The Half Breed (1966)

Uschi Glass is Apanatschi, daughter of a white settler and an Apache woman, and she’s just turned 21.

Mac Haller (Walter Barnes), her father, decides that’s the perfect time to for a special present: He’ll give her the gold mine he’s been keeping secret for years.

Their friend Winnetou (Pierre Brice) frowns on the idea. He knows the trouble Apache gold has brought his tribe.

Apanatschi is less than thrilled herself. She’s more eager to marry young Jeff Brown (Gotz George); her father has promised she can marry at 21.

But her younger brother Happy (Marinco Cosic) leaves the mine with a chunk of gold in his pocket, having no idea what it is.

Sure enough, trouble follows when Jeff’s friends — Pinky and Sloan — see that chunk of gold. They demand to know where the mine is.

And the situation goes from bad to worse when they travel to town and Curly Bill (Ilija Druzvolekovski) spots that nugget.

He’s taken over the nearby town, and has 80 gunmen to do his bidding.

Soon, Haller is dead. And Old Surehand (Lex Barker) and Winnetou are trying to save the lives of Apanatschi and Happy.

Review:

The theme will ring familiar to anyone who’s watched any of the Winnetou films: There’s a greedy white man who wants riches of some sort and will stop at nothing to get them.

And that means Winnetou and Old Shatterhand (or Old Surehand, depending on the film) must unite once more to protect those who can’t protect themselves and restore the peace.

This one benefits from the youthful beauty of Uschi Glass and a plot that’s slightly less complicated than many of the Winnetou film.

But, being a Winnetou film, there’s some silliness too. Like the poorly staged attack by an eagle that opens the film. It also strikes a few false notes (Jeff Brown, for instance, does magic tricks).

Given the U.S. title and an alternate title — “Winnetou and the Crossbreed” — you’ll be surprised that racism isn’t an issue in the film. If anything, Apanatschi’s mixed heritage is considered a blessing rather than a hindrance.

Directed by:
Harald Philipp

Cast:
Pierre Brice … Winnetou
Lex Barker … Old Shatterhand
Gotz George … Jeff Brown
Uschi Glass … Apanatschi
Ralph Wolter … Sam Hawkens
Walter Barnes … Mac Halle *r
Ilija Dzuvalekovski … Curly Bill
Miha Baloh … Judge
Marinco Cosic … Happy
Nada Kasapic … Bessie
Peter Dobric … Sloan
Vladimir Leib … Pinky
Abduraham Salja … Hank
Marija Crnobori … Mine-Yota
Sime Jagarinec … Blacky
Zvonko Dobrin … Brian
Ivo Kristof … Buster
Vladimir Rogoz … Sargmacher
Rikard Brzeska … Smith
Branco Spoljar … Doc

Runtime: 90 min.

aka:
Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi
Winnetou and the Crossbreed
Winnetou and the Halfbreed

Music: Martin Bottcher

Memorable lines:

Mac Haller: “Apanatschi! How many times have I told you not to shoot so near the house?”
Apanatschi: “Oh, but father, the woodcocks were just a few inches above Winnetou’s head. I couldn’t miss, it was such a beautiful shot.”

Apanatschi, having been shown her father’s secret mine on her 21st birthday: “Let the gold where it is.”
Winnetou: “My sister has the heart of a true Apache. She cannot be happy with gold. It has only brought the Apaches bad luck.”

Sloan, when his friend and partner falls off his horse: “Well, Pinky ain’t gonna get up again.”
Curly Bill: “That fat cow’s dead alright.”
Sloan: “I know he blabbed that I killed Mac, but he was my oldest friend. I’ll miss him.”
Curly: “Maybe we can fix it up for you so you won’t.”
A shot rings out from behind Sloan.

Curly Bill to Jeff Brown: “Something always did bother me about your face. It’s honest.”

Winnetou, as the good guys surround the town: “You must hide your train (and presumably the cars it’s pulling) behind the church. We don’t want them to know anyone is here.”

Trivia:

Pierre Brice had died at the end of a previous Winnetou film, “Last of the Renegades.” But it wasn’t long before he was back in the saddle. He recalled his resurrection this way: “I get a phone call from Horst Wendlandt, the producer, who says to me: ‘Pierre, I take the plane, I come to find you, I must speak to you.’ And he comes to talk to me and he says to me: ‘There is something tragic happening for me in Germany …’ (I said) ‘Oh, what?’ (He said) ‘The audience, knowing that in the film, you die, decided to boycott the film. What can I do ?’ I said, ‘Listen, Horst, I do not know, it’s up to you to tell me what to do. That’s not my problem, anyway, I’m dead, it’s over.’ ‘No, no, no; we start another one.’ I said to him: ‘But I cannot, I’m dead.’ ‘No matter, if people, spectators know you’re going to go on, you’re going to have a resurrection, they’re going to see the movie, and I can continue to be successful.’ What could I do? I could not say no to Horst. I could not say no to a producer who had made me what I was. I do not like the word star, but still, in the eyes of the Germans, that’s it, I could not say no, so I said, ‘Well, you have a project?’ He said to me: ‘Yes, I have a project, we start right now, there, without stopping, the script is ready, we have the same troupe, the actors are engaged. so I say: ‘good well, okay.'”

Her role as Apanatschi in The Halfbreed marked a major break for 22-year-old actress Uschi Glass, who was still active in the 2010s. Her perspective on the film in a 2015 interview: “Winnetou was my first starring role and as a young girl, of course, it was very exciting to shoot with Pierre Brice and Lex Barker. These were the big stars — and suddenly you’re standing next to them. For me it was a big and exciting adventure. When I happen to see Winnetou on television today, I think, ‘Yeah, well, what a good time!'”

If a Winnetou film starred Lex Barker, you could pretty much count on character actor Ralf Wolter being on hand as his sidekick, Sam Hawkens, complete with an ugly gray wig designed to scare the Indians should they just try to take his scalp. Baker and Wolter appeared in six Winnetou films together.