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A Man Called Horse (1970)

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From Time Out Film Guide

First of a series of Westerns in which Richard Harris seemed determined to outdo Brando's penchant for situations permitting a bit of sado-masochistic suffering. Here, as an English lordling captured by Sioux, he undergoes the particularly nasty trial-by-torture of the Sun Vow. Self-touted as an authentic picture of Sioux manners and customs, the film to some extent delivers the goods (despite sacrificing a great deal of credibility by absurdly casting Judith Anderson as a malevolent old crone). But the Sun Vow sequence, lingered on in enervatingly gloating detail, ultimately defines it as exploitative. (From a story by Dorothy M Johnson.

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Time Out Film Guide

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Jul 22 2008 09:41 here harris gives a definitive account of a white man who rises above the squabbles of race and pseudo-culture to become something very noble -a true human being ,
the acting is superb and the authenticity of the indian tribal traditions ,language and culture is par excellence ,
the atmosphere in the praires with the action strife between the europeans ,indians and indian themselves is chilling and immaculate .
a great human drama with great technical finesse and the dvd looks newly restored .
this is richard harris at his best and that is no mean achievement as he is a great naturally gifted actor ,and kevin costner must have seen this to inspire him to make dances with wolves ,though this is much more fascination as both art and entertainment .
i find the rituals and the love affair between him and the indian woman enchanting and the interaction between nature ,humanity and the wildlife is visceral yet so magical -must see .
REDFORD MUST HAVE SEEN THIS TO MAKE HORSE -WHISPERE TOO ,what an influential movie and an icon for the native american culture ,truly harris was a noble soul and man .
god bless harris
- jbz7879

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