UNLIMITED STREAMING
WITH PRIME VIDEO
TRY 30-DAY TRIAL
Home > Western >

Captain Apache

Captain Apache (1971)

October. 27,1971
|
4.7
|
PG
| Western

An Indian discovers plans to assassinate the president when he was investigating another murder.

...

Watch Trailer

Cast

Similar titles

Reviews

Scanialara
1971/10/27

You won't be disappointed!

More
SunnyHello
1971/10/28

Nice effects though.

More
Erica Derrick
1971/10/29

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

More
Josephina
1971/10/30

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

More
Coventry
1971/10/31

At first when accidentally stumbling upon "Captain Apache" on late night TV and knowing absolutely nothing about it, I derived it would be a story similar to the one told in "A Man Called Horse" (and thus also a predecessor to "Dances with Wolves") and revolving on a white man fighting alongside the oppressed Indians. What else do you expect from a film with a title like that? It quickly becomes obvious this isn't the case, and the titular Captain (the almighty Lee Van Cleef), is simply an eccentric loner but a genuine Indian. He works as an Army officer, but none of the white cowboy-machos respect him because he's a "Redass" and the Indians don't trust him because he does a white man's job. He even has to remove his uniform whilst talking to the Indians, resulting in a shameless and gratuitous naked Van Cleef scene. The whole movie searches for the meaning of the words "April Morning", and the dialogs in the script make damn sure you don't forget them as they're repeated approximately every 7,5 seconds. April and Morning were the last words of a dying officer and they are believed to have an important significance. Captain Apache investigates and quickly becomes entangled in a large-scaled conspiracy of Mexican gun smugglers, quality prostitutes, corrupt army commanders and … genuine witches! The plot is often needlessly convoluted and I easily admit I didn't bother to comprehend everything, especially because the basic premise is rudimentary simple and actually gets revealed already in the two-line plot synopsis here on this site. How absurd is that? Throughout the whole film the words "April Morning" bathes in an aura of mystery and their meaning is successfully kept secret until five minutes before the ending, yet around here the whole film is bluntly summarized in two sentences. "Captain Apache" is overall very forgettable, but it does feature a couple of brilliantly comical moments (Van Cleef's drinking contest with the freaky twin bodyguards or his acid trip inside the witches' cavern), some decent shootouts and – not to forget – two songs sung by no less than Lee Van Cleef himself. This is the only time Lee was ever credited as a singer and that trivia aspect alone makes "Captain Apache" a curious must-see for fans of Euro-westerns. The presence of cult-siren Carroll Baker ("Baba Yaga", "Knife of Ice", "Bad", "Cyclone"…) as every male character's love interest is another good reason for avid cult fanatics to track down this nonetheless mediocre film.

More
marc-366
1971/11/01

"Ah aha aha ahaaaa - they call him Captain Apache"."Well any film that provides you with an opportunity to hear Lee Van Cleef singing not just once, but twice has got to be worth a viewing" I thought to myself. "I'm sure it can't be as bad as I've been told". Well in truth it IS that bad. But it doesn't make it unwatchable! Lee Van Cleef plays an Apache Captain within the Army that is sent to investigate the murder of a Commissioner, and discover the meaning of the dying man's last words "April Morning".It plays like a murder mystery in a western setting, with numerous characters introduced throughout that appear to have heard the phrase "April Morning", but are either attempting to solve the riddle themselves, or are shot before they can speak. These include gunrunner Griffin (Stuart Whitman), the blonde temptress Maude (Caroll Baker) and the equally teasing Rosita (Elisa Montes). And from a plot perspective, that is pretty much it (well, without solving the mystery that is!). Yes, it sounds very simple, but in actual fact the story is quite convoluted.The soundtrack is hysterical - the title track in particular being so bad that you just love it - with Lee Van Cleef narrating to a tune so catchy that it would put professional purveyors of pop to shame! And you still get his rendition "April Morning" at the end of the film to look forward to. Whilst it is quite poor Spaghetti Western fare, and a perfect example of the deterioration of the genre during the seventies, it does have three main factors that make it quite watchable : 1 - Lee Van Cleef himself - although this is a real LVC by numbers effort, the man has a screen presence that can rescue even the worst of films.2 - The afore-mentioned theme tune.3 - Caroll Baker and Elisa Montes (thats just the male hormones working! And anyway ladies, you get the bonus of a near naked Lee Van Cleef, so no accusing me of gawping!).Aside from this, there are some really good moments (Captain Apache insulting the two twins, the death of the Mexican General (played by Jose Bodalo) and a handful of other scenes that I chuckled at at the time but have since left my mind). At times the editing between scenes was quite poor (at one point jumping from Captain Apache in bed with Maude, to them discovering the hanging body of the key witness). Well hung! Don't let me put you off watching it, because it is an example of a film being so bad its good. I would never have imagined however that Lee Van Cleef crooning would be the highlight of a film!

More
flask
1971/11/02

"Captain Apache" is indeed a hidden cult classic of the 1970s. As other reviewers have written, the overall lasting impression of the film is that it is too hilariously amusing to deem irredeemably bad. It's like a ten cent roller-coaster ride: pointless, but fun. This "unique" film begins with a summarizing montage of the entire story. As this montage is seen, we hear an utterly cheesy, yet incredibly addicting title song -- "They call him Captain Apache!" -- a wacky combination of Western rawhide chorusing and 1960s guitar mayhem. Upon watching this cinematic opening, the viewer instantly realizes two key things: 1. this movie is going to be very bad and 2. this movie is going to be a lot of fun.The plot, what little there is, pertains to a U.S. cavalry scout called Captain Apache searching the American West for the meaning of the two words: "April Morning." This eventually, and let me re-emphasize that "eventually," leads him to discover -- spoiler warning -- a "plot" to assassinate the U.S. President.Entire segments of this film seem unnecessary and are merely thrown in for increasing the on-screen action. On the upside, nearly everything unfolds at a break-neck speed in the subtle form of ten-minute long episodes. As a result, this fast-pace helps hide the non-existent storyline and the viewer need only remember that Captain Apache has... a "red ass." :)And, yes, I will confess: I liked "Captain Apache." :P

More
Elliot James
1971/11/03

One of my favorite Van Cleef spaghetti westerns--more TV-show in look than a feature film and Van Cleef goes against type. I'm not surprised that everyone here dislikes it. The movie is definitely an acquired taste. I saw it during its theatrical run and wish I could find a decent print on DVD. TNT used to run it, I hope the western channel airs it someday. The very funny script is a non-stop barrage of one-liners but played so totally straight and dry by everyone, Van Cleef, Whitman, Carroll Baker, that it works. I've read that the cast had a good time making Apache. The twanging guitar soundtrack is terrific--totally unlike the music composed for most Euro-westerns. I'd love to buy the soundtrack CD.

More