Montford: The Chickasaw Rancher

"Raised by my mother's people, my sister and I struggled to survive in two worlds. That of the Chickasaw who understood the richness and beauty of this new land, and that of the white man, whose greed brought nothing but death and destruction" How accurate, I give it a 10/10 just for this quote alone!

When European settlers arrived in the Americas there were close to 11 million Native Americans living here. By 1900, almost every tribe was wiped out. Their population was reduced to under 300,000. Native Americans were subjected to many different forms of violence, all with the intention of destroying them and stealing their land! This violence was based on white supremacy. I'm glad they finally were able to kill that arrogant pos Custer who was responsible for killing many women, children and elderly Natives. He got what he deserved!

It's watchable. There's just enough good to slightly outweigh the bad. It's a passable ride

It's a bit melodramatic, the acting is inconsistent, the direction is not very good, the dialogue is anachronistc, but the story (true) is good, the cinematography is good, and it's an ok way to kill some time. I'm retired. I do that.

The ending is unsatisfying. If you're going to present a character in such a way that you're meant to HATE them, want them to suffer a slow death, etc., then show his comeuppance. There are a couple characters that need killin, but it's only insinuated that they get theirs.

It's not a multiple watch deal. I've seen Shawshank 7 million times. This isn't Ike that.

Good drama/action/historical movie. I was impressed by the dedication, perseverance, and patience of Montford, and how it pays off in the long run. As opposed to Dodgeball (the underdog reference), this is actually based on a true story, which I didn't know beforehand but confirmed with some google-ing.

Based on a true story of how some Native Americans became successful cattle ranchers in 19th century Oklahoma in spite of hatred and violence directed towards them. Entertaining and interesting.

I read the history page for Montford T. Johnson, so that is all I know of the real character. However, the film was educational and enjoyable on a few levels, including as a history lesson and a better depiction of how black and red people interacted during those times, which is rarely seen accurately. Jim Crow changed a lot of relationships, but that was much later after reconstruction. The relationships between black, white and red people were often intertwined, and this film showed that well.

Because it was low budget, and possibly because they owed the actors the right to participate, some of the casting was really off and amateurish, like the hateful soldier, but I could look past that to understand the man better. The script could use a rewrite, but again, low budget.

One thing that was not shown, and that as in the history page for OK, was that Montford was sickly most of his life, which makes his accomplishments even more amazing! I'm grateful this was made so we can have a better view of our country and how it actually operated.