Communist Cowboys
The Eastern Bloc’s “Ostern” filmmaking turned the mythology of the American Western on its head.
Between the 1960s and 1980s, the state-owned East German film studio DEFA produced 12 “Red Westerns,” so called for their socialist spin on the quintessential American genre. Known in their time as “Indianerfilme,” these campy masterpieces were shot all over Yugoslavia and, with few exceptions, starred the Serbian athlete Gojko Mitić as a heroic Native American chief resisting imperial exploitation as manifest in the figure of the cowboy.
The Sons of Great Bear (Die Söhne der großen Bärin)
Dakota leader Tokhei-ihto defends his lands against gold-seeking white settlers, including the cruel Red Fox, who murdered Tokhei-ihto’s father. Tokhei-ihto emerges victorious, killing Red Fox and his band of evil settlers and guiding the Dakota tribe to safety across the river.
What would John Wayne say? “Wait a second. Are these the hills of Yugoslavia?” Yes, John, they are!
How “right” did they get it? They really make Yugoslavia look like New Jersey.
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