Val Kilmer

Sam Shepard

Graham Greene

Fred Ward

Fred Thompson

Sheila Tousey

Ted Thin Elk

John Trudell

Julius Drum

Sarah Brave

Allan R.J. Joseph

Sylvan Pumpkin Seed

Patrick Massett

Rex Linn

Brian A. O'Meara

Duane Brewer

Lewis C. Bradshaw

Dennis Banks

Candy Hamilton

Jerome Mack

Tom M. LeBeau

Bridgit P. Schock

Terry Graber

David Crosby

Jerry Allan

Gordon Patterson

Robin J. Saderup

Buddy Red Bow

Sam Adams

Robin Black Bird

Floyd Charging Crow

Elroy Cross

Charles Davis

Ernest Red Elk

Kenneth J. Richards

Severt Young Bear Sr.

Carlin Orville Morrison

Verland Theodore Phelps

Calvin Timothy Red Elk Sr.

Tim Owen Taggart

Melvin Young Bear

Mike Breyer

Tony D. Head

Jason R. Lone Hill

Robert De Niro

Roger Deakins

Michael Nozik

Jane Rosenthal

Ian Crafford

John Fusco

Michael Apted

James Horner

Billy D. Lucas

Tim A. Davison

Jeff Okabayashi

Christopher Cronyn

Jeff Butcher

Paul Taylor

Joani Yarbrough

Eric Swanek

Chris Soldo

Jonathan Herron

Dennis Maitland II

Randy Nolen

David Atherton

James Ellis Deakins

David R. Ellis

J. Michael Muro

Elizabeth Feldbauer

Lisa Clarkson

Chris Newman

Bill O'Leary

Dianna Freas

Bill Ballou

Antoine Douaihy

Ted Churchill

Tim Pershing

Webster Whinery

David Brace

John K. Stirber

Dan Bishop

Joan Eisenberg

Susan Lyall

Ralph Brandofino

Elliott Marks

Fred J. Brown

Jim Henrikson

Lucy Coldsnow-Smith

Cindy Marty

John Orlebeck

Jody Hummer

Edwin Bowden Jr.

Shawn Murphy

Paula Benson-Himes

Lee Grubin

Janet Kalas

Stan Siegel

Karen Day

Nick Miller

Teri E. Dorman

Michele Sharp

Jeff Gomillion

Jackson Schwartz

Hugh Aodh O'Brien

Bernie Pock

Patricia Androff

Dennis Maguire

George Bamber

Robert Friedman

Rick Kline

Kevin O'Connell

Joseph T. Sabella

Michael Adams

Grant Brittan

William H. Burton Jr.

Susan Rangitsch Cronyn

Cliff Cudney

Loren Cuny

Marty Cuny

R.B. Dunn

Robbie Dunn

Richard M. Ellis

Terrance Eugene Fredericks

Chris Hall

Randy Hall

Gene Hartline

Steve McAuliff

Mark J. Nelson

Don Pulford

Jeff Ramsey

Andy Harris

Julie Nickol

Crime

Mystery

Thriller

Thunderheart

TriStar Pictures

United States of America

_**Val Kilmer and Sam Shepard investigate a murder on a South Dakota Reservation**_

A young, half-Sioux FBI agent (Val Kilmer) teams-up with a veteran agent (Sam Shepard) to investigate a murder on a Reservation in western South Dakota where the pro-government faction conflicts with ARM, the Aboriginal Rights Movement radicals. Graham Greene plays a tribal police officer.   

“Thunderheart” (1992) is a Western that takes place in the modern day loosely based on events relating to the Wounded Knee incident in 1973. ARM from this movie is an expy of AIM, the American Indian Movement, which is a traditionalist organization that was radically active in those days and still exists. Some understandably consider AIM a terrorist organization back then in light of actions such as Leonard Peltier’s murder of two FBI agents in 1975 at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, which is referenced by Cooch in the movie (Shepard).  

You don’t have to be knowledgeable of any of this stuff or to take one side or the other to appreciate the movie. While it takes a side (which I’m not going to reveal), I’m in the middle and just here for the picture. I like the film, but it’s slightly hindered by wannabe hip banter. Moreover, the almost god-like powers of certain AmerIndians are laid on too thick, but I appreciated some of the spiritual elements.

The film runs 1 hours, 59 minutes, and was shot in South Dakota at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Wounded Knee Cemetery and Badlands National Park, as well as Washington DC.

GRADE: B-

English

Thunderheart (1992) Trailer