A Man Called Horse (1970)

As a kid, I had seen the commercials for this movie on channel 56, and it sounded like it was an impressive film that you must see.  Added to that, my interest in native American culture, it's kind of amazing that I hadn't seen this film yet.

But this film, like many films, has one short scene that made a big impression on the audience, and caused people to talk about that this film, but other than those 2 or 3 minutes, the film has very little to offer.

The film stars Richard Harris, who I know from playing King Arthur in Camelot, both the musical and the film.  While in the original story, which was a book, Horse was a Spaniard, being that Harris seems to play nothing other than Englishmen, the character of Horse is an Englishman, whose name is given in the film.

It's a good film in that it shows native Americans in a good light and they are more or less the center of the story, but I feel the accuracy of the representation of the culture is dubious at best.

Even more so, the accuracy of the Vow to the Sun ceremony, which attracted so much attention to this film, is also dubious.  As far as I know, there has been no confirmed record of the activities that take place during this ceremony, and I could find no record of the chest piercing and hanging has ever been a part of this ceremony.  Real or not, I  have heard that back in the times before disinfectant, any wound could become infected and lethal, so that piercing the skin would be something that I would think would be never considered to be done on purpose.


Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
This film adds nothing to the story (the story does not continue nor develop) and just rehashes the Vow to the Sun scene, which made such a big impression in the first film.

Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983)
This film the story does progress, and the character of the son of Horse appears that takes up the cause of justice for his tribe.  It was interesting to see Michael Beck, whom I recognized from The Warriors, and made quite a films in the 80s, but he career never took of they way he probably hoped it would.  He does look slightly native, though through this film, there doesn't appear to be a single genuine native American actor, nor in a native American language spoken.

And as the tradition with movie posters of the time, the woman portrayed in this poster wearing a bikini, never wears a bikini in this film.

Wagon Train: A Man Called Horse (1958)
This story which proceeded the movie, seemed much better put together, and the REAL name of a man called Horse is never revealed.  Even more so, the character of Horse says he named himself, where as in the films, he was called that name by the members of the tribe, which doesn't make very much sense.

Also, in this version, the Man Called Horse is an American, which makes more sense, as it would be exceptionally rare for an Englishman to be out on the Frontier.