Der Scout (1983) User Reviews

Last - not least

[unbrokenmetal · 7/10 · 15 June 2008]

In 1983, the western movie series with Gojko Mitic by East German DEFA, which had begun 1966 with "Die Söhne der großen Bärin", came to an end with "Der Scout". Oftentimes with the last part of a long series, you have an uninspired copy, a kind of last breath, but that is not the case here! "Der Scout" presents fresh locations in Mongolia (!) that look as lonely as the west must have been once, and the strengths of this movie are a careful characterization and that it doesn't show unnecessary violence; it even is recommended for children from the age of 6 by the German censorship institution FSK. Which doesn't mean it's sweet and simple.

"Der Scout" tells the story of the Nez Perce Indians whose horses are taken away by the US army, hoping the Indians will stay in a reservation once they can't move around so much anymore. White Feather (Gojko Mitic) pretends he wants to serve the soldiers as a scout, but he intends to bring the horses back to his people. Everything gets more complicated when a different tribe of Indians attacks, White Feather has to take care of a wounded girl (Nazagdorshijn Bazezeg, I found different spellings for the name of the actress which is hardly surprising) and the commanding officers begin to hate each other under the growing pressure.

Each of the seven soldiers whom the scout is leading has a different personality; we really have a good screenplay and a careful director here. The Mongolian extras with their high cheekbones remind me more of Eskimoes than Indians, but I leave that to the anthropologists. Bring some kind of insecticide if you ever go to Mongolia, there are swarms of flies there - in some close-ups, I pitied the actors. The production must have a been a huge logistic challenge, anyway, because throughout the movie, hundreds of horses (900, claims one of the soldiers in a dialog - 1000, said the advertising campaign) are roaming around. It was worth the effort, an interesting western from the east.

Sly Indian versus a Handful of Soldiers or the Magnificent Goiko Mitic: Part Twelve

[lyubitelfilmov · 7/10 · 4 November 2020]

Western. Production picture of the East German film studio DEFA, created with the participation of socialist Mongolia, where the main role was played by the famous Yugoslav actor, "Honored Indian of the Soviet Union", Goiko Mitic. The last, that is, the twelfth, picture of twelve, which I looked at and revised. And I can say for sure that this particular western I watched for sure when it was played on TV in the middle of zero during the New Year's holidays on Channel One (then it had not yet slipped into dullness and emptiness). And here's my brief opinion - a cunning Indian against a handful of soldiers. I will say right away that there are no downsides to the picture, but I personally have several comments that I will highlight in a separate paragraph, but for now, let your humble servant focus your attention on the obvious advantages of this western. So, here they are: 1. Scenario - the picture tells the story of the noble and cunning leader White Feather, played by Goiko Mitic, who intends to use a cunning way to return the herd of stolen horses that is guarded by a small detachment of the American army. He uses all his abilities in order to succeed in this. The soldiers are shown as absolutely ordinary people, with their own fears and shortcomings, and this is exactly what the brave hero needs to use. The script turned out with twists typical for this series, so connoisseurs will quickly understand what's what, but for new viewers it will be a useful and interesting experience. The finale is certainly predictable, but this does not make it less spectacular and exciting. 2. Nature - the picture was filmed in Mongolia, which is very noticeable, but I will strongly pretend that this is a prairie near the Rocky Mountains in the USA. The beauty of nature fascinates the viewer, and the cameraman focuses our attention on the most memorable shots. Mountains, rivers, prairies - how you want to move there and walk along them, sitting on a horse. Leave worries and daily routines. Oh, what a beauty! Lyapota! 3. Entourage - atmosphere, decorations and costumes - apart from one comment, everything is at a good level. Indians look like Indians, American soldiers look like American soldiers, there are very few decorations here, but they also look according to historical prototypes. Well, everything is fine with the atmosphere, if you close your eyes to one remark. 4. Music - atmospheric, with a clear touch of Indian themes (which was required), there are quite a few musical compositions themselves, but my language will not turn out to say that this is not enough. It will be difficult to listen to this music separately and will hardly succeed, but within the framework of the picture - exactly what you need. 5. Fights, chases, skirmishes - there are not many of them here, because the lion's share of these scenes falls on the final of the picture, and so we just observe the journey of a handful of soldiers and a cunning Indian from one point to another. The shooting scenes turned out to be dynamic. A little about the main characters: 1. White Feather performed by Goiko Mitic - the leader of the "pierced noses" tribe, who by a cunning way intends to return the stolen herd of horses, for which he turns an interesting combination. Brave, smart and damn convincing. Goiko again perfectly performed all the tricks on his own, not forgetting to show an excellent acting game. Bravo Goiko! 2. Klaus Manchen's Sergeant Anderson is the most memorable of a handful of American warriors. An experienced officer who understands Indians, which helps the detachment more than once. Honest, completely without ambition - a classic campaigner, whose role is played damn well by Klaus. Bravo! 3. Major Bennigen performed by Milan Beli (our compatriot) is the commander of the ill-fated detachment, an extremely upstart and incompetent officer who more interferes than leads the detachment to the task. Milan played this hero very convincingly. Now about the comments. The fact is that the role of the Indians was played by Mongolian actors, and this is striking, pardon the pun. And now it looks funny, to put it mildly, because earlier the role of the Indians was played by Germans, Romanians, and so on, which are very similar in appearance to historical types, but here it went to the devil, which greatly affects the atmosphere. Well, the scenes of fights, chases and skirmishes today no longer cause those enthusiastic emotions as in the year the picture was released, but we will make a discount on the time of release. Well, that ended a kind of marathon of Westerns by the DEFA film studio with Goiko Mitic. Yes, I know that there is also a picture "Hunters on the Prairie of Mexico" in 1988, but I will not watch it any more, I have already looked at twelve pictures, and that's almost all. All of them enjoyed tremendous success in the Soviet Union and gathered a record number of spectators, it was the roles of noble Indians that glorified Yugoslav Goyko Mitic, and millions of boys throughout the Union played "Indians", as I happened once. Of course, in these westerns, the Indians are always displayed in the best possible side, although in life this was far from the case. Pale-faced people are truthfully shown, where there were both good people and not so much. The struggle of the Indians was shown selflessly, although the advantage, especially in technology and numbers, was not in their favor. Goiko Mitic had a chance to play the roles as literary characters, like Chingachguk, and real ones, like Ulzana or Tekumze, and in any of these roles he was great. The lion's share of success was based on Goiko's charisma and his languid gaze of a proud eagle. I watched some of these westerns as a child, some saw only now, and now it's time to choose my favorites. These will be: 1. Trail of the Falcon. 1968 - who discovered this series for me 2. Brotherhood by blood. 1975 - for excellent music and nature 3. Severino. 1978 - for the peace-loving Goiko Mitic and excellent music. For myself, I decided to watch the series "Archive of Death" in 1980, where Goiko Mitic plays a Soviet intelligence officer, because I want to look at him not only as an Indian. I am glad that I was able to get acquainted and refresh in my memory this series of westerns, which are in no way inferior to Western ones, and rightfully occupy their high place in the history of world cinema. As a result, we have a good western with the inimitable Gojko Mitic, excellent script, atmospheric music, great nature and great acting work.