Flap

Flapping Eagle (Anthony Quinn) is an Indian living on a poor reservation. He and his friends struggle to make a living while dealing with racist cops like Sgt. Rafferty whenever they leave their reservation. They get drunk and grow apathetic. His buddy Eleven Snowflake actually publishes an obituary in the newspaper. Flap has an idea to lead a revolt with Eleven writing the story.

There is one moment when the movie surprised me with an opportunity for a great turn. When the construction supervisor takes the turn, this could become something. There is an over-arching issue with this story. These guys are drunks and they're not funny drunks. It's pathetic and rather annoying. He needs to get clean as the inciting incidence for his activism. Once he's clean, he gets a new vision of his purpose in life. That's a better character progression. As it stands, he's all over the place. The movie wants to be a comedy but frustration with him also frustrates the humor. It's a bumpy road but it does eventually get to the right place.

The sentiment is appreciated but not the execution. The ongoing plight of the Native American is the worthy subject but having the key roles played by whites was the usual Hollywood BS and comes across as exploitative and stereotyped. Quinn was a great actor but his drunken bear of a man routine wears out fast, as it did in A Dream of Kings.

Have you ever read a book, then seen the movie, and wonder-How did they screw it up so bad? This is one of those. The book by Huffaker, "Nobody Likes a Drunken Indian" was great, riotously funny...this movie is not. It seems as though nobody cared enough to move the direction along so we CARED about the characters. This movie, which touches on some real concerns about Indians, makes you wonder why we haven't seen more comedies about the holocaust, or slavery. Not well done.

I remember seeing this movie as a boy at the Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah. I thought it was a very good movie. It kept me laughing (like the book) for years. I still think of this movie and laugh on occasion. At the risk of sounding like I don't care (but being part Osage) I would like to say that the Native American uprising on the 70's (and in part fueled by getting the native plight out to the general population which this movie did) worked! The Native American Nations (at least the ones with any motivation) are prospering. The Osage have Oil on the res. Most reservations now have gaming on them that draw money to the res. Anyone that talks of the plight and whines of the times as they are now should try to become a quiet old man. I await the re-make of this fine film!

It's been a few years since I've seen "Flap," and admittedly the memory is perhaps a little fuzzy in places. Though I've never read Huffaker's "Nobody Likes a Drunken Indian," the movie still stands out as a character study which needed to be told. Showing both sides of life on a remote, post-war reservation, its characters displayed bits and pieces of people I've known on and around a nearby reservation in this region. Also, the destruction of the bulldozer, subsequent bender with its owner, and the theft of a railroad car provided much needed moments of comedy to the ever present backdrop of the plight of the natives. Though few are likely to have heard of this movie, and though I've heard it is currently out of print, I feel it is long overdue for a remake and yes- some improvements. Still, it's one of those films that is well worth a look. -Chuck