The White Buffalo

The support apparatus for the mechanical buffalo is clearly visible during some charging scenes.

Throughout the movie, Charles Bronson's character switches between Colt Single Action revolvers and double action revolvers of modern design.

Charles Bronson plays real life figure Wild Bill Hickok, who in this story is suffering from nightmares where he is confronted by a huge(and charging) white buffalo. Bothered by these nightmares that even have him awakening shooting his guns in the air(!

Charles Bronson at the time of the filming was a big big movie star and one thought this film would have been one of the better films of the era. J L Thompson of the Guns of Navarone etc, directs and maestro producer Dino De Laurentis produced this film shot on location in Colorado and other western areas.

In fact, "The White Buffalo" may on the surface appear to be just another Dino De Laurentiis production of the time like "King Kong" or "Orca", but it's rather intriguing and very moody. It's really an offbeat character study in which the character in question, none other than Wild Bill Hickock (Charles Bronson) has to face an internal demon of his by also doing battle with a real one, supposedly the last of the great white buffaloes that have mostly been wiped out.

"White Buffalo" is as unusual as it is great. The last hour hour or so of this movie is great stuff.

I though buffalos had hooves not casters from a settee!!!

Although I can't find any information on what the budget for White Buffalo was, I suspect that the Dino de Laurentiis Corporation provided a reasonable amount of money considering they were 1977 dollars. I mention this because the most typical comments state that the laughable buff effects were due to low budget constraints.

There is a feel of Moby Dick in this artsy western. Captain Wild Bill Hickok is haunted in his dream by a white whale, oops, I mean buffalo.

"It's not down on any map; true places never are." ― Herman MelvilleLee Thompson's "The White Buffalo" is a fine western undermined by a number of unnecessary dream sequences and poor special effects.

--- Spoilers ---So amazing was the mountain of dollars grossed by "Jaws" in 1975, that any producer in Hollywood was then hot to start any kind of project involving some monster creature, from bear to worms, from killer-whale to octopus. Actually, a giant buffalo didn't seem a silly idea, considering : it has even a kind of legitimacy in the Western mythology and Native American traditions.