Mark Turner
I'm a huge fan of director Walter Hill. For me he's made some of the most interesting and action packed films that I've enjoyed repeatedly. STREETS OF FIRE, SOUTHERN COMFORT, 48 HOURS, THE WARRIORS and THE LONG RIDERS to name a few. Hill has always made movies that would fall under the category of man's man films. So to learn he was making a movie about the old west and the hunt for Geronimo was not a surprise. As the Indian Wars were coming to an end the Cavalry was rounding up the remnants of the various tribes to escort them to reservations to live on. The story is narrated by young recently graduated military academy Lt. Britton Davis (Matt Damon). It is through his eyes we see the story unfold as well as his glimpse into the land it takes place in. Assigned to help Lt. Charles Gatewood (Jason Patric) escort Geronimo to a meeting with Brig. Gen. George Crook (Gene Hackman) he quickly learns what the west is all about.Learning from Gatewood and from Geronimo as they travel he develops a respect for the Apache warrior and the code of honor that he lives by. Gatewood has seen and done much while out west and is sympathetic to the plight this man is going through even though he follows the orders given to him. It is through these two that most of the story unfolds. Crook promises peace with the Indians as long as they remain on the reservation. He is a man they trust, one that they know will live up to his word. But the Apache were not farmers and it isn't long before one of the medicine men begins claiming visions and encourages war. As the Cavalry attempt to arrest him he is shot and killed resulting in the Apache warriors reacting in kind. The word broken Geronimo and his tribe head out on a rampage against the white man.Crook resigns after the failed attempt at peace and is replaced with Brig. Gen. Nelson Miles (Kevin Tighe) whose methods are not near so accommodating. Gatewood and his men accompanied by their long time tracker Al Sieber (Robert Duvall) hunt down Geronimo as he wreaks havoc across the countryside. But he is not their only problem. Bounty hunters trying to track him down turn out to be even more vicious than the Indian leader leaving bodies in their wake as well. The end result is known historically as Geronimo eventually was caught and surrendered spending the rest of his life in Florida, once more lied to as he was told he would only be there 2 years. One thing that makes this movie stand out as so different from others that discussed the same subject matter is that it doesn't condescend or preach about the topic at hand, the lies told to the Indians by a government intent of moving west. So many movies on the topic prior to this portrayed the Indians as "noble savages" which in itself seems to be an insulting phrase meant to be a compliment. On one hand we had movies made long ago that portrayed them as heartless killers but then after the 60s we had movies where they were the infringed upon owners of the west. Ignored was the fact that for centuries people around the world have been conquered by an invading force who determined their outcome.What made this different than most was the near attempt at genocide of the Native American Indian. And Hill doesn't dwell on this topic in a morose way that says oh poor me. Instead he shows a proud leader who is doing all he can to save his people from extinction even if that word was not in his vocabulary. It isn't until the final moments of the film when we see the Indians loaded in box cars on their way to Florida that one thinks of this. Images of Jews in the same sort of conditions making their way to concentration camps come easily to mind while seeing this.The movie is best because it doesn't take one extreme side or the other. It tells the tale of a vanquished people but never paints either side as wholly right or wrong. For the soldiers they are doing nothing more than following the directives sent to them from Washington. They're not the redneck gun toting soldiers as portrayed in those late 60s/early 70s films determined to do nothing more than "kill an 'injin". They are soldiers, nothing more. And in Gatewood, Crook and Davis we see that they not only learned to do their duty but learned something from the man they were sent to capture.All actors on hand here turn in great performances. Patric once more shows that he was an actor that should have been provided more and better roles that he received. Odds are it was his personal life (if memory serves me correctly) that prevented that which is sad. Hackman. Need I say more? Damon turns in a great performance as a naïve recruit in what is one of his earliest performances. The most wasted actor here is Wes Studi as Geronimo. For a movie with the character's name in the title it felt like he should have been onscreen more than he was. The moments with Studi there shows that we wasn't just a Native American Indian actor but a great actor. Here too we have an actor who has been wasted by Hollywood and should have had more and better opportunities than to just play Indians. The movie looks great in all the images presented with Hill being able to capture the vast openness of the west in golden hues that make you feel the oppressive heat as well as imagining inhaling the dust kicked up from the dirt strewn plains. It's beautiful and deadly at the same time. The costumes here are well done as well, a little thought of part of a movie but necessary in period films. When done wrong everything looks new and polished in the worst settings but here it was done perfectly with a well-worn look to clothing items making them seem real. My only issue with the movie was the sound. It seems movie makers are determined to shoot dialogue scenes with the lowest volume possible and action sequences as loud as can be. And having them occur back to back leads a viewer to strain to hear what's being said only to be blown out of their seats seconds later. Thank goodness for subtitles.When released the movie did decent numbers but nothing stupendous. That might be because at the same time another film based on Geronimo came out from Ted Turner that ran on TV. It might also have been the title which Hill is said to have been unhappy with preferring THE GERONIMO WAR to this one, a title that would have made more sense. The good news is that fans can now own a solid copy of the film and those that have never seen it have an opportunity to do so.Twilight Time. I never get tired of saying this. Twilight Time is releasing the film in the best possible format and presentation possible in 1080p hi-def blu-ray format. Perhaps the only disappointing thing about this release is that the extras are limited to an isolated music track and the original theatrical trailer. As with all of their releases this one is limited to just 3,000 copies so if interested pick one up soon.
lost-in-limbo
Walter Hill is a true, seasoned action deliverer. Just look at his stellar films and this is why his one of my favourite directors. Still need to see his highly regarded western "The Long Riders" though. Nevertheless his take on the American legend "Geronimo" was not what I was expecting. It's quite a tone down piece (but not on the drama front), still his professional handling of the bravado action contains that walloping punch we have come to expect (like the sequence in a Mexican bar), but the thoughtfully mediative (if a tad stuffy and not entirely correct) material (by John Milius) and productively detailed characters are what takes centre stage. The outstanding performances led by a cast of Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Jason Patric, Wes Studi, Matt Damon, Rodney A. Grant and Kevin Tighe really do cement the humane edge of brave men with moralistic stances. Patric is a revelation in his role, bringing the right idealistic balance and so is a pre-stardom Damon. Duvall brings a solidly noble complexity and Hackman aims up with one of his respectably collected turns. Studi is picture-perfect as Geronimo, who embraces the legend and crafts out a mythical mark. Hill mechanically stages it with a certain ruggedness that's never lost amongst its fetching tailoring, as he does a presentable job covering the sprawling Arizona and Utah foregrounds in getting every little detail of the terrain into the shot. While not flashy, the imagery does linger (as well as some explosive and bloody confrontations) and the scenic cinematography is earthly projected for a genuine look and feel. Ry Cooder (a prolific contributor for Hill) orchestrates a poignantly majestic and spiritually mannered score that enhances its epic framework. A favourably gripping western.
virek213
The saga of the great Apache warrior Geronimo has played a great part in the history of the white man's settling at the American West, though it is a history that for many decades and centuries has been deified beyond all reason at the expense of truth. The U.S. Army's attempts at "pacifying" the Apache onto reservations along the US/Mexico border in Arizona during the 1880s led Geronimo on a campaign of getting revenge, a campaign that ended with his permanent surrender and consignment to what the Army hoped would be historical obscurity on September 4, 1886. Over the years, the saga has been told both in history books and, inevitably, in movies, with a 1962 version (featuring a rather miscast Chuck Connors as the great Apache warrior) being perhaps the most prominent. But perhaps the finest retelling could be found through the mind of director Walter Hill (The Long Riders) in his 1993 film GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND.In decades past, particularly if his opponent had been portrayed by someone like John Wayne, Geronimo would have been seen on screen as a thoroughly villainous figure. But real life rarely ever squared with the Duke's view of the Native American; and it is that fact that Hill and screenwriters John Milius and Larry Gross go after. Jason Patric (as Lt. Charles Gatewood) and Matt Damon (as 2nd Lt. Britton Davis) are the U.S. Cavalry officers assigned to bring Geronimo in for surrender upon orders of General George Crook (Gene Hackman), and with help from the expert scout Al Sieber (Robert Duvall). But when the cavalry break up a medicine man ritual on the Apache reservation at Turkey Creek, Geronimo (superbly played by Wes Studi) goes on the warpath. The film concerns itself with the dichotomy that the U.S. Army faced when dealing with the Apache in Arizona during the 1880s. On the one hand, they were the only true protection the Apache had against incoming white settlers who wanted to remove all traces of Native American life from the West; on the other hand, the Army was also being used as a tool by those same settlers. Such a bind is broken when Hackman's place is taken over by General Nelson A. Miles (Kevin Tighe), his much more hard-nosed, by-the-book successor who, as Patric learns in a hurry, has no intention of honoring any of the agreements for Apache surrender that the Army has made.Given both the cinematic reputations of Hill and Milius, both of whom are of the hardened Peckinpah school of Western demythologizing and violence, GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND could very easily have been just as violent as, say, other pro-Indian films like ULZANA'S RAID or SOLDIER BLUE. With a PG-13 rating, of course, such is not the case. But neither Hill, Milius, nor co-screenwriter Larry Gross shy too far from the historical record that shows the Army/Apache battles were very costly on both sides. And indeed, like history, the film itself is ambiguous, with that ambiguity represented in Patric's Lt. Gatewood, who knows Studi well and questions the Army's willingness to adhere to agreements it signed, which earns something of a questioning from Duvall's scout in this exchange:SIEBER: I just think you're a real sad case. You don't love who you're fightin' for, and you don't hate who you're fightin' against.GATEWOOD: Perhaps I could learn to hate with the proper vigor from you, Al.Soon, even Duvall's hardened scout comes to see that the White Man's conflict with the Apache is written not in black and white, but in shades of gray, and sometimes in red blood. And as the film shows us, America's Manifest Destiny, regardless of what John Wayne may have led generations of Americans to believe, isn't something we can boast about any longer.Hackman and Duvall, not surprisingly, show themselves for the seasoned pros they are; they give their characters the proper vigor. Patric and Damon, who were all but totally unknown at the time, also show their mettle. However, it is Studi who gives the film's greatest performance as the legendary Apache warrior; he is shown as a man of honor who fights only because he has been pushed. Such was true for all Indian tribes throughout America's westward migration. The period score by roots rock musician Ry Cooder also does a lot to add to the atmosphere of the film.In the end, GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND is a probing look at a distorted part of American history that needs to be set straight, and a critique of wrongs against a whole race that have still yet to be righted. We still haven't come to terms with our mistreatment of the Indian (or for that matter, anyone who doesn't adhere to "American" standards), but there are ways for such errors to be corrected. Good film-making has proved to be a catalyst for this; and in that regard and many others, GERONIMO: AN American LEGEND is great film-making.
