Le faucon blanc

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.

I absolutely don't agree with all the sour apple reviews of this movie. Yes, it definitely has its flaws, but on the whole, I love it - the stirring musical score, the Winterhawk song, the gorgeous scenery, the story, and especially the slow motion sequences displaying Michael Dante's dazzling horsemanship - which was why I saw it 7 times in the theater when it first came out. Well known Chicago film critic Roger Ebert gave this movie three stars! I definitely don't agree with all of Roger's reviews. In fact, I've disagreed very strongly more often than not. But his review of Winterhawk was glowing! I suggest you read it!

Movies / Roger Ebert / October 8, 1975

"Winterhawk" is a traditional Western, simply and well told, almost old-fashioned in the clarity of its narrative. An hour or so into it, there's a scene where a group of mountain men are gathered around a campfire, drinking coffee and huddling beneath their blankets for warmth, and something about the look and sound of them reminded me of the classic Westerns of John Ford. This could, indeed, almost be a Western from 20 or 30 years ago, if it weren't for its sympathetic and evenhanded treatment of Indians. The movie takes place very early in the 19th Century, when most of the West was known only to its Indian inhabitants and a few white trappers and traders and mountain men: Neither the farmers nor the cowmen had arrived to start their disagreements. There's a good attempt to be halfway authentic in terms of the period (although the movie's women apparently have found a supply of eyeliner out there in the wilderness), and the characters aren't burdened with all the heavy symbolism, of latter-day Westerns. The story involves a Blackfoot chief, Winterhawk, who takes furs to trade with the white man in exchange for medicine to fight a smallpox epidemic that's decimating his tribe. He's double-crossed, his furs are stolen and, in revenge, he kidnaps a white woman and her young brother and disappears back into the mountains. Their trek leads them past all sorts of glorious scenery, accompanied by appropriately heroic music. The movie's great to look at. A pursuit party sets off to find Winterhawk and "rescue" the woman and boy (who increasingly don't seem to need rescuing), and the filmmaker, Charles Pierce populates the party and the stops along with way with a gallery of great Western character actors. You may not know them all by name - but, believe me, you've seen them in the forts and stagecoaches and saloons and jails of countless Westerns: Denver Pyle, Lief Erickson, Woody Strode, Elisha Cook Jr., L. Q. Jones, Arthur Hunnicutt - the only ones missing are Strother Martin and good old Dub Taylor. Winterhawk is played by Michael Dante, who uses the strong-and-silent routine for all it's worth: It may be a cliché of a performance, but it works, and it's interesting for once to find a movie Indian who speaks in an Indian language that has to be translated for the other characters. He and the girl, Dawn Wells, exchange many meaningful glances and mutual silences before the movie's ending (which is a happy one, the exception in these cases). There's a love interest, but it's underplayed and allowed to develop convincingly, so we don't mind too much. The movie works directly and doesn't attempt to sneak allegories and messages past us. That makes it all the more convincing after the lugubrious "The Master Gunfighter," which turns up dubious "historical facts," works them into a plot lifted from a samurai drama and has the gall to pass itself off as a meaningful statement. Sometimes the best stories are the ones most simply told. -------

So there you have it!

Rita Raffanti

I have been watching westerns since I was in grade school. I often laugh at the inaccuracies found in these westerns. Caucasions playing native americans, etc. This is one of those westerns. Winterhawk is obviously riding a horse with a saddle hidden by a red blanket, stirrups are visible. Most of the other indians are correctly riding bareback as it should be.

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.

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.