Apache Woman (1976)

Better Late Then Never

A Masterpiece!

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

For decades, cinema depicted the Native American as a bloodthirsty savage, enemy of the heroic cowboy; then, in the 1970s, Hollywood developed a conscience, and tried to right wrongs with revisionist westerns in which Indians were seen as noble warriors defending their land from the scourge of the white man. Naturally, Italian exploitation cinema quickly followed suit...Apache Woman stars Al Cliver as Tommy, who is part of a cavalry detail under orders to drive wandering natives back to their reservation. As his fellow soldiers ride into an Apache village, Tommy is unseated and knocked unconscious; when he comes to, he discovers that a massacre has taken place, the only surviving Indian being a beautiful squaw (Clara Hopf). In the following days, Tommy and the woman rely on each other to survive in a land inhabited by ruthless outlaws and misguided folk who believe that the only good injun is a dead injun. Eventually, the couple fall in love, but can a white man truly find happiness with a redskin?Drawing inspiration from Soldier Blue (1970), writer/director Giorgio Mariuzzo makes his movie sympathetic to the plight of the indigenous people of America, but being an Italian film-maker, doesn't forget to include enough exploitative content to ensure an audience eager for basic thrills. The result is a gritty adventure that delivers drama, excitement, violence and nudity (Hopf baring all for her art), and yet is surprisingly emotionally engaging, making the downbeat ending quite the shocker.

APACHE WOMAN is a gritty Italian exploitation western that comes across as an obvious copy of the dark and downbeat US western SOLDIER BLUE. The film sees regular go-to guy Al Cliver as an old-fashioned soldier with a good heart who finds himself in possession of the titular character, an Apache as played by Clara Hopf who after a couple of film roles in the 1970s became a make-up artist. Short-term director Giorgio Mariuzzo is best known as the guy who later wrote Fulci's famous horror films including THE BEYOND.The two characters then work their way through an embittered and hostile landscape in which every supporting character is a sleazebag or criminal of some sort. Violence and degradation are the name of the game here and I found this a surprisingly suspenseful little movie in places, with the bursts of intermittent violence proving a shock to the system. Cliver is a good choice for lead and Hopf is sufficiently sympathetic. Although the version I watched managed to excise most of the nudity, APACHE WOMAN is still an exploitation film through and through, but one which overcomes clichés to offer engrossing, if gruelling, entertainment.

This Ravioli Western contains noisy action , shootouts , ravage , fighting , a love story , lots of blood and guts and a big deal of gratuitous violence . It deals with Tommy (Al Cliver), an innocent cavalry soldier and an Indian survive an attack , both of whom will have to pay a dear price for love and will find a lots of dangers . The Indians then seek revenge on the Blue soldiers accused of the attack , killing eye for an eye . In the meantime , Tommy falls in love for the beautiful Apache woman (Yara Kewa who spends 90 percent of the film partially naked) after rescuing her from an ominous gun smuggler and general supplies deliverer named Honest Jeremy (Corrado Olmi) ; but , a bit later on , gruesome violence ensues . As when Keith (Federico Boido or Rick Boyd) and his contemptible gang find Tommy , they kidnap The Apache Woman and rape her , but she puts up a brave fight against superior numbers . After that , another prospector captures and ties her ; then , she is subsequently freed . Along the way , many chases and fights ensue and the events gets worse . As the duo protagonists are drawn to a community of white people who are all racists , bigots , sleazebags, murderers and cutthroats .This is an exciting story with tragic results about two survivors of a cavalry attack that make their way back to an army outpost ; packing some good action , nasty characters , exploitation , rampage , nudism , but lots of dull spots . Gratuitously violent late Spaghetti-era Old Western hits hard on racial themes . This ¨Apache woman¨ has an anti-military message and dealing with hardship on racial themes by that time , as well as excessive brutality . As the main cast , Al Cliver and Clara Hopf or Yara Kewa are attacked and will have to face off deal of risks and taking on a cutthroat weapons smuggler , prospectors , revengeful Indians and a heinous family headed by a villainous preacher until a final massacre . The confrontation amongst the cavalry and the hapless Indians is thrilling and extremely violent . As the movie's central theme is the racism that ¨Apache woman¨ is subjected by a band of despicable people . ¨Una Donna Chiamata Apache" or "Apache Woman" results to be a rip-off on ¨Blue Soldier¨ by Ralph Nelson with Peter Strauss and Candice Bergen , this film was based on real deeds regarding ¨Sand Creek massacre¨ and with remembrance about Vietnam killings . Other films about this peculiar sub-genre about relationship between Indian-white man harassed by several enemies are the followings : ¨Scalps¨ (1987) by Bruno Mattei with Mapi Galán , Vassili Karis , Charlie Bravo , ¨Apache Kid¨ (1987) by Claudio Fragasso with Sebastian Harrison , Albert Farley , Lola Forner and ¨Cry for Me, Billy¨ (1972) by William A Graham with Cliff Potts , Maria Potts and Harry Dean Stanton . The highlights of the movie are , of course , the violent attacks , they result to be strong butcheries , real slaughters , including rape and gory scenes . The climax is really bleak and pessimistic . The tragic love between soldier and his Indian squaw is portrayed with little believability and delicacy . This so-so motion picture is classified ¨R¨ for the cruel murders and isn't apt for little boys , neither squeamish . It displays acceptable action sequences in low budget with rousing attacks , poor scenarios and spectacular struggles . Emotive musical score in Country style , including guitar sounds and catching song played by Judy Hill . This knock-off picture was regularly directed by Giorgio Mariuzzo , though he develops an extreme exploitation violence . Mariuzzo is an usual writer in several movies as "Fulci's The House by the Cemetery" , ¨The Beyond¨, "Contraband" , ¨Decameroticus¨ and directing three films only : ¨Orazi e Curiazi¨ , "Beautiful Like Us" and this ¨Apache woman¨ . This is 'a must see' for action-starved Indian Western buffs with strong graphic violence who will enjoy the action and hard themes , though being very mediocre .

"Apache Woman" is a low budget Italian rip-off based quite obviously on Ralph Nelson's "Soldier Blue", but it is not a bad movie. Al Cliver has hardly been in many better ones, and he stars as the soldier who is lost in the wilderness and tries to get back to his comrades. However, he falls in love with an Indian woman (Yara Kewa), the only survivor of a massacre, and that is a really complicated relationship! They don't trust each other, they don't understand a word of the other's language, but they can only survive together. Even though "Apache Woman" can't resist some nudity and brutality (director McRoots alias Mariuzzo is known for working with zombie expert Lucio Fulci), it has a lot of subtle moments, too, especially when the soldier and the woman have to communicate with nods and smiles. It fortunately takes the necessary time for a few peaceful moments and thus develops the characters a bit. So, more than you'd expect from the advertising and one of the better films from the end of the spaghetti western era, because it successfully imported elements of the depressive American post-western, when the Django avenger pose had become obsolete. (Note: I have watched the Italian language print, running 85 minutes. It seemed to have a few censorship cuts for violence.)