Alien Thunder (1974)

Must See Movie...

Absolutely Fantastic

A different way of telling a story

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Can a movie actually be painful to watch? I was already hitting the pause button at the eighteen minute mark to see how much of the picture was left and that's never a good thing. Up until now, "Cry Blood, Apache" has been the worst Western I've ever seen, but this one replaces it handily. Not a Western you say; merely a technicality. Not an American film, fine, the Canadians made some duds as well. By the way, I saw the picture under the title "Dan Candy's Law", not that it makes any difference. Dan Candy was Donald Sutherland's character, just a couple years after he appeared as Hawkeye Pierce in "MASH". So I have to ask, what was he thinking? Based on a true story apparently, I could basically make out it had to do with Dan Candy tracking a rogue Indian after he shot Candy's partner, fellow Mountie Malcolm Grant (Kevin McCarthy). What made the story difficult to follow were the frequent and abrupt scene changes, almost always disconnected, and editing that was fond of showing headless characters, half faces and the sound of voices with no one on screen. Any episode of 'Sergeant Preston of the Yukon' blows this film away, so string three of them together and you have a better hour and a half spent.Besides Sutherland, this one also had Chief Dan George in the cast, probably my favorite Native American actor. However even he couldn't salvage the story, because as he himself stated in "Little Big Man" - "...sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn't". He had a memorable quote in this picture as well, speaking to Dan Candy on the whereabouts of his son Almighty Voice (Gordon Tootoosis) - "You've become hunter, but there's nothing to hunt". However he was trumped by Corporal Bellringer, who was probably speaking about the picture when he stated - "The whole thing is sloppy, beginning to end". That's what I thought too.

Donald Sutherland who was Canadian never misses a chance to boost the film industry in his native country. With this in mind he starred in Alien Thunder about the true story of Cree Indian who was arrested for some minor charge, but resented confinement and escaped. The Cree, Gordon Tootoosis kills Mountie Kevin McCarthy who is Sutherland's partner.In Canada as well as in the USA when you're partner is killed you're supposed to do something about it. That's what The Maltese Falcon teaches us. Sutherland feels the same way, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were never in the same kind of numbers that our US Cavalry were, they didn't need to be. It was a more solitary occupation with them having to cover the vast wilderness in this case of Canada's Northwest Territory.I didn't see a particularly good print of the film, it had a really grainy and washed out look to it. That could have been corrected, but the rather dull telling of the story was not something better cinematography or editing could have remedied. The performances by the cast were sincere and the Indians were as realistically portrayed as ever been on screen.An interesting story that was ruined with a dull treatment.

First of all, I have one thing to say. I was there. Between 1968 and 2002, I went to Canada quite regularly. The movie is based on the story of the Cree Indian Almighty Voice. A fugitive who killed an Agency cow, and went on the run for over a year. Almighty Voice is pursued by Constable Dan Candy. Played quite ably by a young Donald Sutherland. Set in 1885, the same year as the Metis Uprising led by Louis Real, Candy commandeers a train of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The Northwest Mounted Police, (the forerunner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,) post a reward of five thousand dollars. Candy's ordered more than once to come in. He refuses because he's close to bringing in Almighty Voice. The Northwest Rebellion was part of Canadian history. The movie illustrates the differences in the treatment of the First Nations by the Canadian people, as opposed to the treatment, (or lack thereof,) of the Native Americans, by the Americans. There are, and were, differeces. The Canadian approach was like that of Heinlein's Patrol in Space Cadet, and the Federation in Star Trek. More diplomacy. Guess what? There were actually REAL peace treaties with the Indians. Where were they? Canada. The Cree Indians who lived at the Duck Lake Agency, were close knit and didn't turn Almighty Voice in for five thousand dollar reward. The American treatment of the Native Americans was quite different. It followed General Sherman's maxim that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." We made fake peace treaties and NEVER kept them. The movie ends with____see it for yourself to find out. As another reviewer said, make sure you have a legitimate version because the beginning's grainy and most of the historical note at the end is cut off. The movie itself was filmed at the Duck Lake Agency.

in my opinion,this film is very poorly made.the beginning is so grainy and washed out,it's almost impossible to see anything.it may just be that the particular company that manufactured the DVD i saw,did a poor job on the production.it does c;ear up after bout 5 to 10 minutes and is pretty clear but i also thought Donald Sutherland did not do a very good acting job,nor did anyone else.also,at times,the movement of the actors lips did not match their words.i felt like i was watching a very badly dubbed foreign film.i also thought the movie moved at a glacial pace.the budget was not very high and it certainly shows.i really did not like this movie at all.maybe you just have to be in the right frame of mind to watch it,and maybe this particular manufacture just did such a poor job.my advice is to try to find a reputable DVD manufacturer and that might make the difference.i won't this movie as it wouldn't be fair