Friday, July 3, 2020

50th Anniversary of the premier of “Fatal Error”


Today marks the 50th anniversary of the premier of the DEFA western “Fatal Error” in East Berlin, Germany. The film starred Gojko Mitic as Shaved Head and Armin Mueller-Stahl as Chris Howard. Directed by Konrad Petzold the film begins at the end of the 19th century, the Wyoming Oil Company has established a location in the vicinity of Wind River City at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where they have been illegally pumping oil from Indian territory. One of the company's greedy agents, Mike Allison, kicks out both his white partners and the Indians. He has his some of his associates secretly murdered and blames it on the Indians, who are then killed when they get in the way of his plans. Five chiefs with lifelong shares in the Oil Company die mysteriously as a result. The young chief Shave Head asks his a half-blood brother Chris Howard for help. Chris assumes the post of deputy sheriff and tries to expose Allison and the murderers. When a representative of the Oil Company turns up in Wind River City and exposes Allison's plot, the white inhabitants begin to take sides. Allison does his utmost to defend himself and finally has the oil camp set on fire, passing it off as an act of revenge perpetrated by the Indians. The Indians are helpless against this accusation and Howard must pay for it with his life.


Tödlicher Irrtum - German title
Halálos tévedés - Hungarian title
Blago Indiajanskog Reservata - Yugoslavian title
Fatal Error - English title

A 1969 East German production [DEFA (Potsdam-Babelsburg)]
Producer: Bernd Gerwin
Director: Konrad Petzold
Story: Hans Joachim Wallstein
Screenplay: Günter Karl, Rolf Römer
Cinematography: Eberhard Borkmann [Orwocolor, Totalvision]
Music: Wilhelm Neef
Running time: 103 minutes

Cast:
Shaved Head - Gojko Mitic
Chris Howard - Armin Mueller-Stahl
Caroline - Annekathrin Bürger (Annekathrin Rammelt)
Jessebee - Krystyna Mikolajewska
White Leaf - Kati Bus
Allison - Rolf Hoppe
Lee Garrett - Hannjo Hasse
Hank Jackson - Bruno O’Ya (Bruno Oja)
Ben - Gerry Wolff (Gerald Wolff)
McLaurin - Bruno Carstens
Ten Eyck - Stefan Lisewski
Kid Kearny - Rolf Erik Ludwig (Alfred Hoffmann)
Mitch Chandler - Hans Klering
Parker - Hartmut Beer
Bull Head - Mario Marathon
Reynolds - Wilhelm Koch-Hooge
Clifford - Horst Kube
Elmer Guinnes - Werner Röwekamp
Small Eagle - Ricardo Blanco
Scott - Sepp Klose (Josef Klose)
Bill Kane - Bodo Schmidt
Carriage dealer - Nico Turoff (Nikoal Turow)
Townsmen - Günter Berger, Harald Moszdorf, Konrad Petzold
Saloon girl - Ingrid Föhr
Frau - Hildegard Friese
Doctor - Marquard Grundig
Schreiber - Alfred Lux
Burness - Rudolf Napp
Schwarzfels - Djordje Popovic
Black Tomahawk - Slobodan Velimirovic
Hawk-Man - Ferdynand Wójcik


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