SparkMore
n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.
Joanna Mccarty
Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.
Nicole
I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.
Robert J. Maxwell
I found this historical flick about the relationship between the Apache chief Geronimo (1829 - 1907) pretty interesting. I was mainly impressed by two things: the picturesque landscape that falls just short of "epic", and what I took to be reasonable or at least a convincing facsimile of historical accuracy.It isn't really a traditional Western in the sense of good guys and bad guys. Nor is it patronizing towards the Indians, as "Fort Apache" was. Like life, the universe is more complex than that, and more confusing. For the most part, General Crook (Gene Hackman) tries to compromise. His successor,General Miles (Kevin Tighe, good actor, perennial bad man), is a lying bastard.It's no wonder Geronimo (Wes Studi) is torn between trying to raise corn within the strictures of reservation life and taking off for the hills with a band of resentful warriors and their families. The Apache were pretty rough on captives too. They were artists of torture and the film doesn't shy away from it, although it doesn't get into the arrangements in any detail.Geronimo and his group wind up as prisoners of war in various place, beginning in Florida and ending at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was a POW for the rest of his life, but also a celebrity. He appeared at fairs, rode in Teddy Roosevelt's inaugural parade and so forth. The movie gives the impression that he spent the rest of his life behind bars.That's misleading but not entirely false. Other incidents, I would guess, are fabricated -- an encounter between a few soldiers and some bounty hunters in which the famous scout Al Sieber (Robert Duvall) is killed. He actually died when a boulder fell on him at a construction site. The honorable Lieutenant Gatewood (Jason Patric) was a real figure who admired the Apache and spoke their language but was betrayed by the Army.For what it's worth, if the US Army treated the Apache poorly, the Mexican Army did even worse.
Leofwine_draca
Walter Hill's biopic of the Apache hero brings to life the political struggle between Native Americans and the US army in the 19th century. It's a fast paced, well made movie that's more educational than everything else; as a viewer to whom the story was completely new, I enjoyed learning about the tensions and situations along with the historical backdrop.However, I can't help but feel the film is lacking something: it has a made for TV feel and never has the 'bite' or heart that make other biopics so affecting. This one goes through the motions and utilises a powerful cast to bring the characters to life, but you watch it in the same way you watch a history documentary: to learn rather than feel. The blame has to go to John Milius's script, I think.Still, both Hackman and Duvall contribute seasoned turns as grizzled old war veterans, and it's great to see a fresh-faced Matt Damon taking on a leading role and handling it comfortably so early on in his career. What a surprise, too, to discover that Jason Patric (THE LOST BOYS) could actually act back in the day. The best cast member is Wes Studi as Geronimo himself: playing his character stony-faced most of the time, he gets the man's humility, strength and sense of quiet honour just right.
njmollo
Some say that Geronimo: An American Legend is revisionist but there is no getting away from the fact that this movie is poorly made hokum. The story begins and firmly stays with the point of view of the white man. One of the first scenes sets the tone for the following nonsense by having the American Cavalry officer played by Gene Hackman stress to his men the desire to allow the Indian women and children to escape to safety before they ride in to capture the renegade Indians.This cynical attempt at stressing the concern or at least the benevolence of the American Cavalry is ridiculous considering the well documented indiscriminate slaughter of Indian women and children perpetrated by American forces in the west.This travesty continues with Charles B. Gatewood played with angelic wetness by Jason Patric espousing an extraordinary and relentless knowledge of Apache customs, beliefs and spirituality to the young impressionable Lt. Britton Davis (Matt Damon). Ignorance and a want to stay ignorant of the Indian and their beliefs was standard for US soldiers and civilians alike at the time.The image of the Red Indian as created by Hollywood is perpetuated in this production without any attempt to shed new light on the subject. The revisionist Hollywood cliché is that the American Forces accidentally start the carnage and slaughter because of some simple misunderstanding. That the brutality is somehow impelled because of some small yet legitimate action by the Indian. Flying in the face of documented history, the general impression created by Hollywood is that the wholesale murder of the Red Indian was all a terrible mistake.The fact that Geronimo was never made a Chief because he was too impetuous and irresponsible is not broached. He is seen talking as if a Chief with retrained wisdom and thought. Many of Geromimo's own tribe found him to be dangerous and unreliable. Some still to this day wonder why Geronimo has become such an icon for white America. On a technical level this production is shot like a TV movie and the editing is especially bad. The dialogue is atrocious and unoriginal, an example being when Geronimo shoots a jug out of the hand of a Marshall at distance "That was a good shot!"......."No, I was aiming for his head!"
bkoganbing
Geronimo: An American Legend was the last of the fearsome Indians whose very name spread terror to the white settlers of the American West. The film is based on the actual memoirs of the real life character Matt Damon plays. Damon's character Brittain Davis wrote the book in 1929, in the film Damon is a young shave-tail lieutenant newly minted from West Point and assigned to the 6th Cavalry in the Arizona territory. Damon narrates the film and it's through his eyes that we see the action unfold.Army politics factors big in the hunt for Geronimo, General George Crook who was the Army general best known for subduing the Indians had his policy questioned by the officials in Washington and after he captures Geronimo once and then through some gross stupidity an incident happens on the reservation that sets Geronimo on the warpath again, Crook played by Gene Hackman is replaced by General Nelson Miles who is portrayed by Kevin Tighe.That's above the heads of army lieutenant Charles Gatewood who actually does the negotiations to bring Geronimo in and is played by Jason Patric. It's also so much nonsense to army chief of scouts Al Sieber who Robert Duvall plays. They're the ones along with Damon who are actually in the trenches so to speak.The Indian wars of the Arizona Territory are played even handedly in this film showing the courage and brutality on both sides. Geronimo: An American Legend is a fact based tale told from the perspective of one who was actually there. It's a most worthwhile film.
