Rent The Sons of Great Bear (1966)
3.0 of 5 from 47 ratings
1h 31min
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
By the mid-1960s, Westerns had become extremely popular in West Germany due to a series of films adapted from the novels of Karl May. In response, DEFA - the state-operated studio of East Germany or the GDR - made its own film set in the Old West. But 'The Sons of Great Bear' wasn't just designed to compete with West German genre films - it was also intended as a pointed corrective to the American frontier myth, pitting its Native American protagonists against violent white settlers in a battle for survival. Adapted from Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich's book series of the same name, 'The Sons of Great Bear' stars Gojko Mitic as Tokei-Ihto, a Native American warrior belonging to a Dakota tribe. As a young man, Tokei-Ihto witnesses his father's murder at the hands of Jim Fred Clark (Jirí Vrstála), alias Red Fox, a scout who suspects there is gold to be found on the Dakota lands. Later, Tokei-Ihto is forced to defend his people from Red Fox as he tries to take possession of the gold by any means necessary. Followed by the likes of 'The Falcon's Trail', 'Ulzana', 'Blood Brothers' and 'Severino', 'The Sons of Great Bear' made a star of Gojko Mitic and launched an entire series of Westerns at DEFA, known in East Germany as Indianerfilme and historically nicknamed 'Red Westerns' due to their socialist politics. - Actors:
- Gojko Mitic, Jirí Vrstála, Rolf Römer, Hans Hardt-Hardtloff, Gerhard Rachold, Horst Jonischkan, Jozef Majercík, Jozef Adamovic, Milan Jablonský, Hannjo Hasse, Helmut Schreiber, Jozo Lepetic, Rolf Ripperger, Brigitte Krause, Karin Beewen, Ruth Kommerell, Kati Székely, Zofia Slaboszowska, Slobodanka Markovic, Hans Finohr
- Directors:
- Josef Mach
- Producers:
- Hans Mahlich
- Voiced By:
- Dietmar Richter-Reinick, Werner Schulz-Wittan, Heinz Suhr, Gerry Wolff
- Writers:
- Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich
- Aka:
- Die Söhne der großen Bärin
- Genres:
- Action & Adventure, Classics
- BBFC:
- Release Date:
- 21/07/2025
- Run Time:
- 91 minutes
- Languages:
- English LPCM Stereo, German LPCM Stereo
- Subtitles:
- English
- Formats:
- Pal
- Aspect Ratio:
- Widescreen 2.35:1
- Colour:
- Colour
- BLU-RAY Regions:
- B
- Bonus:
- New audio commentary by Western scholar Jenny Barrett
- World Wide West - new discussion of 'The Sons of Great Bear' in a global context with Austin Fisher, author of Radical Frontiers in the Spaghetti Western
- Homelands - new video essay on the depiction of Native American life in 'The Sons of Great Bear' by Lee Broughton, author of 'The Euro-Western'
- The Eyewitness 42/1965 - archival newsreel featuring a report on the making of DEFA's first Western and an Interview with Director Josef Mach
- New Masters of Cinema trailer
- Original theatrical trailer
