A Man Called Horse | | Cast : | Richard Harris, Judith Anderson | | Director : | Elliot Silverstein | | Studio : | Paramount Home Video | | Format : | Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen, Dolby | | Released Date : | May , 1970 | | DVD Released Date : | April 29, 2003 | | Language : | English (Dubbed), French (Dubbed), English (Original Language), English (Subtitled) | | Audience Rating : | R (Restricted) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | July 28, 2005 | | Summary | Going Native | Content
 | This is not your typical western. It is not a cowboy and Indian film. English lord and Indian is more accurate but even that can be deceptive.
Richard Harris plays an English aristocrat. While on a hunting expedition in America, he is captured by Sioux. The rest of his party is killed but he is taken as a slave. His life is spared in part because of circumstance and in part because the chief sees him as a brave man. Brave or not, he is held as a slave and given the duties of a horse, an animal. While a captive, he conceives of a plan to make his escape. It is not a modest plan and involves his becoming a leader himself. Slowly, he gains the trust of the tribe. Eventually, when he has proven himself in battle, he is accepted and even seeks to marry the chief's sister. All the while, he is looking for his opportunity.
What he doesn't count upon is actually getting to like and respect his captors. He adopts their ways and many of those ways would have been considered savage by his contemporaries as well as by us today. The case of the Sun vow is an example of this. In order to prove his bravery and worth, Harris takes this vow and is tortured to show his mettle.
I am not qualified to pass judgment on the accuracy of the culture depicted in this film. It is, however, captivating in its presentation.
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| Rating | | | Date | June 24, 2005 | | Summary | Enjoyed the flick | Content
| As a movie buff and especially liking outdoorsy-type films, I had a good time watching this fictional flick. I liked the film for the wild west adventure. Knowing it was FICTION, I did not watch it to be educated, but rather to be entertained. If one expects a more factual presentation regarding any movie of fiction, they should turn to other sources such as the library, not Hollywood. I thought Richard Harris did an excellent job portraying the man of his scripted role, and he helped me escape from reality as I became absorbed into his fight for survival. |
| Rating | | | Date | January 10, 2005 | | Summary | Had potential | Content
| While "A Man Called Horse" was certainly an improvement of the standard depiction of Indians in movie and story, this movie could have been much, much better. It is certainly no "Little Big Man" or "Dances With Wolves". While the general premise was good, there were some scenes that were just downright corny. That scene near the end when Richard Burton instructs the Indians to form two lines of bowmen. Yeah, right. But what really hampers this movie is the cinematography. It's just not good. In the end, "A Man Called Horse" is an average movie at best. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 14, 2004 | | Summary | A MAN CALLED BLOAT | Content
| This is a silly tale to come out of the so called 'enlightened 70's' when the white man was viewed with evil suspicion. It deals with a man from England who goes on to become a savior to a band of poor and starving Sioux Indians in the 1840's when they accept him as part of the tribe. Poignantly sadistic and offensive to the actual Sioux ritual of the Sun dance, it merely accommodates the new role of Harris as a Christ-like benefactor while objectifying the Indians as a tribe of incoherent savages. Once again, the view point is told by an outsider who functions solely to play the role of benefactor. One scene is especially tedious and tritely when a tribe of Shawnee attack the Sioux encampment and Harris gathers all the Sioux and leads them like an 1800's era gun ensemble to fight off the attacking horsemen! "First row fire, second row hold!"... It's no wonder why white people never fully understood Native American culture.
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| Rating | | | Date | September 04, 2004 | | Summary | A Lord in the Teepees. | Content
| I'm always fascinated with books & movies that deal with the interaction of subjects from different cultures such as "Shogun", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Dances with Wolves" or "Broken Arrow".
The film "A Man Called Horse" (1970) had a very special place in my memory. At times I caught myself thinking about some of its scenes deemed by the years and felt sorry that wasn't shown in TV or available to hire. Searching into Amazon I finally found it and of course I bought it. I've just finished watching it and I'm delighted with the revival.
It tells the story of an English Lord in 1825 that is hunting & sightseeing Wild America, far away from "civilization". He is captured by a Sioux warriors party and kept by its chief as a horse. In this quality the chief gift him to his mother.
A hard apprenticeship starts for the Englishman, step by step he rises himself from "horse" to warrior to leader. Along with his hardships he comes to understand, admire and adopt this culture so different to his own but full of human values.
Harris performs his part with deep conviction and is one of the best of his career. The rest of the cast is of multinational extraction: Manu Tupou fleshing Chief Yellowhand is Fijian, Judith Anderson, his mother is a distinguished performer of Macbeth & Medea, Corinna Tsopei sister of the Chief and lover of the Englishman is Greek and Miss Universe 1964, Eddie Little Sky performs as Black Eagle, Iron Eyes Cody the Medicine Man was born Italian and later adopted Native American identity and married a Native American woman. Real Native Americans performs as Warriors.
Is this a drawback? Is it necessary to be Native American to flesh one? I don't think so. We do not expect actual Romans to impersonate Emperors or Egyptians to pass as Pharaohs.
One of the other objections to the film is the atrocious pronunciation of the Lakota language, but this is only perceptible by very few. I'm used to hear horrible Spanish in American films and that does not irk me. The bottom-line is that the movie tries to show a realistic approach to the surroundings of a man thrown in an alien environment.
Even with its flaws this film moved me to admire and respect Native American culture and start reading and investigating on the subject.
A groundbreaking work from the earlier Seventies!!!!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.
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