''Tecumseh'' is a 1972 East German

western film The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

directed by Hans Kratzert and starring

Gojko Mitić Gojko Mitić ( sr-Cyrl, Гојко Митић; born June 13, 1940) is a German-Serbian actor and director. He gained great popularity in the GDR as the leading actor in historical and fictional Indian personalities in numerous DEFA Indian films. ...

Annekathrin Bürger Annekathrin Bürger (born 1937) is a German stage, film and television actress. Bürger was a prominent actress in East Germany appearing in a number of films made by the state-run DEFA film studios as well as in television series such as ''Wolf ...

and

Rolf Römer Rolf Römer (1935–2000) was a German stage, television and film actor. Römer was a prominent actor of East Germany, appearing in a number of DEFA productions. He was married to actress Annekathrin Bürger, appearing with her in the 1972 Red ...

. The film depicts the life of the Native American leader Tecumseh (1768–1813), including his role in

Tecumseh's War Tecumseh's War or Tecumseh's Rebellion was a conflict between the United States and Tecumseh's Confederacy, led by the Shawnee leader Tecumseh in the Indiana Territory. Although the war is often considered to have climaxed with William Henry Ha ...

and his later death in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

while fighting with the British against the United States. The film is a

red western The Ostern (Eastern; , ''Istern''; or остерн) or Red Western was a film genre created in the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc as a variation of the Western films that originated in the United States. The word "Ostern" is a portmanteau derive ...

made by

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PRO ...

, the state-owned

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

studio. It is part of a popular string of films starring the Yugoslav actor Gojko Mitić which, in line with the policies of Communist East Germany, attempted to present a more critical, but also more realistic, view of American expansion to the West than was characterized by Hollywood. The film, along with others, was also made partly in response to the successful series of Karl May films made in West Germany.Bergfelder p. 203

Partial cast

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

* 1972 films East German films German Western (genre) films German historical films Film 1972 Western (genre) films 1970s historical films 1970s German-language films Films directed by Hans Kratzert Films set in the 1810s Films set in Indiana War of 1812 films Ostern films 1970s German films {{1970s-Western-film-stub