to TV producer Aaron Spelling (18 years her senior) during a relatively short acting career. She later became a real estate agent in L.A.
This marked the fourth and final Winnetou film for Terence Hill, who was still using his real name Mario Girotti. His role is a major one, though he spends an awful lot of time trying to impress Judith and trying to keep her from flirting with Old Surehand. That’s when he isn’t tied up, and he’s tied up a lot. In one of the more imaginative scenes, he’s secured to a pole with a giant, pointed icycle over his head. A rope is holding the icycle in place. But a candle is burning that rope thinner and thinner by the moment.
Voja Miric as Joe and Larry Pennell as Gen. Jack O’Neille discuss splitting a gold mine in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Bata Zivojinovic as Jim Potter, on of Jack O’Neille’s men in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Leticia Roman as Judith has eyes for Old Surehand to the dismay of wanna-be boyfriend Toby (Terence Hill as Mario Girotti) in Flaming Frontier (1965)
Milan Srdoc (Paddy Fox) as Old Wabble with Old Surehand (Stewart Granger), sneaking up on the Comanches in Flaming Frontier (1965)
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