Man Called Horse, A (Blu-Ray)

Paramount (1970)

R (Restricted)

097361452043

6.8

10,177

Western

USA | English | Color | 01:55

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American Indians were a "cool" factor in 1970 cinema, the year A Man Called Horse made its vigorous, feverishly real, and occasionally shocking debut alongside Little Big Man and Soldier Blue. Unlike the latter two films, however, Horse is less an allegory for Vietnam-era America and more of a vision quest for historical identity. In one of his defining roles, Richard Harris plays an English aristocrat captured by Dakota Sioux in 1825. Over time, he adopts their way of life and eventually becomes tribal leader--but not before undergoing savage initiation rituals, the most famous of which involves being suspended by blades inserted beneath Harris's pectoral muscles. Horse looks clunky, quaint, and inadvertently demeaning in some respects today, but the film's Native American milieu is at least defined on its own terms, i.e., whole cloth and apart from familiar Western conventions. The real draw is Harris, whose performance has a soulful integrity.

Cast View all

	Richard Harris	John Morgan
	Judith Anderson	Buffalo Cow Head
	Jean Gascon	Batise
	Manu Tupou	Yellow Hand
	Corinna Tsopei	Running Deer
	Dub Taylor	Joe
	James Gammon	Ed
	William Jordan	Bent
	Eddie Little Sky	Black Eagle
	Michael Baseleon	Longfoot
	Lina Marín	Thorn Rose
	Tamara Garina	Elk Woman
	Terry Leonard	Striking Bear
	Iron Eyes Cody	Medicine Man
	Tom Tyon	Medicine Man
	Jackson Tail	Medicine Man
	Manuel Padilla Jr.	Leaping Buck
	Lloyd One Star	Warrior
	James Never Miss a Shot	Warrior
	Frank Rabbit Jr.	Warrior
	Samuel White Horse	Warrior
	Justin Thin Elk	Warrior
	Lawrence Old Cross	Warrior
	Ardene Turning Bear	Warrior
	Aloysius Eagleman	Warrior

Crew View all

Director	Elliot Silverstein
Writer	Jack DeWitt, Dorothy M. JOHNSON, Gregory Crosby
Producer	Frank Brill, Sandy Howard
Musician	Leonard Rosenman
Photography	Robert B. Hauser

Trailer

Edition details

Edition	Blu-Ray Edition
Packaging	Keep Case
Nr Discs	1
Screen Ratios	Theatrical Widescreen (2.35:1)
Audio Tracks	Dolby Digital TrueHD [English]
Subtitles	Danish \| Dutch \| English \| Finnish \| French \| German \| Norwegian \| Spanish \| Swedish
Distributor	Paramount
Layers	Single side, Single layer
Edition Release Date	May 31, 2011
Regions	Region 1

Personal

Watched
Index	3920
Added Date	Dec 12, 2012 01:15:26
Modified Date	May 17, 2019 03:36:43

Notes

It tells the story of an English Lord in 1825 that is hunting & sightseeing Wild America, far away from "civilization". He is captured by a Sioux warriors party and kept by its chief as a horse. In this quality the chief gift him to his mother.
A hard apprenticeship starts for the Englishman, step by step he rises himself from "horse" to warrior to leader. Along with his hardships he comes to understand, admire and adopt this culture so different to his own but full of human values.

Harris performs his part with deep conviction and is one of the best of his career. The rest of the cast is of multinational extraction: Manu Tupou fleshing Chief Yellowhand is Fijian, Judith Anderson, his mother is a distinguished performer of Macbeth & Medea, Corinna Tsopei sister of the Chief and lover of the Englishman is Greek and Miss Universe 1964, Eddie Little Sky performs as Black Eagle, Iron Eyes Cody the Medicine Man was born Italian and later adopted Native American identity and married a Native American woman. Real Native Americans performs as Warriors.
Is this a drawback? Is it necessary to be Native American to flesh one? I don't think so. We do not expect actual Romans to impersonate Emperors or Egyptians to pass as Pharaohs.
One of the other objections to the film is the atrocious pronunciation of the Lakota language, but this is only perceptible by very few. I'm used to hear horrible Spanish in American films and that does not irk me. The bottom-line is that the movie tries to show a realistic approach to the surroundings of a man thrown in an alien environment.

Even with its flaws this film moved me to admire and respect Native American culture and start reading and investigating on the subject.
A groundbreaking work from the earlier Seventies!!!!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

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