O Retorno do Homem Chamado Cavalo

Good reviews here generally averaging 6 stars out of 10 except for one tortured soul So I'll cheerfully add this review although upon reading you no doubt find it completely unusable With our small joyful entourage we saw this as guests of one of the main cast members, as a pre-release screening, I believe it was at the studio in Century City I was delighted to meet the producer Sandy Howard, one of the main cast members Geoff Lewiswas there, other cast members, the reporters were there and also Gale Sondergaard making a comeback after many years (my mother was delighted!) Great fun, so this is my valuable advice to you--get invited to a preview, you'll feel more important and the movie will be better!

The first sequel to A Man Called Horse {there was another one a few years later which turned out to be something of a disappointment} is a much more conventional adventure movie. This does not mean it's bad,not at all,in fact it's probably more enjoyable. There's more English language dialogue,The Sioux dialogue is subtitled instead of just being incomprehensible to those who don't know Sioux,and it follows a familiar action movie structure and scenario. It just lacks the originality and edge of the original,where we were exploring an unfamiliar culture and weren't sure all the time if we liked everything about it. Disappontingly,none of the Sioux in the first film appear to return.

Well directed by Irvin Kershner,generally a journeyman director who occasionally excelled himself {i.e.The Empire Strikes Back},it has a fantastic cut early on from violence in the wild west to fox hunting in England,a different kind of savagery. The early scenes do a really good job of showing the film's hero,again well played by Richard Harris,as a man who appears to have everything-a title,a big house,a wife,etc} but inside is empty because he was only truly himself when he was with the Sioux. The first half of the film is leisurely,and has a re-run of the Sun Vow ritual of the first film,but longer and more graphic. But it's essential to the film,especially the vision Harris has of meeting himself as an old man.

The film's second half is mostly conventional if well staged action fare,although Harris looks out of place riding with the Sioux in western clothes-surely he would have dressed like one of them? Laurence Rosenthal's soaring score is wonderful and,in contrast with the more authentic sounding music of the first film,is more evidence that the filmmakers were generally going for a more romanticised approach. On that level,this sometimes rousing follow up works well.

Enjoyable and entertaining sequel to ¨A man called Horse¨ . The English gentleman known as Horse, returns to the American west to save his adopted Indian tribe from extinction . As the Britisher aristocrat abandons his formal ways and returns the Sioux territory , in the Dakotas , and discovers again is own strength . As he passes their torture tests , and he is again embraced by the tribe . And again the ¨Sun Vow¨scene where our ex-aristocrat is suspended by horsehair ropes from bones inserted into holes made in his chest by eagle claws before they will accept him .

This exciting picture packs thrills , chills , marvelous outdoors and more of the torture scenes for which this series is notorious . The picture contains a deep critical on the inevitable contempt that ignorance of different cultures engenders as well as anthropological differences . This is a very gripping and realistic portrayal of American Indian way of life and many critics considered to be better than its precedessor . Interesting screenplay by Jack DeWitt who wrote also the original plot , based on a 1958 segment of the TV series ¨Wagon Train¨ 1957 , bearing the same title , The Man called Horse, it is the same story as this movie, with a few changes, even chief with two sisters, and a slave to Yellow Rope's mother . Furthermore , the story is based on Cabeza de Vaca's real life , a soldier from Spain that in 1528 suffered all that happens in this movie.

Richard Harris is excellent , as always , at one of his mightiest box office hits . He is in terrific form as the Britisher nobleman who returns along with his Indians friends . Gale Sondergaard , replacing Judith Anderson , provides a strong acting . In addition , a fine support cast such as William Lucking , Geoffrey Lewis and Mexican actors as Jorge Luke , Claudio Brook , Enrique Lucero , all of them ordinaries in Indian roles . It displays rousing and powerful musical score by Laurence Rosenthal at his best . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Owen Roizman , including impressive landscapes . The motion picture was very good directed by Irvin Kershner . Due to George Lucas found to be a very attractive sequel , he hired Irvin Kershner to shoot another awesome follow-up : "The empire strikes again" .

The original version ¨The man called Horse¨ is the best , starred by Harris , Judith Anderson , Iron Eyes Cody , Dub Taylor , James Gammon and directed by Elliot Silverstein ; it deals with Harris who fall into the clutches of a tribe of Sioux ¨Yellow Hands¨ Indians and they proceed to inflict torture by ritual ; it remains a riveting variation of ¨the man living wild¨ issue . Sequelled by a third part titled ¨The triumphs of a man called Horse¨ (1983) an inferior and inadequate following dealing with Horse's son who have to save his people from prospectors in order to keep his title as Chief ; being realized by John Hough with Michael Beck , Anna De Sade , Simon Andreu , but not much Richard Harris .

I thoroughly enjoyed A Man Called Horse when it was released in 1970, but Return played like a typical sequel. Everything about it -- budget, script, plot, casting, and acting -- was inferior to the original. Gale Sondergaard as Elk Woman, an elder of the Yellow Hand tribe, looks nothing like an Indian, and neither do half of the other "Indians," who were played by Italians, Mexicans, and Latinos with cheap wigs. And the old guy who played the chief acted more like a fat old squaw than a fierce leader of warriors. He even used the bow like a woman! Finally, Richard Harris, who did such a superb job in the original, seems to be coasting this time around. I guess he couldn't resist the easy paycheck he got for reprising his role as Horse.

To be fair, there are some interesting moments in the movie, such as Horse's undergoing a painful purification ritual to "find his vision" and rally the Yellow Hands against their Indian enemies and white oppressors, but on the whole, Return is uneven, boring, corny, and predictable -- just like most sequels.

The English gentleman known as Horse (Richard Harris), returns to the American west to save his adopted Indian tribe from extinction.

According to Roger Ebert, "The film reveals its basic white-chauvinist bias, but it certainly seems to take itself seriously. It's of average length, but paced like an epic. There are four main movements in the plot: Return, Reconciliation, Revenge and Rebirth. If this seems a little thin for a two-hour movie, believe me, it is, even with all that portentous music trying to make it seem momentous." The film as a whole is not remarkable. Allegedly this is the film that convinced George Lucas to hire the director for "Empire Strikes Back", arguably the best of the "Star Wars" franchise. But this movie, I don't know... aside from the race issues (a white man intervening t save the Indians, and the Indians being played almost entirely by whooping, stereotypical white actors) it is just a bland movie. Even by sequel standards. Richard Harris is great, but he can't save this one.