Geronimo: An American Legend (1993)

Very Cool!!!

Just perfect...

Absolutely Fantastic

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I thought the movie was fairly even handed in the way it portrayed the Cavalry and the Apaches with both sides having it's share of upstanding and vicious characters. The film spoke to the inevitability of America's westward expansion and what it meant for the Indian nations, and in that respect there was sympathy shown for the way Native Americans of all tribes were treated and forced to live in ways contrary to their nature. Told through the eyes of a narrator, Second Lieutenant Britton Davis (Matt Damon), the viewer is brought along much like a green West Point graduate assigned to a frontier outpost who acquires on the job training by riding with an experienced officer. Jason Patric is effective in his role as Davis's commanding officer, Lieutenant Charles Gatewood, who's knowledge and understanding of Chiricahua Apache life is instrumental in dealing with the legendary Geronimo (Wes Studi). Historically, some elements of the story are overlooked or disregarded entirely. For example, it was one of Al Sieber's (Robert Duvall) former scouts, Tom Horn, who became a point man for the Army against renegade Apaches and eventually led the troop that captured Geronimo in 1886 after Sieber's retirement. Sieber did not die in a gun battle as depicted in this story, so as in the case of many Western movie accounts, a degree of liberty is taken with the facts in connection with the film. Over all though, this is a generally well told character study of an American West legend who found it impossible to reconcile his humanity to reservation life.

Wes Studi, so hateful in LAST OF THE MOHICANS, is about as sympathetic a character as you can get in GERONIMO, and Walter Hill's direction is about as tight as it gets (which is saying a lot for a director of Hill's caliber). The cinematography, if nothing else, should've won some kind of award. One thing I would've liked to have seen in a movie like this is the root cause of The American Indian Wars. According to Robert M. Utley, it all began when Indians were being starved by buffalo hunters out for furs, who decimated the great herds, leaving the meat to rot and the Natives to starve. At a meeting called between the townsfolk and the Indians, one townie reportedly said: "If they're hungry, let 'em eat grass." When the smoke cleared, the townie was found dead, with his mouth stuffed full of grass. A LOT of mythinformation came out of the genocide that followed. General Custer, a Civil War vet, was nicknamed "The Son of the Morning Star" because he liked to attack unguarded Indian villages at sunup. His preferred method was to wait for the braves to go off to hunt, leaving the women, children, and elderly alone and unarmed. Sherman, another vet who put the South to the torch, coined a popular phrase when he said that "the only GOOD Indian is a DEAD Indian." U.$. Army soldiers, foreshadowing the likes of the Nazis and Ed Gein, made purses from the genitalia of murdered Indian women (it's out there; look it up). GERONIMO is and isn't historically accurate; what it most definitely IS is a great movie.

Walter Hill is a true, seasoned action deliverer. Just look at his stellar films and this is why his one of my favourite directors. Still need to see his highly regarded western "The Long Riders" though. Nevertheless his take on the American legend "Geronimo" was not what I was expecting. It's quite a tone down piece (but not on the drama front), still his professional handling of the bravado action contains that walloping punch we have come to expect (like the sequence in a Mexican bar), but the thoughtfully mediative (if a tad stuffy and not entirely correct) material (by John Milius) and productively detailed characters are what takes centre stage. The outstanding performances led by a cast of Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Jason Patric, Wes Studi, Matt Damon, Rodney A. Grant and Kevin Tighe really do cement the humane edge of brave men with moralistic stances. Patric is a revelation in his role, bringing the right idealistic balance and so is a pre-stardom Damon. Duvall brings a solidly noble complexity and Hackman aims up with one of his respectably collected turns. Studi is picture-perfect as Geronimo, who embraces the legend and crafts out a mythical mark. Hill mechanically stages it with a certain ruggedness that's never lost amongst its fetching tailoring, as he does a presentable job covering the sprawling Arizona and Utah foregrounds in getting every little detail of the terrain into the shot. While not flashy, the imagery does linger (as well as some explosive and bloody confrontations) and the scenic cinematography is earthly projected for a genuine look and feel. Ry Cooder (a prolific contributor for Hill) orchestrates a poignantly majestic and spiritually mannered score that enhances its epic framework. A favourably gripping western.

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.