← Back to Reviews
in
A Man Called Horse
(directed by Elliot Silverstein, 1970)
Wouldn't you know it? Right after watching Little Big Man, I discover another Native American movie also from the year 1970 -- A Man Called Horse -- an intriguing little film that was just released on Blu-ray.
Richard Harris stars as John Morgan, a British noble living in the 1800's that is kidnapped one day by the Sioux Indians and forced to become the slave of Buffalo Cow Head (Dame Judith Anderson), a really ugly, really old Native American mother of Chief Yellow Hand (Manu Tupou). I should probably note that John is kidnapped while swimming naked, so he rans around bare assed a lot. I liked that. Anyway, Cow Head, and most of the other Indians, are barely understandable when they talk -- I felt like I was watching a foreign movie. He does, however, manage to befriend a strange, funny guy called Batise (Jean Gascon), who was taken by these Indians five years earlier. For some reason, based on looks and personality, Batise reminded me of Robin Williams -- especially Robin Williams when he was dressed up like this in Mrs. Doubtfire:
Shockingly, John gets used to living with the Indians and he even comes to admire and respect them. He also eventually takes a bride. I wouldn't have adjusted well to this situation at all (obviously, I wouldn't take a bride) -- first of all, I did not like these Indians for a good while -- I mean, they had killed the people John was with the day he got kidnapped. They were looking for some free horses, you see. So, I was thinking this movie was portraying Native Americans in a very bad light, unlike Little Big Man, in which the Native Americans were jolly and humorous and delightful (but I know that was more of a comedy). This movie is a lot more realistic. I felt completely drawn into this world. I could not understand much of what the Indians were saying, but somehow that helped. When this movie finally ended (at the 2 hour mark), I felt like I had really been there with these Indians.
Anyway, John -- or Horse -- although, I don't recall if he was actually referred to as Horse or not -- anyway, something that he must do, since he's getting married and stuff, is take part in a ritual called The Sun Vow. The Sun Vow requires him to get eagle claws stabbed through his chest while ropes suspended from up above him tie onto these eagle claws and a couple of Indians holding the ropes raise John up to the blazing sun. It looked like something from Hellraiser -- which was pretty cool. There's a great moment where John, being raised and in severe pain, I imagine, seems to dissociate/trip out because of all he's going through and there's a wacky, almost psychedelic scene that if you watched while on peyote would probably have you trippin' balls. A buffalo comes to him because its his spirit animal and tells him to have humility; we see John standing in the wind, fully clothed, until the wind rips all of his clothes off, shedding his old self, I guess. Turning him into a man, a warrior. Later, there's a big fight between John and his tribe and another Indian tribe that's attacking. Buffalo Cow Head, the mother, has a crying spell or two, which she does a lot. Anyway, it was all very moving. It felt brave and exciting.
A Man Called Horse is not without its faults. It does not feature any extremely interesting characters, it almost seems at times to feel like some sort of cheap 1960's Native American knockoff movie that should star actors you'd never see in any other important movie, and at times it is boring and seems to be going nowhere, especially when it's hard to understand what people are saying. But it managed to keep me glued to my seat for two hours without me shutting off the machine and it does have a few powerful, big scenes that don't falter from excellence. There's also some rather hysterical WTF moments -- like there's this part where we're watching, oh I forget what it was exactly, let's say it's just a nature scene, or maybe some Indians riding on horses, and suddenly these two Indian guys' heads pop into frame on both the left and right side and start singing and chanting. Weird, superimposed stuff like that. I laughed at it. It was highly amusing. There's a lot of crazy stuff like that in this and it's almost worth watching for all of that alone. The weird buffalo/spirit animal trippy scene during the crazy ritual is another one. Also, you really just wanna slap Buffalo Cow Head.
Don't pass on A Man Called Horse, but definitely be in the mood for some seriously wacky, yet moving and inspiring, good 1970's Native American cinema. Even more exciting -- Iron Eyes Cody -- the Indian chief from Ernest Goes To Camp -- plays a Medicine Man in this. Look out for that.
(directed by Elliot Silverstein, 1970)
Wouldn't you know it? Right after watching Little Big Man, I discover another Native American movie also from the year 1970 -- A Man Called Horse -- an intriguing little film that was just released on Blu-ray.
Richard Harris stars as John Morgan, a British noble living in the 1800's that is kidnapped one day by the Sioux Indians and forced to become the slave of Buffalo Cow Head (Dame Judith Anderson), a really ugly, really old Native American mother of Chief Yellow Hand (Manu Tupou). I should probably note that John is kidnapped while swimming naked, so he rans around bare assed a lot. I liked that. Anyway, Cow Head, and most of the other Indians, are barely understandable when they talk -- I felt like I was watching a foreign movie. He does, however, manage to befriend a strange, funny guy called Batise (Jean Gascon), who was taken by these Indians five years earlier. For some reason, based on looks and personality, Batise reminded me of Robin Williams -- especially Robin Williams when he was dressed up like this in Mrs. Doubtfire:
Shockingly, John gets used to living with the Indians and he even comes to admire and respect them. He also eventually takes a bride. I wouldn't have adjusted well to this situation at all (obviously, I wouldn't take a bride) -- first of all, I did not like these Indians for a good while -- I mean, they had killed the people John was with the day he got kidnapped. They were looking for some free horses, you see. So, I was thinking this movie was portraying Native Americans in a very bad light, unlike Little Big Man, in which the Native Americans were jolly and humorous and delightful (but I know that was more of a comedy). This movie is a lot more realistic. I felt completely drawn into this world. I could not understand much of what the Indians were saying, but somehow that helped. When this movie finally ended (at the 2 hour mark), I felt like I had really been there with these Indians.
Anyway, John -- or Horse -- although, I don't recall if he was actually referred to as Horse or not -- anyway, something that he must do, since he's getting married and stuff, is take part in a ritual called The Sun Vow. The Sun Vow requires him to get eagle claws stabbed through his chest while ropes suspended from up above him tie onto these eagle claws and a couple of Indians holding the ropes raise John up to the blazing sun. It looked like something from Hellraiser -- which was pretty cool. There's a great moment where John, being raised and in severe pain, I imagine, seems to dissociate/trip out because of all he's going through and there's a wacky, almost psychedelic scene that if you watched while on peyote would probably have you trippin' balls. A buffalo comes to him because its his spirit animal and tells him to have humility; we see John standing in the wind, fully clothed, until the wind rips all of his clothes off, shedding his old self, I guess. Turning him into a man, a warrior. Later, there's a big fight between John and his tribe and another Indian tribe that's attacking. Buffalo Cow Head, the mother, has a crying spell or two, which she does a lot. Anyway, it was all very moving. It felt brave and exciting.
A Man Called Horse is not without its faults. It does not feature any extremely interesting characters, it almost seems at times to feel like some sort of cheap 1960's Native American knockoff movie that should star actors you'd never see in any other important movie, and at times it is boring and seems to be going nowhere, especially when it's hard to understand what people are saying. But it managed to keep me glued to my seat for two hours without me shutting off the machine and it does have a few powerful, big scenes that don't falter from excellence. There's also some rather hysterical WTF moments -- like there's this part where we're watching, oh I forget what it was exactly, let's say it's just a nature scene, or maybe some Indians riding on horses, and suddenly these two Indian guys' heads pop into frame on both the left and right side and start singing and chanting. Weird, superimposed stuff like that. I laughed at it. It was highly amusing. There's a lot of crazy stuff like that in this and it's almost worth watching for all of that alone. The weird buffalo/spirit animal trippy scene during the crazy ritual is another one. Also, you really just wanna slap Buffalo Cow Head.
Don't pass on A Man Called Horse, but definitely be in the mood for some seriously wacky, yet moving and inspiring, good 1970's Native American cinema. Even more exciting -- Iron Eyes Cody -- the Indian chief from Ernest Goes To Camp -- plays a Medicine Man in this. Look out for that.