The good folks of Happy Town, Alaska best be braced for trouble.
The Tornado Kid (Arthur Brauss) and his gang are heading to town, determined to take the money residents have stashed at Murdock’s general store.
Then a dog sled carrying one of the Kid’s men — Mike Williams, recently deceased — arrives in Happy Town. Since the dogs are owned by Bill Robbins (Ron Ely), everyone figures he killed Williams.
That just adds to the Kid’s determination to see Robbins in a grave. Robbins was also responsible for the death of one of the Kid’s buddies years earlier.
Then a young orphan named Jimmy is captured and threatened with hanging because he tried to steal a horse in order to ride off and warn Robbins of the impending danger.
Matters get more complicated when Mike’s pretty sister Frona shows up in Happy Town, accompanied by Murdock and a mysterious stranger named Jack Harper.
Frona expected a happy reunion with her brother, who indicated that he knew the location of a secluded gold mine. Instead, she finds herself offering Harper $2,000 to track down her brother’s suspected killer.
Ah, and about that gold mine. This is the first Tornado Kid has heared of it. But it sure does pique his interest. Turns out an Indian girl named Akaena might also know its location.
Ron Ely as Bill Robbins, issuing a warning on young Jimmy’s behalf in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Raimund Harmstorf as Jack Harper, offering his services to Frona Williams in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Review:
The film was shot in Austria with an Austrian director and a mostly German cast. But it’s definitely Spaghetti Western in flavor.
There’s one American actor heading the cast (Ron Ely). There are shooting tricks. There’s the mysterious stranger. There’s the lure of gold. There’s even a touch of Spaghetti-flavored music. Plus the eccentric townsman, in this case a drunk barber forever threatening to hang himself.
There’s also a poorly filmed attack by wolves as Robbins and Murdock try to make their way through a wintry wilderness by dog sled.
But the script includes enough characters, plot twists and subplots to keep things interesting.
And in one of the more memorable scenes, Tornado Kid has Indian girl Akaena tied to a tree, a stick of dynamite near her head. He keeps igniting the wick with a shot from his rifle, cutting it shorter and shorter in hopes that Frona will cough up information she doesn’t have — the location of the fortune in gold.
Arthur Brauss as the Tornado Kid, the vicious outlaw who brings trouble to Happy Town in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Gila von Weitershausen as Frona Williams, wondering about a persistent stranger in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Directed by:
Harald Reinl
Cast:
Ron Ely … Bill Robbins
Raimund Harmstorf … Jack Harper
Gila von Weitershausen … Frona Williams
Arthur Brauss … Tornado Kid
Angelica Ott … Betty Taylor
Jean-Claude Hoffmann … Jimmy
Hans Terofal … Stumpy
Catharina Conti … Akaena
Carl Lange … Nicholas Morse
Alexander Grill … Forester
Kurt Bulau … Roy Murdock
Dan van Husen … Joe
Heinrich Schweiger … Sam Jenkins
Tony Berger … Mike Williams
Runtime: 90 min.
aka:
Der Schrei der schwarzen Wölfe
The Howl of the Black Wolves
Wolf Killer
Music: Gerhard Heinz
Catharine Conti as Akaena, the young Indian girl who realizes she’s trusted the wrong man in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Jean-Claude Hoffman as Jimmy, the young orphan Bill Robbins takes under his wing in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Memorable lines:
Bill Robbins to saloon owner Sam Jenkins: “Say what you want about me, but leave that boy (Jimmy) alone. If anything happens to him, even God can’t help you.”
Mike Williams, attempting to steal Bill Robbins’ dogs and threatening to shoot the dogs if he doesn’t turn them over: “I’ve heard dead dogs can’t pull sleds.”
Frona Williams: “I think that you’re a beast, Jack.”
Jack Harper: “Yeah, you could say that.”
Jimmy: “If the Tornado Kid’s gang is after gold, Akaena and Miss Frona are in for trouble. They’re all as mean as crows on a porcupine.”
Bill Robbins to Jack Harper: “You know why I live up in the mountains? Just to get away from your kind.”
Heinrich Schweiger as saloon owner Sam Jenkins, providing information to the Tornado Kid in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Angelica Ott as saloon girl Betty Taylor and Hans Terofal as town drunk Stumpy, concerned about Jimmy’s fate in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Trivia:
* Ron Ely has played Tarzan in the TV series by the same name from 1966 through 1968. He’d star on one other Spaghetti Western, the 1972 comedy “Hallelujah and Sartana Strike Again” (1972). He also took over for longtime host Bert Parks, helming the Miss America pageant in 1980 and 1981.
* Tragedy struck Ely’s family in October 2019 when Valerie, his wife of 35 years, was stabbed to death inside their Santa Barbara home, allegedly by their son Cameron, 30. Responding sheriff’s deputies shot and killed Cameron. As of 2020, Ely and his daughters had filed a wrongful death suit over the incident. Valerie was Miss Florida 1981.
* Gila von Weitershausen, the lovely Frona here, was born in World War II Germany (in what is now Poland). She began her film career in 1964 and was still active into the 2010s. A longtime companion of director Louis Malle (1965’s “Viva Maria!”), they had a son together in 1971.
Ron Ely as Bill Robbins, trying to teach young Jimmy a lesson in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Tony Berger as Mike Williams, plotting how to find the gold in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Carl Lange as Nicholas Morse, worried about Akaena’s future in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Raimund Harmstorf as Jack Harper, borrowing another man’s horse the easy way in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Gila von Weitershausen as Frona Williams, fearful she’s about to watch Akaena blown to bits in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
Ron Ely as Bill Robbins, determined to go on alone as he tries to save Jimmy’s life in The Cry of the Black Wolves (1972)
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