| A Man Called Horse | |
| Director: | Elliot Silverstein |
| Starring: | Richard Harris Judith Anderson Jean Gascon Manu Tupou Corinna Tsopei Dub Taylor James Gammon |
| Producer: | Sandy Howard |
| Music: | Leonard Rosenman |
| Cinematography: | Robert B. Hauser |
| Editing: | Philip W. Anderson Gene Fowler Jr. |
| Studio: | Cinema Center Films Sandy Howard Productions |
| Distributor: | National General Pictures (US) Estudios Churubusco (Mexico) |
| Runtime: | 114 minutes |
| Country: | United States Mexico |
| Language: | English Sioux |
| Budget: | $5 million[1] |
| Gross: | $6 million (US/Canada rentals)[2] $44 million (worldwide by 1976)[3] |
A Man Called Horse is a 1970 Western film directed by Elliot Silverstein, produced by Sandy Howard, and written by Jack DeWitt. It is based on a short story of the same name by the Western writer Dorothy M. Johnson, first published in 1950 in Collier's magazine and again in 1968 in Johnson's book Indian Country. The basic story was used in a 1958 episode of the television series Wagon Train, also titled "A Man Called Horse". The film stars Richard Harris as the titular character, alongside Judith Anderson, Jean Gascon, Manu Tupou, Corinna Tsopei, Dub Taylor, and James Gammon.
Partially spoken in Sioux, the film tells the story of an English aristocrat who is captured by the Sioux people. The film was a Mexican-American co-production filmed on location in Arizona and the Mexican states of Durango and Sonora. It received generally positive critical reviews, and was a financial success, spawning two sequels; The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976) and Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983).
English aristocrat John Morgan is captured, enslaved, and treated like an animal by a Native American tribe. He comes to respect his captors' culture and gain their respect. He is aided in understanding the Sioux by another captive, Batise, the tribe's half-breed fool, who had tried to escape and was hamstrung behind both knees.
Determining that his only chance of freedom is to gain the respect of the tribe, he overcomes his repugnance and kills two warriors from the neighboring enemy Shoshone tribe, which allows him to claim warrior status. After his victory, he proposes marriage to one of the women with the horses taken in battle as bride-price and undergoes painful initiation rites, taking the native name "Shunkawakan" (or "Horse") as his Sioux name.
When one of the warriors takes a vow never to retreat in battle, Morgan's changing perspective is shown, as he turns angrily on the uncomprehending Batise, telling him, "Five years you've lived here, and you've learned nothing about these people – all his death is to you is a means of escape". After successfully helping to fend off an attack by the enemy tribe, he becomes a respected member of the tribe and ultimately their leader.
For the crucial Native American initiation ceremony (Vow to the Sun), wherein actor Richard Harris is hung on pins in his chest, make-up artist John Chambers created a prosthetic chest.[4]
Harris and Silverstein clashed during filming, and when Howard and Harris reunited on Man in the Wilderness, Howard hired Richard Sarafian.[1]
The film was initially released in Italy where it played to large audiences in Rome and Naples. It opened in the United States on April 24, 1970 in 150 theaters in 40 cities in North and South Dakota and Minnesota.[5] It expanded on April 29 to other states, including New York, California, Missouri, Michigan, Washington and North and South Carolina and grossed $297,842 in its first 11 days from 25 of the theaters.[5] [6]
The film has received generally positive critical reviews. Rotten Tomatoes gives it 86% on the Tomatometer.[7]
Two sequels to the original film were made, both with Harris reprising his role:
The film purportedly shared the perspectives of white settlers and Native Americans. However, many people criticized the film harshly. Buffy Sainte-Marie (who was herself later discovered to be a cultural appropriator) said:
Even the so-called authentic movies like A Man Called Horse—that's the whitest of movies I've ever seen.[8]
Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Dakota) said:
As we learned from movies like A Man Called Horse, the more 'accurate' and 'authentic' a film is said to be, the more extravagant it is likely to be in at least some aspects of its misrepresentation of Indians.[9]
It was the first American Western to attempt to portray the Sioux as the protagonists and eulogize their culture, but fell short with Native American audiences because it still had leading white actors as the main characters for the film to appeal to white audiences.[10]
A Man Called Horse was released to DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment on April 29, 2003, as a Region 1 widescreen DVD and on May 31, 2011, as a Blu-ray disc.