This is about the last of the "Sanctimonious Era" movies, roughly from 1965-1985, so this one was three years "behind its time".
It's another story of how Native Americans are all "Kal-El", and white men are all whiny wimps. Here, it's as blatant and goofy as it gets.
It also gives the wrong impression of the times. The story is about three Native Americans who become fugitives for a crime committed by a white man.
The trouble with an "underdog fugitive" story is that you can't make a popular, beloved one and still be credible. To be an "underdog fugitive", you have to go against the grain. You have to be against popular prejudices.
I was born in 1956. I have some Native American in my blood. At no time in my life has that ever cause hatred against me. I have, however, had discrimination against me for European blood.
That's the true story of the seventies and eighties. The true story is that movies like this were made. Reverse the roles, and see how much "hatred" is in this movie.
Fortunately, the era ended. People began to realize that these were "hate movies". This was the social more certainly from 1970-1985. If you were a fair haired, fair skinned male, it didn't matter if you were 1/8 Iroquois, you were looked upon as the white men in this movie, as complete "anathema", a total "outcast", with zero value, regardless of what you did. That's the true story here.
Not that the movie is all bad. I rated it 3/10, which puts it ahead of about 20% of the movies I rate.
While the white men are all caricatures, the Native American characters are well written and two or three dimensional, depending on your point of view. There are a few good bits of action-dialog, such as when the deputy is tied up, and still on friendly terms with the Native Americans.
The ending was ridiculous. At the risk of spoiling it, we'll just say that two Native Americans ride horses and charge the U.S. Military. 100 people out of 100 would expect the major to just shoot the horses, or use smoke grenades, but this movie had to go to "Sanctimonious Era" extremes.
It's another story of how Native Americans are all "Kal-El", and white men are all whiny wimps. Here, it's as blatant and goofy as it gets.
It also gives the wrong impression of the times. The story is about three Native Americans who become fugitives for a crime committed by a white man.
The trouble with an "underdog fugitive" story is that you can't make a popular, beloved one and still be credible. To be an "underdog fugitive", you have to go against the grain. You have to be against popular prejudices.
I was born in 1956. I have some Native American in my blood. At no time in my life has that ever cause hatred against me. I have, however, had discrimination against me for European blood.
That's the true story of the seventies and eighties. The true story is that movies like this were made. Reverse the roles, and see how much "hatred" is in this movie.
Fortunately, the era ended. People began to realize that these were "hate movies". This was the social more certainly from 1970-1985. If you were a fair haired, fair skinned male, it didn't matter if you were 1/8 Iroquois, you were looked upon as the white men in this movie, as complete "anathema", a total "outcast", with zero value, regardless of what you did. That's the true story here.
Not that the movie is all bad. I rated it 3/10, which puts it ahead of about 20% of the movies I rate.
While the white men are all caricatures, the Native American characters are well written and two or three dimensional, depending on your point of view. There are a few good bits of action-dialog, such as when the deputy is tied up, and still on friendly terms with the Native Americans.
The ending was ridiculous. At the risk of spoiling it, we'll just say that two Native Americans ride horses and charge the U.S. Military. 100 people out of 100 would expect the major to just shoot the horses, or use smoke grenades, but this movie had to go to "Sanctimonious Era" extremes.