What was this weird western? (Veiled, topless(?) woman in desert, w/slave, scaring off indians)

Cafe Society
1

An old memory just popped into my head, and I’m wondering if anyone could help me ID it…

Some sort of western I saw a clip of on a free Showtime weekend (I think), years ago. Made in the 80s or 90s, by the quality and style—a veiled woman was traveling through the old west desert on horseback, accompanied by a black woman (a servant, possibly a slave), and runs across some (armed, possibly hostile) Indians.

The veiled woman, who seemed a bit eccentric/insane, decided to make her way past the Indians by, IIRC, singing loudly and taking off her top, and simply riding past, while her assistant drew a sword (I think), and silently followed.

This actually worked—the Indians simply staring dumbfounded as the party passed. (Although an inner monologue/flashback of the head Indian revealed that some elder had imparted a prophecy of such an unlikely event to him when he was a kid, which gave him pause.)

A cursory search online doesn’t seem to produce any results, though I think I got most of the details right. A niggling idea comes up that the veiled woman may have had Leprosy, but I can’t say that for certain.

So…can anyone ID this one? Now I’m dying of curiosity.

2

Could it have been the Circus of Dr. Lao? In that movie, a Medusa does a dance and turns some baddies to stone. Weirdest damn “Western” in a long, long time!

3

It was Dead Man’s Walk

4

Definitely not. 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (that was the movie’s title - The Circus of Dr. Lao was the title of the book) didn’t have any topless women nor did it have any battles with Indians.

5

Anytime somebody says they saw a “weird western” I run through the list:

Was it El Topo?
Was it Greaser’s Palace?
Was it Zachariah?
Was it The Last Movie?
Was it Dead Man?
Was it Blueberry?

6

Indeed it was—turns out, she was even singing one of my favorite Verdi works!

Thanks! :slight_smile:

7

Not much topless for being topless. :frowning:

8

Topless and weird western means you have to start with Wild Gals of the Naked West by Russ Meyer. (But not a match, the board goes back.)