Thunderheart

Thunderheart
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Michael Apted
Written by	John Fusco
Produced by	Robert De Niro John Fusco Michael Nozik Jane Rosenthal
Starring	Val Kilmer Graham Greene Sam Shepard Fred Dalton Thompson Sheila Tousey Dennis Banks John Trudell and Fred Ward
Music by	James Horner
Distributed by	TriStar Pictures
Release date	April 3, 1992
Running time	119 min
Languages	English Lakota

Thunderheart is a 1992 American action-mystery film written by John Fusco and directed by Michael Apted with Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, and Fred Ward. Val Kilmer plays an FBI agent with Sioux heritage investigating a murder on a Native American reservation. Graham Greene, a full Oneida Indian from Six Nations Reserve in Ontario, Canada, plays tribal police officer Walter Crow Horse.

Synopsis

Ray Levoi (Val Kilmer) is an ambitious up-and-coming FBI agent in the 1970s with great career prospects. The one thing he will not tolerate is any reference to his part-Sioux heritage.

As far as he is concerned, his loyalties and culture identify him with the government and his white mother. He is extremely touchy about anything to do with his father, who was an alcoholic half-blooded Sioux.

Precisely because he's a token Indian, he's sent to aid in the investigation of a possible political murder on a reservation. Levoi was chosen for the job because Levoi's cynical supervisor, William Dawes (Fred Dalton Thompson), is looking for public relations mileage from Levoi's mixed blood.

Tough local agent Frank "Cooch" Coutelle (Sam Shepard) seems to have the case wrapped up before Levoi even arrives, with only the apprehension of the suspect, American Indian Movement radical Jimmy Looks Twice (John Trudell), left to be done.

While helping Coutelle track down the suspect, Levoi gradually becomes sensitized to Indian issues, partially from his attraction to Maggie Eagle Bear (Sheila Tousey), an earthy, politically active schoolteacher.

Mockingly referred to by some—including gruff, savvy local cop Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene) -- as the "Washington Redskin," Levoi finds that he has an unaccountable standing with some of the tribal elders; according to one of the film's more mystical subplots, they "recognize" Levoi as Thunderheart, an Indian hero slain at the Wounded Knee massacre and now reincarnated to deliver them from their current troubles.

As more killings take place, and as Walter provides him with some telling leads, Levoi comes to suspect—much to Coutelle's anger—that the case is not as cut and dried as the veteran agent would have him believe.

Levoi discovers that a government-sponsored plan to strip mine uranium on the reservation is at the root of the killings. The mining is polluting the water supply and fueling a bloody conflict between the American Indian activists and the reservation's pro-government ruling council who, led by Jack Milton (Fred Ward), are not above using violence to further their aims. Milton does not own the land where the mining occurs, but gets kickbacks from the leases.

Coutelle, it turns out, is part of the problem rather than the solution, and the film ends with a climactic show-down between the pro-government and anti-Government forces.

The film is a fictionalization based on true events (see Wounded Knee incident), including the rise of the American Indian Movement. In particular, the character Jimmy Looks Twice (played by John Trudell) is modeled on the appearance of native American activist Bob Robideau and the story of Leonard Peltier, who like Jimmy, was sought by the FBI for the murder of two FBI men and was eventually arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned, where he remains. Maggie Eagle Bear, the school teacher, is based on Anna Mae Aquash, an educator and activist for Indian women's rights.

The film gives a very positive reading to the Leonard Peltier story, suggesting not only his innocence with respect to the murders, but also a visionary charisma and a mystical, almost saintlike, acceptance of sacrifice and martyrdom.

John Fusco lived on the Pine Ridge reservation while researching and writing the screenplay. He became near-fluent in Lakota language and was adopted as a relative of the Oglala nation on September 3, 1989. During the 1980s he became close with the tribe's highest-ranking ceremonial Chief, Frank Fools Crow, and modeled the character of Grandpa Sam Reaches after him. Fusco's affiliation with the Oglala Oyate led to the film crew gaining permission to film on site.

Apted was intrigued by the actual events behind the film and by the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Apted also made a documentary about the subject, Incident at Oglala.

Cast

• Val Kilmer ... Ray Levoi
• Sam Shepard ... Frank Coutelle
• Graham Greene ... Walter Crow Horse
• Fred Ward ... Jack Milton
• Fred Dalton Thompson ... William Dawes
• Sheila Tousey ... Maggie Eagle Bear
• Ted Thin Elk ... Grandpa Sam Reaches
• John Trudell ... Jimmy Looks Twice
• Julius Drum ... Richard Yellow Hawk
• Sarah Brave ... Maisy Blue Legs
• Allan R.J. Joseph ... Leo Fast Elk
• Sylvan Pumpkin Seed ... Hobart
• Patrick Massett ... Agent Mackey
• Dennis Banks ... Himself
• David Crosby ... Bartender

Awards

Thunderheart was nominated for two awards during the 1993 ceremonies.

Political Film Society Awards

Nominations

• Exposé
• Human Rights

See also

• Incident at Oglala, also directed by Michael Apted.
• Wounded Knee incident

External links

• Thunderheart at IMDb