Unter Geiern (1964)

The Euro-Western Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) is based on one of the Winnetou novels by Karl May. It starred Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, Elke Sommer, Götz George and Pierre Brice as Winnetou. Unter Geiern, released in the US as Frontier Hellcat, was a co-production between West Germany, France, Italy, and Yugoslavia, and was shot in Germany and Yugoslavia.


German postcard, no. 1 (of 64). Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: After a warm farewell of his wife and daughter, farmer Baumann (Walter Barnes), called 'the bear hunter', rides with his son Martin (Götz George) to the bear hunt.


German postcard, no. 2. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice as Winnetou in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Traces of torn lambs lead Baumann and his friend Winnetou, who has joined the hunt, directly to the cave of the bear. In a bold fight, the monster is killed.


German postcard, no. 3. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice as Winnetou in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Shots rip the silence of the valley. Five white riders are pursued by Indians. One of them falls off his horse, but Winnetou does not know the dead.


German postcard, no. 4. Photo: Constantin. Götz George and Walter BarnesUnter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Clouds of smoke in the direction of the Baumann Ranch herald disaster. From a horrible foreboding seized, the three hunters ride at a furious gallop back to the farm.


German postcard, no. 6. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman and Milan Srdoc (a.k.a. Paddy Fox) as Old Wabble in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: At the same time, Annie, the daughter of a wealthy diamond merchant, is on the way to Arizona with a money-load. She is accompanied through the by the Vultures dominated ravine by the droll Old Wabble.


German postcard, no. 10. Photo: Constantin. Gojko Mitic, Stewart Granger and Pierre Brice in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Winnetou has watched the raid from a hill. Everyone agrees that it can only be the infamous Vultures gang. Wokadeh should also be eliminated because he knew too much of the bandit raid on Baumann's Ranch.


German postcard, no. 11. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: When she arrives at Baumann's farm, Annie, who can ride and shoot like a sheriff, becomes a young girl again. In her room, she hides the money she carried on her body during the journey under the mattress.


German postcard, no. 13. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The watchful Annie secretly observes the vulture Weller, who has crept as a Mormon preacher on Baumann's farm. Allegedly, he is supposed to look after the diamond trek to Arizona. By a flippant remark from Old Wabble, he learns of Annie's treasure.


German postcard, no. 14. Photo: Constantin. Stewart Granger in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: When an officer soon appears and reports that the governor has decided to escort the settlers' trek through the vulture territory with a squadron, Old Surehand also becomes alert.


German postcard, no. 15. Photo: Constantin. Götz George (left) and Miha Baloh (right) in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: It does not escape Annie's eyes, that the officer hands a note to the 'preacher'. Old Surehand recognizes a Vulture member in him. In the resulting fight, the fake soldier is killed, but the preacher can escape unnoticed.

Old Surehand

Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) was the fourth in the series of 1960s European Westerns based on Karl May's Winnetou character.

For the first time, Stewart Granger stars as Old Surehand, although in Karl May's novel Old Shatterhand occurs as the main character. As 'Surehand', his hand is so sure that he can split an arrow aimed at him with a bullet in mid-air! Even Robin Hood would have been flabbergasted.

So Granger took over from Lex Barker as Winnetou's white 'blood brother', although his age and stature did not resemble those of Karl May's character. In the books, Surehand is a man with a troubled past, a tormented soul seeking redemption. But the Old Surehand played by Granger is, on the contrary, quite a jolly good fellow, who’s wearing Sunday trousers under buckskin.

The female lead role was played by Elke Sommer, and co-producer Artur Brauner asked Pierre Brice to return as Apache Chief Winnetou.

The young Mario Girotti, now better known as Terence Hill, played a supporting part as Baker Jr and the Romanian Gojko Mitic played the Indian Wokadeh. In the following years, Mitic became one of the most beloved film stars of Eastern Europe as an Indian rebel in several Defa Westerns.

In Unter Geiern/Among Vultures, the experienced trapper Old Surehand and Winnetou investigate the murders of a frontier mother and daughter in Llano Estacado, a border area to New Mexico and Texas. The surviving husband, farmer Baumann, believes that his wife and daughter were murdered by Indians of the Shoshone tribe, but Old Surehand suspects that it is the work of a gang of bandits known as 'The Vultures' (in German Die Geier), who disguise themselves as Indians while committing their crimes.

When attractive Annie (Elke Sommer), who was to deliver precious diamonds to Baumann, is kidnapped by the Vultures, Winnetou, Old Surehand and their friend Old Wabble pursue the gang. Meanwhile, the young Martin Baumann (Götz George) tries to free Annie.


German postcard, no. 16. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman, Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr., Milan Srdoc as Old Wabble, Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, and Walter Barnes as Martin Bauman Sr. in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: On the note that the 'preacher' has forgotten in a hurry, is written that the Vultures are planning another robbery. Baumann, shaken out of his grief by these incidents, sets off with Old Surerhand, Old Wabble, and his servants to warn the trek.


German postcard, no. 17. Photo: Constantin. Dunja Rajter as Betsy and Sieghardt Rupp as Preston (second from right) in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: In an abandoned gold-mining town lies the headquarters of the Vulture gang. Their boss is called Preston. The individual gang members have just received their orders on how to sneak into the trek in order to lure it into an ambush.


German postcard, no. 18. Photo: Constantin. Renato Baldini in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Judge Leader and his companions fall for the hypocritical suggestion of some gang members to confide in their leadership. This is how Leader gets into the vultures' quarters.


German postcard, no. 20. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The adventurous Annie would have liked to be there. While Martin is at work, two vultures are chasing in a wild gallop. Annie still does not know what will be imminent in the next few minutes.


German postcard, no. 23. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Bravely, Annie defends herself against the bandits who surround her on all sides. She is locked up in a room on the first floor. In vain she tries to explain to the vultures that she does not carry the money at all.


German postcard, no. 24. Photo: Constantin. Götz George as Martin in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: In the meantime, Martin has also reached the vulture's quarters. To gain their trust, he pretends to be a horse thief. Unfortunately, this ruse fails and he is overpowered by the vultures.


German postcard, no. 26. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: At the last moment Winnetou, who has observed the incident, intervenes. His shot into a powder box causes a violent explosion, which creates the intended chaos among the vultures.


German postcard, no. 27. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman and Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr. in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Martin and Annie can escape. Winnetou advises Martin to seek his father and warn him against the Shoshone, as Wokadeh has sworn revenge.


German postcard, no. 28. Photo: Constantin. Stewart Granger in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Old Surehand and his companion are followed on the way to trek by Shoshone. With his famous 'safe hands' Old Surehand makes an Indian incapacitating. But Baumann is kidnapped and taken to the camp of Shoshone.


German postcard, no. 29. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Old Surehand does everything in his power to free Baumann from his dangerous situation. To his delight, he also discovers his friend Winnetou in the camp of the Shoshone, who has tried in vain to dissuade Wakadeh from his act of revenge.


German postcard, no. 30. Photo: Constantin. Stewart Granger in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Old Surehand, who has communicated with Winnetou by sign, waits for midnight under the shelter of the rock. Then Wokadeh takes over the wake in the tent - that is the moment when Old Surehand must act.


German postcard, no. 31. Photo: Constantin. Stewart Granger as Old Surehand and Gojko Mitic as Wokadeh in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The bound Baumann sits opposite the dead chief as Wokadeh takes over the guard. Old Surehand silently approaches the tent, overpowers the sentry, binds Wokadeh, and kidnaps him.


German postcard, no. 32. Photo: Constantin. Walter Barnes as Baumann in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: In panic, Baumann tugs at his shackles. When he recognises Old Surehand, he gains new hope.


German postcard, no. 34. Photo: Constantin. Scene from Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Unlucky Old Wabble, believing Old Surehand to be in danger, sneaks into the Indian camp with two servants and is overpowered.


German postcard, no. 37. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Stewart Granger. Caption: Only Old Surehand's arms are free for his rifle that he can use to ward off the arrows, but may not use for shooting. With cunning and great skill, Old Surehand defends his skin. None of the arrows hits.


German postcard, no. 38. Photo: Constantin. Stewart Granger as Old Surehand and Gojko Mitic in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: God's judgement has spoken: Old Surehand is free and hurries to the trek.


German postcard, no. 39. Photo: Constantin. Scene from Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: To shorten the way to the trek, the vultures ride through the 'Valley of Death', where the chiefs of the Shoshone are laid out. They destroy everything in their path.

German postcard, no. 40. Photo: Constantin. Gojko Mitic and Pierre Brice in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Wokadeh and his warriors, the chief at Winnetou's side, ride into the 'valley of death' to bury Oitka-Peteh. The valley is a place of Desolation. Wokadeh now recognizes the true bandits, he lets Baumann free and promises Winnetou to help in the hunt for the Vultures.


German postcard, no. 41. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer as Annie Dillman and Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr. in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: From a hill, Annie and Martin watch the settlers' camp. They do not know yet that several members of the vulture gang have crept unnoticed in the trek.


German postcard, no. 42. Photo: Constantin. Renato Baldini, Götz George, and Miha Baloh in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: When Martin wants to warn the trek about the vultures, the fake priest also shows up and accuses Martin of stealing horses. Judge Leader pronounces sentence on Martin.


German postcard, no. 43 (of 64). Photo: Constantin / Rialto. Götz George as Martin in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: All too glad, the vultures are ready to hang Martin.


German postcard, no. 44. Photo: Constantin. Elke Sommer and Miha Baloh in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: At the last moment Annie intervenes. In front of everyone, she reports that the "preacher" is really the vulture Weller and a murderer. Her firm and determined manner makes even Judge Leader doubt Martin's guilt.


German postcard, no. 45. Photo: Rialto. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures(Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Some settlers, who have also become suspicious, hold Weller in check. They decide to keep an eye on both Martin and the Vulture.


German postcard, no. 46. Photo: Constantin. Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr., Stewart Granger as Old Surehand, and Mario Girotti in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Old Surehand reaches the trek in time to warn them of the ambush by the band of vultures. The trek elder agrees to overpower the vulture members who have smuggled themselves into the trek.


German postcard, no. 48. Photo: Constantin. Götz George as Martin Bauman Jr. and Stewart Granger as Old Surehand in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: At this moment Old Surehand grabs hold: with cunning and hard fists the three vultures are overpowered. They are tied up and taken along in the wagon train.


German postcard, no. 49. Photo: Constantin. Götz George, Walter Barnes, Renato Baldini and Stewart Granger in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Father Baumann has also joined the trek in the meantime. Together with Old Surehand, he is finally able to convince Judge Leader that Martin is innocent. A ruse is used to postpone the vulture attack until the next day when Winnetou comes to the rescue with the Shosones.


German postcard, no. 50. Photo: Constantin. Mila Baloh and Stewart Granger in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Old Surehand forces Weller to tell the gang that, due to military reinforcements, the vultures are not to attack the trek at night but only at dawn.


German postcard, no. 52. Photo: Constantin. Scene from Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: At dawn, the vultures attack with torches and in great numbers. Although the trek was well prepared, there are many dead and wounded. Soon the settlers run out of ammunition. The situation becomes threatening.


German postcard, no. 53. Photo: Constantin. Scene from Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The trek can hardly defend itself against the attacks of the vultures. But at the last minute, Winnetou rushes to the rescue with the Shoshones. The leader of the vultures and some bandits are put to flight.


German postcard, no. 54. Photo: Constantin. Miha Baloh in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The false preacher Weller also flees in the general turmoil of battle and is able to save himself in the nearby mountains with the remaining vultures.


German postcard, no. 56. Photo: Constantin. Götz George as Martin in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: In a hard fight man against man, Martin is finally overpowered by the vultures and used as a hostage by them.


German postcard, no. 57. Photo: Constantin. At right, Sieghardt Rupp as Preston in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Preston, the boss of the Vultures, calls Old Surehand to come alone in Felsental (Rocky Valley) to rescue Martin.


German postcard, no. 60. Photo: Constantin. Pierre Brice as Winnetou and Miha Baloh as Weller in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Weller cannot escape his fate either. He is recognised as a long-sought thief and murderer. When the jewellery of the murdered Mrs. Baumann is found in his possession, Father Baumann is shocked to realise that Winnetou was right.


German postcard, no. 61. Photo: Constantin. Stewart Granger and Pierre Brice in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: The battle, which has claimed many victims on the side of the settlers and traders, is over. Old Surehand says goodbye to his friend Winnetou, who has helped him more than once.


German postcard, no. 62 (of 64). Photo: Constantin. Scene from Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964). Caption: Old Surehand keeps the promise he made to Judge Leader, who was mortally wounded in the fight: He will bring the trek safely through the rocky mountains to Arizona.

Breathtaking cinematography

The first Karl May Western, Der Schatz im Silbersee/Treasure of Silver Lake (Harald Reinl, 1962) had been the most successful German film of the 1962/1963 season.

Director Harald Reinl and producer Horst Wendlandt then created a series of Euro-Westerns, all based on the novels by Karl May. Their next film, Winnetou - 1. Teil/Apache Gold (Harald Reinl, 1963) was in fact a prequel to Der Schatz im Silbersee which introduced Apache chief Winnetou and told how he met Old Shatterhand.

The script of Unter Geiern combines elements from two different Karl May novels, but Old Surehand appears in neither of them. The reason for this is quite prosaic: originally Lex Barker, who had played Old Shatterhand in the first two films, would appear once again as Old Shatterhand alongside Pierre Brice, in a film called Winnetou und der Bärenjäger/Winnetou and the Bear Hunter, but Wendlandt thought Stewart Granger was a big catch and asked his screenwriters to rework the entire script and write Granger/Old Surehand into it.

Most critics decided that Unter Geiern could not hold a candle to the earlier Karl May films. The chemistry between Pierre Brice and Stewart Granger did not quite match that of Brice and Lex Barker.

At IMDb, reviewer Henri Sauvage, writes: "cinematography is occasionally breathtaking. (If possible, you should try to catch this in letterbox format, just for the gorgeous scenery.) The action sequences come off fairly well, too, and the bad guys are appropriately villainous."

Scherpschutter in his review at the Spaghetti Western Database: "Loyal fans of the series often call this one of the better entries. I can only partially agree. The film was aimed at a slightly more mature audience than the previous movies. The slaughter of the Baumann family (although not shown) is quite shocking, and the shootout near the end between the Vultures and the settlers is remarkably violent. But the bulk of the movie is the usual heroic Karl May stuff, with Old Surehand put to a survival test by the Shoshones, and Winnetou leading the Indian braves in true cavalry style to the aid of the settlers when all seems lost. And then there’s Stewart Granger… Reportedly Granger was paid $ 75.000 for the part, which makes him the best-paid actor of the series, and he virtually directed his own scenes. He had completely different ideas about the movie than most other people on the set, and his approach led to a rather incongruous movie, with a dramatic storyline of a young man, Martin Baumann, seeking the murderers of his family members, and a lot of funny and would-be funny scenes – featuring Surehand - thrown in."

Unter Geiern was a success in the German cinemas and was awarded the Goldene Leinwand (Golden Screen) for more than 3 million visitors in a year. The Karl May series was to be continued...


German postcard by ISV, no. C 3. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Stewart Granger as Old Surehand.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 4. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Stewart Granger as Old Surehand.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 5. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Gojko Mitic, Stewart Granger, and Pierre Brice.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 8. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer and Stewart Granger.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 9. Photo: Rialto / Constantin. Pierre Brice, Götz George and Walter Barnes in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964).

German postcard by ISV, no. C 11. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Stewart Granger and Götz George.

German postcard by ISV, no. C 13. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Elke Sommer and Götz George.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 16. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Götz George.


German postcard by ISV, no. C 20. Photo: Constantin. Publicity still for Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964) with Götz George.


German postcard. Photo: Elke Sommer, Götz George and Stewart Granger in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964).


German collectors card. Photo: Constantin / Rialto. Götz George in Unter Geiern/Among Vultures (Alfred Vohrer, 1964).

Sources: Scherpschutter (Spaghettiwestern.net), Spaghettiwestern.net, Wikipedia (English and German), and IMDb.