The Sons of the Great Mother Bear, or Die Söhne der großen Bärin was a German language Red Western of 1966.

It was the first of a series of successful Westerns from the GDR DEFA Studios, featuring Native Americans as the heroes, rather than white settlers as in John Ford's Westerns.

Yugoslavian sports teacher Gojko Mitic took the lead role, effectively launching his career. He plays the young chief Tokei-itho of the Dakota tribe who have been driven from their reservation by corrupt, sadistic and self-serving invaders.

Plot

Although the Indians are assured by contract of their land in the Black Hills, the white settlers still want to lay their hands on it, due to the recent discovery of gold. The melodramatic villain, Red Fox (named in English in the original) demands that Mattotaupa, chief of the Bear's tribe reveal the location of the cave with the gold. When Mattotaupa refuses, Red Fox stabs him in front of his son Tokei-itho.

When Lieutenant Roach orders Tokei-itho to come to Fort Smith for 'negotiations', Tokei-itho suspects an ambush. He refuses to move the tribe to an infertile area away from their reservation and so the tribe is forcibly moved by the American army from the land of their forefathers and the young chief incarcerated. On his release Tokei-itho learns of the murder of Tashunka-witko, another tribesman.

Finally, the Indians are forced to cross the River Missouri over the Border into Canada in the hope of a better life. But while they are crossing the river, Tokei-itho must deal with his mortal enemy Red Fox, the murderer of his father, and settle the score.

It is notable that the film does not completely equate evil characters with white settlers and good ones with Natives: early in the film, one of the older military men at Fort Smith is actually quite sympathetic to them, and the white predators led by Red Fox also have Indian trackers from another tribe. Red Fox himself got his name from a native initiation, and by trying to pass himself off as a semi-Indian/native gets what he wants.

External links

• The Sons of the Great Mother Bear (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061057/) at the Internet Movie Database