A Man Called Horse
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Movie Reviews of A Man Called Horse
Movie Review: Better than Dances With Wolves
Summary: 4 Stars
An English nobleman, visiting circa-1820 America, is kidnapped by a band of Sioux warriors. Before you can say `Lord Greystoke" John Morgan (Richard Harris) is adapting to the strange and savage savages, and integrating himself into their strange and savage culture. That adaptation, of course, ultimately results in Lord John having a pair of splinters driven deep under his chest muscles and getting hoisted high in the air by a rope attached to those splinters. After this initiation ceremony Horse/Lord John/Harris becomes a respected warrior in the tribe. The scene, gruesomely realistic when A MAN CALLED HORSE was released in 1970, still works pretty well today.
I recommend this movie with, no pun intended, reservations. Director Elliot Silverstein does a good job of presenting the story from Harris's point of view. His initial capture and harsh treatment is appropriately exciting and unsettling. Harris is good in the physically demanding lead role, and conveys well the disorientation Lord John feels and his gradually increasing confidence in the hostile environment. And it's always nice to have a movie pay attention to details when it takes place in a foreign and exotic location - in this case a Sioux tribe in the early decades of the 19th century. The small stuff, as far as I can tell, is accurately related.
On the other hand, the `Tarzan factor' always has to be taken into account. White English nobleman travels to the colony, is kidnapped by the `natives' and, through inherent superiority, rises to a position of power and prestige in the foreign environment. At least A MAN CALLED HORSE treats the Sioux with interest and respect, and even has a few Native Americans, most notably Eddie Little Sky, among the cast. Well, Iron Eyes Cody, the `Crying Indian' some of us may remember from anti-pollution television commercials of the `70s, has a part in it too. But I've just learned, to my surprise, that Iron Eyes Cody was a second-generation, full blooded Italian from Louisiana whose real name was Espera DeCorti. Who'da thunk? Yellow Hand, the chief who claims initial ownership of Horse, is played by Manu Tupou (Fiji Islands.) Running Deer, Horse's eventual love interest, is played by Corinna Tsopei, Miss Greece 1964. Perhaps the most intriguing bit of casting is the actress who plays Yellow Hand's mother and Horse's opening day tormenter, Buffalo Cow Head - beneath the brown grease paint and buckskin robe it's no other than the redoubtable Dame Judith Anderson.
A MAN CALLED HORSE was followed, a half decade or so later, by RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE. I haven't seen the second one but enjoyed the first well enough to bury it deep in a rental queue.
Movie Review: Going Native
Summary: 4 Stars
This is not your typical western. It is not a cowboy and Indian film. English lord and Indian is more accurate but even that can be deceptive.
Richard Harris plays an English aristocrat. While on a hunting expedition in America, he is captured by Sioux. The rest of his party is killed but he is taken as a slave. His life is spared in part because of circumstance and in part because the chief sees him as a brave man. Brave or not, he is held as a slave and given the duties of a horse, an animal. While a captive, he conceives of a plan to make his escape. It is not a modest plan and involves his becoming a leader himself. Slowly, he gains the trust of the tribe. Eventually, when he has proven himself in battle, he is accepted and even seeks to marry the chief's sister. All the while, he is looking for his opportunity.
What he doesn't count upon is actually getting to like and respect his captors. He adopts their ways and many of those ways would have been considered savage by his contemporaries as well as by us today. The case of the Sun vow is an example of this. In order to prove his bravery and worth, Harris takes this vow and is tortured to show his mettle.
I am not qualified to pass judgment on the accuracy of the culture depicted in this film. It is, however, captivating in its presentation.
Movie Review: Silverstein's camera captures beautifully the expansive outdoor of the Sioux way of life and their rituals...
Summary: 4 Stars
The story begins with a British aristocrat named John Morgan who finds himself captured by Sioux warriors... At first he's mocked and treated like an animal and then he's dragged to their camp where he is given to work for an old squaw (Judith Anderson).
Before too long the 'grand white gentleman' up with another captive Batise (Jean Gascon) whose family was all massacred five years ago by the Indians acts as translator for Morgan... One day after killing two Shoshone Indians from another tribe and scalping one of them, John gains trust and respect from his captives thus paving the way to be soon a warrior, then a loving husband...
The film's centerpiece is the Sun Vow that Morgan must bear to prove his courage to withstand all tests of pain in order to gain the hand of Running Dear (Corinna Tsopei) sister of Chief Yellow Hand (Manu Tupou). As the English nobleman is white, he is considered weak and he'll give up in the moment of truth...
There are also other truly memorable moments in the film: how the Indian virgin prepares herself for marriage--how she takes her sweat bath to be pure; and the tragic events when an Indian mother loses and has no other son or man, how she cuts off her forefinger and when winter comes she dies from the freezing cold...
Movie Review: STILL ENGROSSING AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!
Summary: 4 Stars
I saw this film in a theater when it was released and I had not seen it in it's entirety since. The story of a man captured by Indians and then over time gains their respect and becomes one of them is both engrossing and thought provoking. The film is laced with equal amounts of heartache and laughter.
Considering that most of this film is spoken in the native's tongue with no sub titles, it's amazing that you do not get bored or confused. Of course some of the dialogue is spoken in English by another prisoner of the tribe, so there is some sort of narrative to keep you up to speed.
The film also has a pretty shocking scene(for the times)when "Horse" is initiated into the tribe, but it is not over emphasized. This was the first film I ever saw Harris in and remains one of my favorites of his film career.
Movie Review: 4 stars ONLY for entertainment
Summary: 4 Stars
I give this move 4 stars only for it's entertainment value/action/adventure, NOT for any degree of alleged historical accuracy, nor was it a "true depiction" of the Sioux Indians. Everything about that was made "hollywood", such as the ritual, which was not accurately depicted either. (I laugh at any of these reviews which attempt to dwell on the reviewers mistaken belief this movie's historical accuracy was anything less than a half-a$$ hollywood depiction to make $$$). That said, I enjoyed the drama, suspense and action this fictional account offered. Harris was great, and some of the Indian characters (minus their slaughtering of the language) was up there as well. Have not seen the sequel.....