A Man Called Horse

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.