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Chato's Land

PG 1972 1h 50m Western List
Reviews 57% Audience Score 1,000+ Ratings
Half-Apache Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson) finds himself in a bar fight with a bigoted sheriff and kills the man to save his own life. The locals won't accept this defense, though, and angry Civil War veteran Quincey Whitmore (Jack Palance) rounds up a gang of toughs to track down Chato, who is forced to flee the scene. But when the posse finds Chato's family and brutalizes them, the escapee decides it's time to stop running and start taking revenge on the lynch mob. Read More Read Less
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Chato's Land

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Critics Reviews

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Matt Brunson Film Frenzy A brutal Western whose revenge angle almost makes the one in The Revenant seem as inconsequential as a typical one-upmanship tiff between Archie Andrews and Reggie Mantle. Rated: 3/4 Nov 21, 2021 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jelisije J An underrated gem of a film starring Charles Bronson as a half Indian seeking revenge on a group of white men who seek to hang him for a killing he made in self defense. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 10/18/23 Full Review Audience Member Clear message in a simple plot, but well made film, where the music gives the total an extra push. Basic clue is - don't be a bunsh of ignorant, bloodthirsty rednecks and mess with one who knows the land like a Mescalero Apache. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review laurent b Very good suspense, and nice cinematography. It's all about racism, and revenge. I think it is one of the best character that Jack Palance has played, a very attaching one. Bronson is awesome. An absolute must-see. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member After shooting the racist sheriff in self-defense, Apache Chato (Charles Bronson) heads back home, far away from the affairs of the white men. However, former Confederate Captain Quincey Whitmore (Jack Palance) has put back on his uniform and brought together former soldiers demoralized by the end of the war — look at what year this movie came out and you can see what this movie really is saying — and begins hunting down Chato, who much like the Vietcong knows the land better and is fighting for his family, not for pride or because he's been peer pressured. That means he kills every single one of them. Also, this is when you realize that Michael Winner directed this movie, because not only do four of the posse — Elias (Ralph Waite), Earl (Richard Jordan), Hall (Victor French) and Lansing (William Watson) — gang rape and leave Chato's wife for dead, they also string up his best friend and set him on fire. Yes, Michael Winner, the man who brings you the patriarch of The Waltons assaulting a woman. The first victim afterward is Earl, who is obsessed with Chato's wife. Like a slasher villain, Bronson's character dispatches the men one after the other and leaves their bodies to be found. He's gone full Apache, no longer wearing the clothes of the Europeans and the men begin to turn on one another, even killing Whitmore, who has long become disgusted by their actions. Still, the odds are against Bronson. Then again, that's usually how it is. The first of six movies that Winner would make with Bronson, this was shot on some of the same Spanish sets as Once Upon a Time in the West. Winter would say, in the book Bronson's Loose, that this was the only of their films that Bronson enjoyed watching. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review dustin d Chato's Land is a well-made Western that only suffers in comparison to other "revisionist" Westerns of its day. Even without the context this was a veiled parable about the Vietnam War, the film stands up on its own. Chato (Charles Bronson, Death Wish 3) is more of a force of nature than a three-dimensional character. The character drama and arguments revolve around the men out to track him, whom he picks off one by one. The violence is gritty, and the photography is beautiful. (It appears to me the lower user ratings are coming from those who judge it harshly because a 50-year-old movie, which was progressive for its time, doesn't pass today's political purity test.) Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member It's funny, especially with Bronson in the lead, this plays a lot like a Western Death Wish. It's a little more refreshing though, as it deals with race issues on top of everything else. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/06/20 Full Review Read all reviews
Chato's Land

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Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis Half-Apache Pardon Chato (Charles Bronson) finds himself in a bar fight with a bigoted sheriff and kills the man to save his own life. The locals won't accept this defense, though, and angry Civil War veteran Quincey Whitmore (Jack Palance) rounds up a gang of toughs to track down Chato, who is forced to flee the scene. But when the posse finds Chato's family and brutalizes them, the escapee decides it's time to stop running and start taking revenge on the lynch mob.
Director
Michael Winner
Producer
Michael Winner
Screenwriter
Gerald Wilson
Production Co
Scimitar Productions
Rating
PG
Genre
Western
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Sep 16, 2008
Runtime
1h 50m
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