''The Shadow of Chikara'' (also known as ''Demon Mountain'', ''The Ballad of Virgil Cane'', ''Thunder Mountain'', ''Wishbone Cutter'', and ''The Curse of Demon Mountain'') is a 1977 American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

written and directed by Earl E. Smith. The film stars Joe Don Baker, Sondra Locke, Ted Neeley,

Dennis Fimple Dennis Clarke Fimple (November 11, 1940 – August 23, 2002) was an American actor. Biography Fimple was born in Ventura, California, the son of Dolly and Elmer Fimple. He graduated from Taft Union High School in 1958 and received a teaching ce ...

, John Davis Chandler,

Linda Dano Linda Dano (born Linda Rae Wildermuth; May 12, 1943, Long Beach, California) is an American actress and television host. She began her career appearing in film and prime time television before she was cast as Rae Cummings on the ABC daytime soap ...

and

Slim Pickens Louis Burton Lindley Jr. (June 29, 1919 – December 8, 1983), better known by his stage name Slim Pickens, was an American actor and rodeo performer. Starting off in the rodeo, Pickens took up acting, and appeared in dozens of movies and TV sho ...

. It features the song The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down by

The Band The Band was a Canadian-American rock music, rock band formed in Toronto, Ontario, in 1957. It consisted of the Canadians Rick Danko (bass, guitar, vocals, fiddle), Garth Hudson (organ, keyboards, accordion, saxophone), Richard Manuel (piano, d ...

Plot

Confederate veterans of the last battle of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

team up with a geologist and set out to find a hidden treasure: diamonds hidden in a cave in an Arkansas mountain. However, the soldiers find they are being followed by a mysterious hunter (or hunters) who may have a connection to a mythic eagle spirit, Chikara.

Cast

* Joe Don Baker as Wishbone Cutter * Sondra Locke as Drusilla Wilcox * Ted Neeley as Amos Richmond *

as Posey * John Davis Chandler as Rafe *

as Rosalie Cutter *

as Virgil Cane

Production

''The Shadow of Chikara'' is the first feature film ever shot on the Buffalo National River. Principal photography commenced on October 21, 1976, in

Yellville, Arkansas Yellville is a city in and the county seat of Marion County, Arkansas, Marion County, Arkansas, United States. Yellville is located in the Ozark Mountains along the banks of Crooked Creek (Arkansas), Crooked Creek, and neighbors the small town of ...

. Production moved to Bull Shoals-White River State Park by early November and continued in the area for seven weeks."Movie-makers come to the Buffalo"
''The Baxter Bulletin''. November 18, 1976. Section B, p. 5.

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate KYTV of

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the List of cities in Missouri, third most populous city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County, Missouri, Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 censu ...

aired a behind-the-scenes program on November 21, 1976. Locke's then-boyfriend

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

flew in about three weeks into the shoot and spent his days touring the countryside and fishing while she worked.

Release

It was released on June 10, 1977, by Howco International Pictures.

Home media

The film was released on DVD by Mill Creek Entertainment on July 5, 2005. It was later released by Dead Of Night on February 20, 2006. It was re-released by Mill Creek on September 12, that same year. In 2015, it was released by Movies Unlimited and Willette Acquisition Corp. on July 10, and 20th respectively.

References

External links

* * *
''The Shadow of Chikara''
at

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shadow of Chikara 1977 films 1977 horror films 1970s Western (genre) horror films American supernatural horror films American Western (genre) horror films Paramount Pictures films 1970s supernatural horror films American Civil War films Films about treasure hunting 1970s English-language films 1970s American films English-language Western (genre) horror films Films scored by Jaime Mendoza-Nava