Winterhawk

It is set in 1845 Montana, there a Blackfoot Indian : Michael Dante seeks smallpox serum from a nearby trapper camp for his stricken tribe . When he is attacked for his efforts , he takes vendetta by kidnapping two of the settlement's members : Dawn Wells . Then a posse : Leif Erickson , Denver Pyle , Woody Strode , Elisha Cook Jr is formed , going after him . Before the West ever saw the American cowboy..Winterhawk had become a Blackfoot legend . He was the greatest legend the Blackfoot ever had ... and the White Man could never forget .

An agreeable , melodramatic Western movie with trappers , mountain men , Indians and extremely nasty baddies . It packs thrills , noisy action , pursuits and gorgeous landscapes. Exceptional and colorful photography of the gorgeous scenary can't hide the cliched story , in spite of it , resulting to be enjoyable enough . Very marvellous scenary shots of the Rocky Mountains and some pretty soundtrack make up for some of the known , predictable plot . The picture contains a good cast , giving dencent interpretation , with plenty of Western notorious secondaries as Leif Erickson , Denver Pyle , Elisha Cook Jr , Woody Strode , Michael Dante , L. Q. Jones in a really villain role and Arthur Hunnicut's last screen appearance

It packs a sensitive and rousing musical score by Lee Oldridge . Luminous and briiliant cinematography from Jim Roberson and Charles B Pierce himself . This acceptable and in medium budget motion picture was well directed by Charles B Pierce . This craftsman also made similar style westerns such as : Hawken's Breed , Sacred Ground and Grayeagle . Although he also made terror genre as Town that dreaded Sundown, The Evictors , Legend of Bobby Creek , Bobby Creek II and Adventures as Norseman . Rating : 6.5/10 . Worthwhile watching.

Set in the Montana wilderness of the 19th century, "Winterhawk" relates the story of the title character (Michael Dante), a mythical warrior of the Blackfoot people. Despite his feelings towards the white man, he realizes that he will have to ask for their help when smallpox starts to decimate his tribe. He goes to a community with the intention of a trade so that he can obtain needed medicine. But two of the guys in this community are the patently awful Gates (L. Q. Jones) and Scoby (Dennis Fimple), and they merely mock and assault Winterhawk and his fellow emissaries.

In retaliation, Winterhawk kidnaps lovely young Clayanna (Dawn Wells) and her younger brother Cotton (Chuck Pierce, Jr., the son of director Charles B. Pierce), and takes them on a very long journey North. They are followed by community members Big Rude (Woody Strode), Arkansas (Denver Pyle), and Little Smith (Jimmy Clem, a Pierce regular), as well as sullen loner Guthrie (Leif Erickson), who's always been a friend to people like Winterhawk.

This is pretty good, overall. It attempts to be epic in scope, spanning months and seasons, and it's the winter scenes that are the best. As befitting Pierces' style, there is time for some comedy touches, but he treats his Indian characters with dignity, and it's worth noting that not only was he doing his part in keeping the Western genre alive during this time, but he was also taking the time to tell stories that revolved around Indian people.

Overall, despite some very nice scenery and excellent music by Lee Holdridge (as well as a catchy theme song), Pierces' subsequent film "Grayeagle" is superior. For one thing, although he doesn't do a bad job, Dante is not as imposing or commanding a presence as Alex Cord is in that other film. But he's surrounded by such a top bunch of character actors that this picture is still quite watchable. (Strode, playing a strong / silent type, tends to be rather wasted until late in the story.) Also appearing are ever-welcome faces like Elisha Cook, Jr., Arthur Hunnicutt, and the notorious Sacheen Littlefeather as Guthries' young wife. Fimple and especially Jones play jerks so loathsome that you wait patiently for their hoped-for comeuppance.

This viewer could have done without the narration that came across to him as rather pretentious, but "Winterhawk" is still a reasonably engrossing story from writer / producer / director Pierce. Strodes' son Kalai Strode also contributed to the script, uncredited.

Seven out of 10.

You are wrong! This is a great movie! I watched it again and again. I loved the scenery. And the music was beautiful. I love Dawn Wells and thought she was great in this part. A wonderful story that gives a sympathetic view of the American Indian.

Love the scenery, cuz it is in our backyard!!! It was also cut down from the three hour epic that Charles Pierce wanted to make, as we have looked for lots of our friends who were extras is various scenes and they did not make it into the final 98 minutes.

The film also had a sizable budget for that period of time, so I think the issue is more related to the parts that landed on the cutting room floor.

Michael Dante was also extremely arrogant and was hard to work around. Dawn Wells was very nice, as was Denver Pyle who loved the Flathead Valley.

While I do admire independent filmmaker Charles B. Pierce for making a western when the western genre was all but dead in American cinema, and I admire him for making a western where a Native American is the central figure - a rarity in westerns - I couldn't come up with much enthusiasm for the finished results, despite the fact that I love westerns and I can be very forgiving of shortcomings in them. For one thing, the character of Winterhawk, as well as the two white youths that he kidnaps and takes on a long journey, are not constructed well. Winterhawk hardly says a thing, and you frequently wonder what he's thinking or feeling. The two white youths don't get much more to say. Actually, the female white youth does have some dialogue, though most of it is done by her narration (cheaper and easier to dub over footage than to shoot live dialogue). Also, the wilderness doesn't look very spectacular, even during the winter shots. While far from the worst western ever made, I think even western fans will feel cheated by the time the end credits roll.