Chato's Land is a 1972 Western Technicolor film directed by Michael Winner, starring Charles Bronson and Jack Palance.

In Apache country, the half-native Chato shoots the local sheriff in self-defense, and finds himself hunted by a posse of ex-Confederates, who rape his wife and leave her hogtied in the open as a bait to trap him.

The film can be classified in the revisionist Western genre, which was at its height at the time, with a dramatizing of racism and oblique referencing of the Vietnam War.

Chato, staying one step ahead, fires on the posse from a hilltop, drawing them into a difficult ascent while he descends the other side and scatters their horses.

[4] When released, Vincent Canby panned the film, calling it a "...long, idiotic revenge Western...It was directed by Michael Winner in some lovely landscapes near Almeria, Spain.

"[5] TV Guide, echoing Canby, wrote, "A great cast is primarily wasted in this gory, below-average, and overlong film.

Granted, there is the theme of the white men intruding on a land where they are frequently under fire, and ending up humiliated as a result, but when this was made it was not entirely clear that America would be on the losing side as the conflict may have been winding down, but was by no means over.

"[8] Film4 is more assertive in their review, "The cruelty of the posse is well conveyed by an able (and supremely ugly) group of actors headed up by Jack Palance and Simon Oakland.