It was the first in a highly-successful series of films based on May's works by the West German studios Rialto and Constantin Film, starring American actor Lex Barker as the frontiersman Old Shatterhand and French actor Pierre Brice as the Apache warrior Winnetou.

Discovering the scene of the crime, Old Shatterhand and Winnetou help Fred bring his father's murderer to justice and locate the treasure of Silver Lake.

Expatriate American star Lex Barker was cast as Old Shatterhand, and French actor Pierre Brice as Winnetou.

As neither was fluent in German at the time, their dialogues were dubbed, Barker by Horst Niendorf and Herbert Stass.

[citation needed] The success of the film spawned 10 direct sequels starring Barker and/or Brice, released between 1963 and : Aside from Barker and Brice, other recurring actors in the films included Ralf Wolter (as Sam Hawkens), Stewart Granger (as Old Surehand), Marie Versini (as Nscho-tschi), Götz George, Walt Barnes, Karin Dor, Gojko Mitić, Terence Hill, Rik Battaglia and Branko Špoljar.