Cheap Geronimo - An American Legend (DVD) (Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall) (Walter Hill) Price

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Customer Reviews of Geronimo - An American Legend

Accurate and visually delightful
Geronimo is bringing the story and old photographs of the Apche leader and his brave warriors to life. The accuracy of such is demonstrated in various scenes reconstructed precicely from authentic photographs from the 1880's. Strong performance by "less-is-more"-Patric, and of course Studi portrays the fierce chief with irony and necessary harshness. The mood of the film is hot and lazy, with sudden bursts of violence, the trademark of a Walter Hill movie. Fine performance by the dry Hackman, and probably Duvall doing his best since the Godfather (and of course the later "The Apostle") as the wry scout Sieber. The movie pays strong attention to details such as language, manners, music, costumes and persons, all relying on historical facts. It just lacks that tiny little bit that satisfies both the average audience and the history buffs. The first group probably miss more plot, and the latter would like to see some more, i.e. how the Apache dealt with their imprisonment in Florida and the return to Oklahoma and so on. All together an honest attempt to tell the story of one of the strongest, if not wisest, personalities in the history of native Americans.

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A war drama that feels like a western pic.
Although the movie is based on a real U.S. Army campaign against the Apache, one feels like watching a well-made western. There are "battle scenes" that are really short skirmishes. Suprisingly, the best scene of cinematic violence is a shootout inside some bar, I mean saloon, between the heroes and a group of bounty hunters. (Hence, the title of this review.) Wes Studi plays Geronimo, an Apache shaman who refused to surrender to the U.S. and be assimilated. Being a farmer in an enclosed reservation was not his suit, nor was it for the small band of warriors who followed him as a renegade. Watching Studi, I can't help but think of his role as a Huron war party captain in "Last of the Mohicans." As in "Mohicans", Studi's character in "Geronimo" kills, both white soldiers and civilians, with cold blooded brutality. This film manages to romanticize Geronimo's noble but lost cause while also emphasizing that he and his warriors were merciless in combat and not above killing unarmed civilians.

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AS FAIR AS HOLLYWOOD GETS
A fair look at the clash of white-Indian civilization was in John Milius' excellent "Geronimo", the story of the last Apache captured and brought in, bringing to an end the Indian Wars in 1890. Gene Hackman plays the officer charged with negotiating and capturing Geronimo. It fairly shows brave Indians, a well-meaning government, circumstances that were beyond control of the ability to foresee, white settlers whose ingenuity made use of the land that was previously unheard of, and how these events brought about bad feelings in the Indian community. The film is even without demonizing either side.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM