mindbird
An interesting movie. It is more character-driven than action-oriented, although there is plenty of action. When Studi is on-screen, this movie pulsates with life--he's just great as Geronimo. In comparison, everyone else seems to be kind of walking through their parts. This may well be the director's attempt to portray the contrast between the organic and passionate lifestyle of living with the Earth versus the mechanical and passionless bureaucratic bulldozer-like takeover by soldiers and settlers. However, the portrayal of passionlessness should not be quite so studied and passionless.Again, Wes Studi is great. Watching his performance makes the whole thing more than worthwhile. This movie and this actor should be more well-known. And his name belongs on the cover sleeve, however the actual screen time of each actor works out. At one important point in the story he makes a speech that is not in English, and the language makes no difference. The meaning is there.
virek213
The saga of the great Apache warrior Geronimo has played a great part in the history of the white man's settling at the American West, though it is a history that for many decades and centuries has been deified beyond all reason at the expense of truth. The U.S. Army's attempts at "pacifying" the Apache onto reservations along the US/Mexico border in Arizona during the 1880s led Geronimo on a campaign of getting revenge, a campaign that ended with his permanent surrender and consignment to what the Army hoped would be historical obscurity on September 4, 1886. Over the years, the saga has been told both in history books and, inevitably, in movies, with a 1962 version (featuring a rather miscast Chuck Connors as the great Apache warrior) being perhaps the most prominent. But perhaps the finest retelling could be found through the mind of director Walter Hill (The Long Riders) in his 1993 film GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND.In decades past, particularly if his opponent had been portrayed by someone like John Wayne, Geronimo would have been seen on screen as a thoroughly villainous figure. But real life rarely ever squared with the Duke's view of the Native American; and it is that fact that Hill and screenwriters John Milius and Larry Gross go after. Jason Patric (as Lt. Charles Gatewood) and Matt Damon (as 2nd Lt. Britton Davis) are the U.S. Cavalry officers assigned to bring Geronimo in for surrender upon orders of General George Crook (Gene Hackman), and with help from the expert scout Al Sieber (Robert Duvall). But when the cavalry break up a medicine man ritual on the Apache reservation at Turkey Creek, Geronimo (superbly played by Wes Studi) goes on the warpath. The film concerns itself with the dichotomy that the U.S. Army faced when dealing with the Apache in Arizona during the 1880s. On the one hand, they were the only true protection the Apache had against incoming white settlers who wanted to remove all traces of Native American life from the West; on the other hand, the Army was also being used as a tool by those same settlers. Such a bind is broken when Hackman's place is taken over by General Nelson A. Miles (Kevin Tighe), his much more hard-nosed, by-the-book successor who, as Patric learns in a hurry, has no intention of honoring any of the agreements for Apache surrender that the Army has made.Given both the cinematic reputations of Hill and Milius, both of whom are of the hardened Peckinpah school of Western demythologizing and violence, GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND could very easily have been just as violent as, say, other pro-Indian films like ULZANA'S RAID or SOLDIER BLUE. With a PG-13 rating, of course, such is not the case. But neither Hill, Milius, nor co-screenwriter Larry Gross shy too far from the historical record that shows the Army/Apache battles were very costly on both sides. And indeed, like history, the film itself is ambiguous, with that ambiguity represented in Patric's Lt. Gatewood, who knows Studi well and questions the Army's willingness to adhere to agreements it signed, which earns something of a questioning from Duvall's scout in this exchange:SIEBER: I just think you're a real sad case. You don't love who you're fightin' for, and you don't hate who you're fightin' against.GATEWOOD: Perhaps I could learn to hate with the proper vigor from you, Al.Soon, even Duvall's hardened scout comes to see that the White Man's conflict with the Apache is written not in black and white, but in shades of gray, and sometimes in red blood. And as the film shows us, America's Manifest Destiny, regardless of what John Wayne may have led generations of Americans to believe, isn't something we can boast about any longer.Hackman and Duvall, not surprisingly, show themselves for the seasoned pros they are; they give their characters the proper vigor. Patric and Damon, who were all but totally unknown at the time, also show their mettle. However, it is Studi who gives the film's greatest performance as the legendary Apache warrior; he is shown as a man of honor who fights only because he has been pushed. Such was true for all Indian tribes throughout America's westward migration. The period score by roots rock musician Ry Cooder also does a lot to add to the atmosphere of the film.In the end, GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND is a probing look at a distorted part of American history that needs to be set straight, and a critique of wrongs against a whole race that have still yet to be righted. We still haven't come to terms with our mistreatment of the Indian (or for that matter, anyone who doesn't adhere to "American" standards), but there are ways for such errors to be corrected. Good film-making has proved to be a catalyst for this; and in that regard and many others, GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND is great film-making.
bkoganbing
Geronimo: An American Legend was the last of the fearsome Indians whose very name spread terror to the white settlers of the American West. The film is based on the actual memoirs of the real life character Matt Damon plays. Damon's character Brittain Davis wrote the book in 1929, in the film Damon is a young shave-tail lieutenant newly minted from West Point and assigned to the 6th Cavalry in the Arizona territory. Damon narrates the film and it's through his eyes that we see the action unfold.Army politics factors big in the hunt for Geronimo, General George Crook who was the Army general best known for subduing the Indians had his policy questioned by the officials in Washington and after he captures Geronimo once and then through some gross stupidity an incident happens on the reservation that sets Geronimo on the warpath again, Crook played by Gene Hackman is replaced by General Nelson Miles who is portrayed by Kevin Tighe.That's above the heads of army lieutenant Charles Gatewood who actually does the negotiations to bring Geronimo in and is played by Jason Patric. It's also so much nonsense to army chief of scouts Al Sieber who Robert Duvall plays. They're the ones along with Damon who are actually in the trenches so to speak.The Indian wars of the Arizona Territory are played even handedly in this film showing the courage and brutality on both sides. Geronimo: An American Legend is a fact based tale told from the perspective of one who was actually there. It's a most worthwhile film.
