The Only Good Indian

I read James Boyd's review and almost didn't watch this movie. I am glad I decided to watch the movie. James missed a lot of the major points in this movie, betrayal, love, hate, greed, deception. All these things are what make a good Drama. I understand that most people now days don't want to hear about the way the American Indians faced genocide, humiliation and reprogramming. It is a part of the history of this nation, and movies like this, addressing the past aren't just about revenge. People can be greedy and cruel, but it takes a real man to own up to his past and do what is right. I believe this movie shows that courage and honor.

Sam a Cherokee Indian has the world by the balls, he has everything all figured out. He's got his own Detective Agency, which is about to be bought up by Pinkerton Security agency and they're about to make him an agent. With his fancy clothes and motorbike he's spinning his wheels tracking down squaws that escape from the assimilation schools. He tells this to Charlie after he captures him. calling him a red-n-word, and how proud he is that he shrugged off his Native American trappings. Charlie tells them about another run-away Indian who's wanted for double murder. Now SAM isn't new to racism and seems to deal with the anti-Indian sentiment around town, in fact he profits off of it. On their tale is another bounty hunter McCOY the local Sheriff who isn't shown that much respect either. McCOY is world renown Indian killer and heroine addict. He reveals Sam's past telling him "Half the Indians I get credit for, were killed by you". Sam who is running from his passed is forced to face it.

GREAT movie. Well done, and though names are fictitious, there is the awful truth in the events.

How can it be that we have not recognized the error of our actions, and made some restitution? The black Americans are calling for restitution for the slavery of their ancestors, have we not done worse by the Indians?

Those of us who live near Indian reservations, can on a daily basis, the plight of the Indians, who are still, in this day and age, treated with scorn and distaste.

Why, when our neighbor to the north, has recognized the injustice in the removal of children from their families, and made restitution, and formally apologized for their actions, can we do less.

I had the dubious pleasure of catching this title at the Santa Fe Film festival.

I'm baffled as to how this has a 7.5 rating. I wasn't going to say anything until I heard this won "best picture" at the festival.

This movie is essentially a native American / first American revenge story; its didactic goals are to remind us of the atrocities committed against the Indians by the federal government and people working under its tacit permission and to re-figure the typical "wild west" narrative into something that actually does justice to the story of Native Americans. This is accomplished by a kind of "modernization" of the plot setting: The protagonist, Sam (played by Wes Studi) is a roving bounty hunter who captures Indian runaways from a nearby Indian School. This movie has some heavy political undertone. I grew up near "Indian School" road without the slightest notion of what the name of the road was derived from. This movie's job, then is to make a kind of "Indian Drama" in the story of the escapees of the school, their interactions with Sam, and their ultimate destiny. But also, it is there to portray the horrors that Indians faced in early-20th century America, horrors that are too often missing from Americans' self-knowledge.

These two drives end up pulling the film apart. But all of the above was written as if the movie above actually had any idea what they were trying to say with the film. It's running length (114 minutes) is ridiculous for a film of this subject and budget, the acting abysmal, the story banal.

After accidentally catching this fine film, I found myself seeking a copy to show in the U.S.History courses that I teach. While not Native myself, I do find that you cannot understand the problems of the modern US without taking a close look at the status of Blacks and Native Americans in a land built on the concepts of freedom, respect for culture and equality. The period detail is excellent. The archival images included in the film are striking and well thought out. The acting and plot elements very appropriate and excellently developed. The characters are complex and a very good representation of how individuals of that time would have functioned. The topic and supportive info detail an environment and actions by citizens, commercial parties and the government that are amongst the worse in US History. While I could see how some who would, by cultural background be forced to relate to the negative characters in the film, might desire to keep these types of events buried in the past. Exposure helps explain why we still have much to overcome if this society is ever really going to effectively blend.

I recommend this for open-minded individuals who appreciate good historical fiction. Those leaning more towards revisionism might want to pull out their favorite copy of "Birth of a Nation" or "They Died with Their Boots On" (Good movies, but get real!