Riel (1979 film)

Riel is a 1979 Canadian historical drama about the life of Louis Riel, and depicting events of the Red River and North-West Rebellions.
== Cast ==
* Raymond Cloutier as Louis Riel
* Christopher Plummer as Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald
* Roger Blay as Gabriel Dumont
* Maury Chaykin as Howard
* Barry Morse as MacTavish
* Leslie Nielsen as Major Crozier
* Dave Thomas as Militia Captain
* William Shatner as The Barker
* Don Harron as Donald Smith
* Chris Wiggins as General Middleton
* John Neville as General Wolseley
* Lloyd Bochner as Dr. Schultz
* James Bradford as Captain Bra
* Brenda Donohue as Mrs. Schultz
* Marcel Sabourin as Joseph-Noël Ritchot
* Gary Reineke as Thomas Scott
* Fern Henry as Marguerite Riel
* Tony Robinow as Lemieux
== Production ==
The reportedly $1.5 million CAD budgeted film had a very difficult production between feuding between the actors and writers, accidental injuries, and pay discrepancies.Disquiet on the set - Roy MacGregor - 12 June 1978 - Maclean's - Retrieved 16 May 2021
== Reception ==
Reviewer for Maclean's William Casselman said of the film, "Riel, we have hanged you again, on a rope of tedium. Though hyped to high heaven, this Riel is not drama—it’s history murmured by teacher-drones. Faced with a burning prophet, a television screen and a sensitive Quebec, our playmakers quail, cautious not to offend, and huddle behind the camera to twitter softly." Casselman spoke positively of Plummer's performance, but said that Cloutier was wrongly cast.Death in small doses—Riel, we have hanged you again, on a rope of tedium - William Casselman - 23 April 1979 - Maclean's - Retrieved 16 May 2021
Film critic Eugene Walz criticised the film, stating "Riel develops through a series of programmable conflicts arranged between stereotyped characters and emphasized by a kind of schoolboy symbolism (the carnival framing-device, the arm-wrestling, the model train, the Gatling gun, the bullet-nicked Victorian coin). This makes for a brisk, compelling pace. especially during the first half, and is designed for maximum impact. But it is done at the expense of historical accuracy and credibly complex characterization." Walz also criticised the film's characters being caricatures, such as the film's portrayal of Macdonald's pursuit of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway as a childish fixation, and Cloutier's Riel as being a "Billy Jack with a Quebec accent."Manitoba History: Review: Three Views of Riel - Eugene Walz, Diane Payment, Emma Laroque - 1981 - Manitoba Historical Society - Retrieved 16 May 2021
== Soundtrack ==
William McCauley's score was released in 1979, with twelve tracks from the film.William McCauley – Riel: The Original Soundtrack Album - Discogs - Retrieved 16 May 2021
==Links==
*Riel on Wikipedia
*Riel on IMDB
==References==
Category:Real films
Category:Real historical films
Category:Real Canadian historical films
Category:Real Canadian films
Category:Real films released in 1979