CHATO'S LAND

US, 1972, 110 minutes, Colour.
Charles Bronson, Jack Palance, Richard Basehart, James Whitmore, Simon Oakland, Ralph Waite, Richard Jordan.
Directed by Michael Winner.

Chato’s Land is a typical western of the early 1970s – influenced by the films of Sergio Leone in the 1960s, The Man With No Name series. These westerns were grim, stark, focusing on revenge, the clash between Indians and whites. Other films of the period include some by Robert Aldrich such as Ulzana’s Raid.

This is a star vehicle for Charles Bronson who was emerging as a big name in the 1970s after being in supporting roles during the 50s and 60s. He was one of The Magnificent Seven as one of The Dirty Dozen.

The film was directed by English Michael Winner, the first of four films he made with Bronson from 1972-74. The others are The Mechanic, The Stone Killer and the classic Death Wish. Winner directed Bronson in two sequels to Death Wish in the 1980s.

Bronson plays the laconic Indian who shoots a sheriff in self-defence. As a posse, led by Jack Palance, pursue him into the desert and are brutal towards his wife and his tribe, the hunters become the hunted, being picked off one by one. This is the very strong vengeance theme, prevalent at the time.

Chato’s Land is a strong example of its kind.

1. Was this an ordinary western? Or was it a message western with a difference? Some critics went for either opinion.

2. How cruel was this western? How much did cruelty and violence predominate? Was this part of the message? How would it affect audiences? Why?

3. The film took the side of the Indian, and portrayed the whites as horrible with racist intolerance. Was this a strong western criticising the white man's attitudes and exalting the Indian? Was it successful and just in this?

4. Comment on the implications of racism and the overtones of racism for the film in the opening sequence, Did this make the subsequent chase intelligible? Did it justify the violence and the deaths?

5. How sympathetic a person was Chato? As a man, as an Indian? Discrimination in the bar, the chase, the presentation of him with his family, the suffering of his wife, the vengeance in killing?

6. What were the attitudes towards justice in the film? Who had the right of execution? Chato as an executioner of unjust men? Did he have the right to do this? Was this his land to administer justice? Did the pursuers see themselves having justice on their side? Or were they merely lynch-law violent men?

7. What did you make of Quincy? As an army man, as a leader, games, loyalty? Was he an adequate pursuer of Chato? What motivated him? His control over the men? His failure as a leader? The inevitability of his death? Did his character give any insight into motives for pursuing the Indians?

8. How did the film present group loyalty and the strength of motivations for group loyalty? The clashes? Why did the group disintegrate?

9. Comment on the Hooker brothers. How ugly was their presentation? Were they exaggerated in their hatred and violence? Their hatred of Chato? Their rebellion against Quincy? Did they deserve their deaths?

10. The character of Nye Buell? Why was he in the pursuit? What motivated him?

11. Joshua Everette: what motivated his participation in the chase?

12. The young Scotsman, his attempt at fairness, his criticisms of the others? Did he deserve to die as the others? What motivated him in being in the chase?

13. How excitingly filmed was the chase and Chato’s stalking the pursuers? His knowledge of the territory and the land? Their response to the land and being lost in it? A land needing survival? The awareness of the American west in this film as a harsh land?

14. How did the film contrast Chato with the others in his terms? The importance of Chato’s sequences with his wife and child? With his friend? The harmony of the Indians compared with the violence, hatred and low humanity of the whites?

15. The presentation of the rape and your response to the white man's behaviour? As further motivation for executing justice on the men?

16. Were the deaths filmed too violently and in too ugly a manner? Or were they appropriate by this stage of the film?

17. Comment on any other detail that made great impact for the themes of the film.

18. The significance of the final image with Chato menacing the last survivor? What was the final impact and message?