From: bole@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu (Greg Bole)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies
Subject: Thunderheart & Crazy Horse Info (no spoilers)
Date: 8 Apr 92 21:20:12 GMT
Organization: HHMI/Human Genetics, Univ of Pa.

Random info on _Thunderheart_ and related matters...  (no spoilers)

Directed by Michael Apted (_35 Up_, _Gorrilas in the Mist_)
Produced by Robert DeNiro (yep!)

Val Kilmer - Agent Ray Lavoi
	A young, uptight FBI Agent who is one quarter Souix.  Kilmer actually 
	has some Cherokee blood.  (Like Gary...)
Graham Greene - Walter Crow Horse
	An Indian reservation police officer.
Sam Shepperd - FBI Agent "Cooch" ?
	The seasoned veteran.  (I forget the character's real name)
Fred Ward - President of Indian reservation
	I also forget his name...a forgettable performance.
John Trundell - Jimmy Looks Twice
	Based on Leonard Peltior?  (More later) Wanted by FBI for murder.
	Trundell was actually the leader of AIM (American Indian Movement),
	which is dubbed ARM (Aboriginal Resistance Movement) in the movie,
	from 1973-79.  The FBI has a one thousand page plus file on him. 

This whole story is "loosely" inspired by the events disscussed in Peter
Matthiessen's book "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse", which was finally released
in 1991, after supposedly being repressed by the government and the FBI.

(Pay attention there will be a quiz at the end)

"In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" is the story of Leonard Peltior, an American 
Indian who is still in Leavenworth for the 1975 murder of two FBI agents at 
Wounded Knee, South Dakota.   Murders Peltior insists he did not commit.  

Robert Redford was the first "Entertainment Industry Person" to take an
interest in this story.  He wanted to make a documentary, but kept being put 
off by his studio.  He went on to devote his time to _The Natural_ and other
projects...  Matthiessen and Peltior began to become discouraged. 

Now if you are saying to yourself about now "Oliver Stone seems like the kinda
filmaker that would eat this up!" give yourself a cookie.  Stone grabbed the
rights to the book "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse" in order to make a movie.
He also grabbed Justin Ackerman to direct, with plans for Stone to produce.  
Now Stone had all the rights to this material.

About the same time Redford had some of his projects wrapped up, and decided 
to try to make his documentary again.  He got Apted (Remember him? No?  Check 
the top of this post.) to direct *his* version.  "So this became
_Thunderheart_?" you ask?  Nope.  They still wanted to make a documentary,
Redford pulled the money out of his pocket (it's a deeeep pocket) and work on
_Incident at Oglala_ began.

Ask the makers of _Ruby_ how much fun it is to try and make a film that Oliver 
Stone feels belongs to him...  Apted and Redford ran into similar trouble.  But
the documentary was finally made, and when Stone saw a rough cut he mellowed
out a bit and actually volunteered some of his footage to help out.

So where's _Crazy Horse_ the movie?  Good question...I don't know.  But Stone
et al are supposed to have access to an Eye-witness of the slayings (Of the 
FBI agents, geeez, aren't you paying attention?) named Bob Robidean, who also
has been in contact with Mr.X (no, not Donald Sutherland) who is supposed to
be the *real* killer.

So to recap:

	Robert Redford and Michael Apted: _Incident at Oglala_ (documentary)
	Oliver Stone and Justin Ackerman: _Crazy Horse_ (proposed feature)
        Michael Apted and Robert DeNiro: _Thunderheart_ (adapted feature)

I won't comment too much on _Thunderheart_ other than I agree with what has 
already been said.  It was slow moving, muddled, and too ambitious.  On the
plus side, it has a strong message, some nice cinematography, and a wonderful
performance by Graham Greeene.  Val Kilmer was not good in this role, and Fred
Ward was completely wasted.  The script was very cliche and predictable, but
I suppose that's too be expected from the writer of Ralph Macchio and Pat
Morita's _Crossroads_ and that MTV Western _Young Guns_.

(No quiz...I was only kidding around)

Greg Bole	                    Maid Marian: "Why, you speak treason!"
bole@hmivax.humgen.upenn.edu         Robin Hood: "Fluently"
                                    From _The Adventures of Robin Hood_