The White Buffalo

This is what-were-they-thinking bad, but sorta enjoyable if you can acclimate

Wild Bill Hickok (Charles Bronson) is haunted by nightmares involving a legendary white buffalo and so travels to the Black Hills region to hunt the creature with his old geezer pardner (Jack Warden). The problem is Crazy Horse (Will Sampson) is seeking vengeance on the beast for killing his daughter. Meanwhile Clint Walker appears as a heavy.

"The White Buffalo" was ready for release by 1976, but was withheld for over a year before being dumped into the general-circulation market. Based on a 1975 book, Director J. Lee Thompson described it as Moby Dick of the West. There’s also a “Jaws” (1975) angle with the three guys teaming up to find and slay the beast.

The wintery outdoor locations are wonderful and the cast is great, also including notables Kim Novak, Stuart Whitman, Slim Pickens, Ed Lauter and John Carradine. I also appreciate the sensitive story of Wild Bill and the great chief Crazy Horse overcoming prejudice to discover common ground and friendship of sorts. In addition, there’s some profound explorations of finding yourself, seeking your destiny, ridding yourself of fears to become more human.

Regrettably, the indoor sets are too artificial and the bison animatronics leave a lot to be desired, resembling a giant shaggy toy, but I guess producers had limited options in the pre-CGI era, especially if they lacked the necessary funds. These elements plus the comic book vibe will leave you wondering “What were they thinking?” The white bison’s godawful attack on the Oglala camp is Exhibit A. Another glaring issue is that not enough backstory is given for Hickok’s nightmares that would provoke him to suddenly wake-up all guns blazing and travel to some remote area to slay this legendary beast (I’m assuming such scenes were cut).

But, if you can adjust, there’s a lot to enjoy here. It’s basically a cult Western — bad, for sure, but somehow entertaining and profound, IF you can adapt to its peculiarities.

The film runs 1 hours, 37 minutes, and was shot partially in the studio & Bronson Canyon, Los Angeles, but also in Colorado, Arizona & New Mexico.

GRADE: C