Geronimo: An American Legend ****½ (1993, Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Wes Studi, Matt Damon) – Classic Movie Review 5,581

Jason Patric impresses as Charles Gatewood, the gloomy lieutenant who takes Apache chief Geronimo (Wes Studi) into custody and conducts him to the US brigadier general, George A Crook (Gene Hackman).

In the mid-1880s, the US Army tries for a final push to quash the Native Americans in the wonderfully made, shamefully forgotten 1993 Western film Geronimo: An American Legend, earnestly written by John Milius and Larry Gross, from a story by Milius.

John Milius fictionalises the story of the Apache Wars between the US Army and Apache tribes and of how First Lieutenant Charles B Gatewood convinced Apache leader Geronimo to surrender in 1886.

Jason Patric impresses as Charles Gatewood, the gloomy lieutenant who takes Apache chief Geronimo (Wes Studi) into custody and conducts him to the US Brigadier General, George A Crook (Gene Hackman). Robert Duvall steals the movie as Al Sieber, the old Indian scout the army employs to help them capture the escaped Geronimo.

Director Walter Hill manages a brilliant sense of history, landscape and the dignity of good humankind in an inexplicably neglected, serious-minded film touched with greatness.

The Ry Cooder score is a major asset and so is Lloyd Ahern II’s cinematography.

Matt Damon appears in an early role as 2nd Lieutenant Britton Davis. Also in the good old cast are Rodney A Grant as Mangas, Kevin Tighe as Brigadier General Nelson Miles, Stephen McHattie as Schoonover, John Finn as Captain Hentig, Lee de Broux as Marshal Joe Hawkins, and Steve Reevis as Chato.

The film was greenlit by Columbia Pictures’ head of production Mark Canton, when Westerns were enjoying a short revival in popularity with Dances with Wolves, The Last of the Mohicans and Unforgiven. Columbia were to regret the decision when the film was a box office bomb, earning only $18.6 million on a $35 million budget. In the UK, there was a sparsely attended lunchtime press show, and the film was hardly shown.

Gene Hackman and Robert Duvall’s commitment to the film in April 1993 was crucial in getting it made. Wes Studi had impressed in The Last of the Mohicans, though Jason Patric, described by writer Larry Gross as ‘a young actor everybody in Hollywood believes in but who does few pictures and has never had a hit’, was risky casting.

Columbia Pictures required script changes, but Milius was reluctant to revise it so Walter Hill re-wrote it with and Larry Gross, who worked on it for over six months in 1992.

Filming started in May 1993 on locations in Utah, Tucson, Arizona, and Culver City, California

Release date: December 10, 1993.

Running time: 115 minutes.

The story was previously told in Geronimo (1939) and Geronimo (1962) with Chuck Connors.

The cast

The cast are Jason Patric as 1st Lieutenant Charles B Gatewood, Wes Studi as Geronimo, Robert Duvall as Chief of Scouts Al Sieber, Gene Hackman as Brigadier General George A Crook, Matt Damon as 2nd Lieutenant Britton Davis, Pato Hoffmann as The Dreamer, Rodney A Grant as Mangas, Kevin Tighe as Brigadier General Nelson A Miles, Steve Reevis as Chato, Carlos Palomino as Sergeant Turkey, Victor Aaron as Ulzana, Stuart Proud Eagle Grant as Sergeant Dutchy, Scott Wilson as Redondo, Stephen McHattie as Schoonover, John Finn as Captain Hentig, Lee de Broux as City Marshal Joe Hawkins, and Rino Thunder as Old Nana.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,581

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