Geronimo - An American Legend
by Walter Hill
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Actor: Gene Hackman, Jason Patric, Matt Damon, Robert Duvall, Wes StudiDirector: Walter Hill
Brand: Sony
Cinematographer: Lloyd Ahern II
Producer: Walter Hill
Editor: Carmel Davies
Producer: Michael S. Glick
Producer: Neil Canton
Writer: John Milius
Writer: Larry Gross
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC, Subtitled
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 2.35:1
Running Time: 115 minutes
DVD Release Date: 1998-11-17
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
DVD Reviews of Geronimo - An American Legend
DVD Review: ...a stunningly well told epic possessing a timeless message...
Summary: 5 Stars
From the moment that Matt Damon as 2nd Lt. Britton Davis commenced a narration of this sensitive and fascinating account of events relating to America's campaign against the Chiricahua-Apache and, in particular, Geronimo's role in that conflict, it became evident that this film possessed a rare and special quality. Indeed, I have never viewed a more compassionate and engaging rendering of the American western experience. For this I remain full of admiration for Walter Hill's eminently successful endeavor to portray the painful realities of US policy towards native Americans in the west with insight and fairness. The cast is marvelous - Jason Patric as 1st Lt. Charles B. Greenwood, Gene Hackman as General George Crook, Robert Duvall as Chief of Scouts, Al Sieber, and the compelling Cherokee actor Wes Studi playing Geronimo together with a strong supporting cast, all deliver memorable performances that seem perfectly suited to the fascinating lives they depict.
Geronimo was released just three years after Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves (1990) an epic that brought a fresh and greatly needed interpretation of the western experience by examining the particulars of America's conquest of lands inhabited by the Lakota - the westernmost of three Sioux groups occupying lands in both North and South Dakota. Dances With Wolves is an excellent film, but to my mind, Geronimo stands as a superior work. Sadly as Geronimo was made for television in 1993, the film would be deprived of Academy Award consideration. It should be remembered that John Houston's The Man Who Would Be King, also eluded acclaim during the Oscar ceremonies of 1975, then steadily secured a special niche reserved for greatness in the minds of legions of film goers. There is no higher honor that I can accord Geronimo than to compare it with The Man Who Would Be King.
In Geronimo, we are able to observe the fusion of a brilliant script by an exceedingly talented screenplay writer, John Milius, Hill's wonderful direction, the majestic cinematography of Lloyd Ahern, a beautiful musical score by Ry Cooder, and first rate performances from a stellar cast. It should be noted that all of this was achieved without the inclusion of a love story. The title might certainly have been improved. And there are historical inaccuracies in this film to be sure, indeed quite a few of them. Nonetheless, the film captures the historical essence of the subject in a masterly fashion. Here we have a stunningly well told epic possessing a timeless message that contains an eerie relevancy to the politics of our contemporary world.
An additional asset commending this film is the manner in which we are able to draw analogies between the stark and brutal nature of America's policies against the Apache in 1886 with the basic attitude and approach found today among numerous Washington-based policymakers. Insensitive, arrogant, often loutish proponents of "neo-con" philosophy today demonstrate a consistent inability or unwillingness to comprehend the nuances of other cultures. As in 1886, too many such people continue to exercise a determinant role in formulating Washington policies and have, through racist inclination or in the interest of corporate profit, brought about unnecessary and horrendous destruction worldwide. Lt. Charles B. Gatewood's character, expertly played by Jason Patric, possesses innate good sense and decisiveness. His daring, fluency with the Apache language, delicate feeling for the ways of the Chiricahua people and successful effort to persuade Geronimo to stand down, ended the desperate Chiricahua Apache warrior's struggle to maintain his freedom. Gatewood's talents and accomplishments are rewarded with punishment. Gatewood will be posted in Wyoming and forced to serve the rest of his military career in oblivion.
The symbolism employed in this film is particularly effective, and we see this in a pronounced way at the very close of the film as Geronimo and his followers are carried by a train from their home in Arizona/New Mexico to Florida.In the new mechanized "iron-horse" dominated world in which Geronimo found himself after his surrender, the cruel nature of a Washington-based policy of land grab that crushed a time-honored nomadic way of life is plainly revealed. A mis-leading impression created here is that Geronimo lived out his final twenty-two years in exile in Florida which he did not. The details of this last phase of his life are quite understandably omitted as they do not fit into the romanticized image of the warrior that Hill so artfully projects.
For the record, Geronimo would be sent to Fort Pickens, Florida while his family was transported to Fort Marion in St. Augustine. In 1887, all were reunited following their transfer to the Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama where they would remain for the next five years. Geronimo and his family were moved again in 1894 to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Geronimo never stopped asking to be returned to his native land. Many Apache people would die of tuberculosis and other diseases in Florida. In time, Geronimo would participate in Wild West Shows, the Omaha Exposition of 1898, the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, and the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair where he took advantage of his legendary reputation as a warrior to sell souvenirs. To his credit, Teddy Roosevelt asked Geronimo to participate in his Inaugural Parade of 1905. Four years later in 1909, Geronimo died of pneumonia and the great Chiricahua /Apache warrior was buried in the Apache burial ground at Fort Sill.
The story does not end here. The great grandson of Geronimo 59 year old Harlyn Geronimo of Mascalero, New Mexico has asked President Bush to investigate the theft of Geronimo's skull and femur which he believes was stolen by the President's grandfather Prescott Bush in 1918 from the burial grounds of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There is some evidence to suggest that Prescott brought these skeletal remains to the headquarters of the Skull and Crossbone Society in New Haven Connecticut to be used for bizarre rituals including an initiation rite that is said by some to involve kissing a skull, referred to as "Geronimo" that is contained in a glass case. President Bush is a member of the ultra secret and powerful Skull and Bones Society and this explains his refusal to comment upon this issue.
Thus ninety eight years after his death, the cycle of life and the painful legacy of betrayal and infamy surrounding Geronimo that accompanies it continues. In the meantime, additional analogies can be drawn to the perilous and too often futile efforts of oppressed people everywhere including the Chiricahua- Apache to secure, amid hostile forces aligned against them, a life characterized by justice, security, human dignity and freedom.
Description of Geronimo - An American Legend
GERONIMO - DVD MovieWalter Hill's revisionist take on the American cavalry's campaign to capture renegade Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo (Wes Studi) is, like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a dark tale that both celebrates and critiques myths of the American West. Despite its title, Geronimo is really about the American cavalry officers who undertake the responsibility of recapturing the warrior, in particular the young narrator Lt. Charles Gatewood (Jason Patric), a Civil War hero who respects the great Geronimo and brokers a treaty with the Chiricahua, only to see it collapse when the army kills the tribal medicine man. Gene Hackman plays Gen. George Crook, the proud but sympathetic officer charged with bringing in the renegades who take to hills after the killing. Robert Duvall, the tough, racist army scout and Indian fighter Charlie Sieber, practically steals the picture with his cagey, underplayed performance. More complex and complicated than most Westerns, this is a Walter Hill film through and through: lean, ironic, beautiful to look at (it was shot on location against the astounding landscape of southeastern Utah), and driven by a wonderful Ry Cooder score. Don't confuse this with the 1993 TNT cable film by the same name; it confounded many viewers at the time of its release and may have been at least partially responsible for its box-office disappointment. --Sean Axmaker
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