THE BLACK EAGLES OF SANTA FE (Rapid Film, Constantin Film, Metheus Film, Société Nouvelle de Cinématographie, 1965)

Die schwarzen Adler von Santa Fe

D: Ernest Goodman [Ernst Hofbauer], Albert Cardiff [Alberto Cardone] P: Mario Siciliano, Gunther Raguse, Wolf C. Hartwig. W: Jack Lewis, Valeria Bonamano. Ph: Hans Jura. M: Gert Wilden. St: Brad Harris (Cliff McPherson), Joachim Hansen (Captain Jackson), Pinkas Braun (Gentleman), Werner Peters (Morton), Helga Sommerfeld (Cora Morton)
 
 
"Are the Comanches no longer men? Have they lost their taste for revenge?"
As much an imitation of pro-Native American Fifties B-westerns as it is a commodity of flourishing European co-productions, Black Eagles binds its narrative of hoodwinked Indians to the dust-blown aesthetic of the Euro-western. It owes its archetypes – noble Indian, virtuous white man – to Germany’s Winnetou series but eschews the sentimental, pastoral sweep of those films in favour of the grittier aspect associated with the stark exteriors of southern Spain. With a capable American action star in the lead role, tonally it has the lean vibe of a spaghetti western, betraying scant evidence of its Teutonic origins. 
 
 
One of a loose trilogy of Indian-themed westerns produced by Hartwig and starring Harris – see also Pirates of the Mississippi and Massacre at Marble City – here the muscleman is army agent McPherson, mandated by the captain of a fort, where survivors of a town massacre are seeking refuge, to discover what is provoking the wrath of the Comanches.[i] Local bigwig Morton proclaims that “probably some white man’s at the bottom of this”, a notion confirmed when journalist Blade Carpenter (Horst Frank, cast against type as a good guy) witnesses soldiers murdering Indians. The soldiers are disguised gunmen in pay of the duplicitous Morton, who wants to ignite a war between the Comanches and the army to capitalise on oil underneath the Indians’ land.
 
 
Though Hofbauer is credited on German prints, the film was co-directed by Alberto Cardone, who branded his visual and melodramatic signature on some of the most engaging second-tier spaghettis. Perhaps because of this dual involvement, the film lurches stylistically from dynamic set pieces and two-fisted action into prosaic passages of dialogue, simply to advance the narrative. The opening Indian rampage is lent a frenzied air by quick cuts, followed by an attractive slow pan across the street and behind the wheels of a wagon. In contrast, a lengthy dialogue scene in Morton’s ranch, in which we discover his nefarious plans, is filmed with a locked-off camera, his lair covered in garish wallpaper, complete with overflowing bowls of fruit and the ostentatious trappings of wealth.
 
 
 
Harris is no wallflower in his physical scenes. While saving his love interest Lara Miller (Olga Schoberova, whom Harris later married), from Morton’s right-hand man, the ironically named Gentleman, he’s involved in a full-blooded punch-up in which a knife misses him by inches. He is more than adequate as a charming rogue, ennobled by engaging with Chief Black Eagle (Tony Kendall) in an attempt to deter a massacre.[ii] While the German title pluralises the Chief’s name – and indeed many international prints carry this translation – there is only one Black Eagle in this set-up and he is portrayed as stoic and mistrusting, an echo of the countless Indian warriors rendered by non-indigenous actors in American westerns.


The supporting cast lend the production extra conviction. Of particular interest to spaghetti-western fans is the presence of Austrian Josef Egger, who would go on to play the crazy, bearded Prophet in For a Few Dollars More. Here the old geezer has plenty to say, but it impacts little on McPherson’s decisions. The film’s most malevolent creation is Gentleman, played with bug-eyed intensity by Braun, a lowdown slime ball who has designs on Morton’s daughter.


Pacing problems, inconsistencies and occasional weak plot points notwithstanding – implausibly, Morton’s men are the only ones who use .45 cartridges, found at the murder scene – Black Eagles is as striking as its predominantly Italian contemporaries. Native American issues were conspicuously absent from Italy’s amoral, grungy West, but Germany’s love of Indian adventures, forged by Karl May’s literature, resulted in a liberal viewpoint. In East Germany, Indianerfilme became part of the state machine. Harsher than their West German counterparts, they preached anti-imperialist propaganda rather than racial collaboration for a future America. However, that subterfuge by white settlers was the reason for the ire of the Indians was something that those on both sides of Germany’s ideological divide could agree on.
Clark Hodgkiss

[i] Kevin Grant, Any Gun Can Play (FAB Press, 2011)
[ii] Harris and Kendall [Luciano Stella] would buddy up for a number of films. Most notably Kendall’s smooth – some would say smarmy – personality as American agent Jo Walker would infuriate Harris’s no nonsense Captain Tom Rowland in the Kommissar X series.

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