SHALAKO (1968)

THE FILM

FILM DIRECTOR: Edward Dmytryk

SCREENWRITER: James Griffith (as J.J. Griffith), Hal Hopper, Scot Finch, Clarke Reynolds

FILM STARS: Sean Connery, Brigitte Bardot, Stephen Boyd, Jack Hawkins, Peter van Eyck, Honor Blackman, Woody Strode, Eric Sykes, Alexander Knox, Valerie French, Don ‘Red’ Barry, Rodd Redwing

COUNTRY: Great Britain

THIS BOOK

AUTHOR: Louis L’Amour

TYPE: Novel

PUBLISHER: Corgi

THIS EDITION PUBLISHED: 1968

COUNTRY: Great Britain

COVER: Paperback

THE ORIGINAL BOOK

ORIGINAL AUTHOR: As Above

YEAR FIRST PUBLISHED: 1962

ORIGINAL BOOK TITLE: The film title

NOTES

GENRE: Western

WORDS: Probably the best of the British westerns (there aren’t many good ones) and even then it’s more interesting than good. The bonus is Sean Connery who loved westerns as a kid, was keen to make one, and was happy to get away from James Bond. Once he was on board there was enough money to flesh out the cast and get Dmytryk to direct, who was on a downhill slide in terms of film results, though there are always moments in his later films. I saw this film so long ago so I really need to watch it again … I recall there being some really nasty characters and a lot of out of place accents (though the central group are meant to be Europeans on a hunting trip in the old west (filmed in Spain) – so, they are not entirely out of place). Brigitte Bardot is worth the price of admission. The film did well in Europe. Englishmen, producer Euan Lloyd and co-screenwriter, Scot Finch, made two other European westerns based on L’Amour novels – The Man called Noon (1973) (in which Stephen Boyd co-starred again) and Catlow (1971). L’Amour’s novel is straight with an upstanding hero, who would not be troubled by post war neurosis, international casts, European sensibilities or a Spanish locale.

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