Product Details

• Actors: Telly Savalas, George Maharis, Arlene Dahl, Janet Landgard, Guy Rolfe
• Directors: Nathan Juran
• Writers: Jesse Lasky Jr., Ken Pettus, Pat Silver
• Producers: Charles H. Schneer, Roy Rowland
• Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Language: English
• Subtitles: Japanese
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: December 6, 2005
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000BITVAQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #159,503 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Land Raiders" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

No Description Available.
Genre: Westerns
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-DEC-2005
Media Type: DVD

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars His brother's killer, February 18, 2009

By 

Annie Van Auken (Planet Earth) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land Raiders (DVD)

LAND RAIDERS is a American-made western filmed in Budapest, Hungary and Spain, but set in the town of Red Forge, AZ. In this story, one atrocity leads to the next bloody reprisal in an upward spiral of insane violence.

SYNOPSIS--
A long-standing quarrel with brother Vince (Savalas) and the mysterious death of a former girlfriend cause Paul Cardenas (Maharis) to leave the family ranch. On his return some time later, Paul finds Vince trying to instigate a war with the Apaches to make property values drop so he can buy land cheaply. When the local sheriff names the person responsible for the death of Paul's girlfriend, a deadly confrontation is the result.


Also recommended:
Following this movie and after a small role in the 007 flick ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE (1969), Telly Savalas co-starred with Clint Eastwood in the WWII action/comedy, KELLY'S HEROES (1970).


Parenthetical number is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.

(5.0) Land Raiders (1969) - Telly Savalas/George Maharis/Arlene Dahl/Janet Landgard/Guy Rolfe/Paul Picerni/Phil Brown/George Coulouris/Jocelyn Lane/Fernando Rey/Robert Carricart/John Clark/Charles Stalmaker

2.0 out of 5 stars Guilty but still a pleasure, May 11, 2011

By 

V. Risoli "black farmer" (Atlantic Highlands, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Land Raiders (DVD)

"Land Raiders" (1969) is a film full of icons that I feel are worthwhile. This 1969 Charles H. Schneer production (the man responsible for "Mysterious Island," "Jason and the Argonauts" and a number of "Sinbad" entries and even "Half a Sixpence") was a late direction of Nathan H. Juran, the pro responsible for "The Deadly Mantis," "Jack the Giant Killer" and some "Sinbad" movies among many others. This western that stars TV icon, Telly Savalas but let's not forget he shares top billing IN the movie with George Maharis. In fact, they play brothers, and I am embarrassed to admit, I bought "Land Raiders" thinking George Maharis was pictured on the cover art, but when the DVD arrived, I was dismayed to see the image was actually Telly's, so it seems like less of a stretch that they could play brothers convincingly. Also in the cast is Arlene Dahl (Carla in "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (1959)) and she even bares her ample breast shockingly in a scene opposite George Maharis as her brother-in-law showing her what "he does wid 'whores.'" (This was filmed in Europe). The love of his life is played by another icon, Jocelyn Lane, who to many bring audiences on the strength of her in the cast. She starred opposite Elvis in "Tickle Me" and stole the picture from him, but here she is wasted with a perhaps too thick Mexican accent and a too small part. George's Mexican accent suits him. His action scenes are realistic and he is interesting when he lets go with his anger. He shows sensitivity. The music by Bruno Nicolai seems to be an Ennio Morricone "wannabe." I will say that Telly should have been kinder to George as George makes the movie Telly is now given top billing. Today that won't happen often. I've watched it several times already.

2.0 out of 5 stars Apaches On The Rampage!, March 17, 2010

By 

Van T. Roberts "Film Historian" (Columbus, Mississippi, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Land Raiders (DVD)

Although Austrian-born director Nathan Juran made a name for himself with his science fiction themed films, such as "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," "The Deadly Mantis" and "First Men in the Moon," he was no stranger to westerns. He helmed two Audie Murphy oaters, "Drums Across the River," "Gunsmoke," and "Tumbleweeds" as well as the Fred MacMurray western "A Good Day for a Hanging." Nathan Juran's last western, the Columbia Pictures' release "Land Raiders" is an average horse opera about a greedy, amoral Arizona rancher who will do whatever it takes to steal land so he can build himself an empire. "Land Raiders" is a 1950s style western with 1960s sensibilities. Lensed on location in Spain and Hungary, graced with an exceptional score by Ennio Morricone's orchestrator Bruno Nicolai, this sagebrusher deals with deceit and racism on a widespread basis.

Ultimately, Telly Savalas plays the villainous brother and Maharis is cast as the heroic sibling. A major criticism of this western is the suspension of disbelief required to accept these two actors as kind. Although the story is pretty formulaic, "Land Raiders" contains many examples of great editing, especially the shifts from one story to an entirely different one. This outdoor adventure has no shortage of action with rampaging Apaches on the warpath and whites who are willing to kill them to collect the bounty on their scalps. The major problem with "Land Raiders" is the Ken Pettus screenplay that focuses on the sibling rivalry between the Mexican brothers Vincent Carden (Telly Savalas of "Kelly's Heroes") and Paul Cardenas (George Maharis of "The Satan Bug") who hate each other's guts with a passion. The ugly secret that has made them sworn enemies looks like something out of a 1950s movies. Furthermore, Vince forsakes his Mexican heritage because he wants to assimilate and become an American, while Paul refuses to turn his back on his Hispanic origins. Between them is the mysterious death of Paul's fiancé, Luis Rojas (Jocelyn Lane of "The Angry Hills"), who died from a broken neck after her horse threw her. Nevertheless, everybody in the town of Forge River holds Paul responsible for her death, but the local town sheriff, John Mayfield (Phil Brown of "Star Wars"), could not assemble enough evidence to arrest him, so Paul has roamed the southwest with the memory of Luis plaguing him.

Meanwhile, the Army wants to make peace with the Apaches and they dispatch Major Tanner (Guy Rolfe of "King of the Khyber Rifles") to persuade Carden in the name of peace to stop offering a reward on Apache scalps. Vincent pays his gunmen $10 for male Apaches, $5 for female Apaches, and $2.50 for their children and he has no plans to stop this unsavory practice. Paul is riding in the opposite direction when he encounters a wagon train, warns them about Apaches on the warpath, and saves one wagon. He saves the Sheriff Mayfield's gorgeous daughter, Kate (Janet Landgard of "The Swimmer") and decides to hang around town. When Vince learns from Colonel Tanner that an Indian agent from Washington,D.C., plans to sit down with the Apaches and smoke the peace pipe, Vincent figures out that prosperity will do his business no good so he sends his gunmen out to kill the Indian agent and frame the Indians for his death.

Eventually, all of Vince's evil catches up with him in the form of three arrows in his chest after the Apaches storm Forge River and kill just about everybody in sight. The major flaw in this western is that Telly Savalas overshadows George Maharis with his dynamic screen presence and Maharis' hero comes off looking pretty useless. Talk about a lopsided yarn! One of the aspects of this western that makes it rewarding for film buffs is the solid editing. Juran does a good job with scene shifts by having one character perform an action that inconspicuously leads to a different scene but does so very smoothly. For example, a child toss a rifle to somebody off camera, but Juran lets the action of the flying rifle bridge the scene change and the rifle winds up in different hands and the scene has changed.