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Epicurus.com - Geronimo - An American Legend
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List Price: $9.95
Our Price: $0.74
Your Save: $ 9.21 ( 93% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Starring: Jason Patric, Gene Hackman, Robert Duvall, Wes Studi, Matt Damon
Directed By: Walter Hill
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780800133696
Format: Closed-captioned
ISBN: 0800133692
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Release Date: 1996-07-09
Running Time: 115
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 1993-12-10
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Editorial Reviews:
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Walter Hill's revisionist take on the American cavalry's campaign to capture renegade Chiricahua Apache warrior Geronimo (Wes Studi) is, like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, a dark tale that both celebrates and critiques myths of the American West. Despite its title, Geronimo is really about the American cavalry officers who undertake the responsibility of recapturing the warrior, in particular the young narrator Lt. Charles Gatewood (Jason Patric), a Civil War hero who respects the great Geronimo and brokers a treaty with the Chiricahua, only to see it collapse when the army kills the tribal medicine man. Gene Hackman plays Gen. George Crook, the proud but sympathetic officer charged with bringing in the renegades who take to hills after the killing. Robert Duvall, the tough, racist army scout and Indian fighter Charlie Sieber, practically steals the picture with his cagey, underplayed performance. More complex and complicated than most Westerns, this is a Walter Hill film through and through: lean, ironic, beautiful to look at (it was shot on location against the astounding landscape of southeastern Utah), and driven by a wonderful Ry Cooder score. Don't confuse this with the 1993 TNT cable film by the same name; it confounded many viewers at the time of its release and may have been at least partially responsible for its box-office disappointment. --Sean Axmaker
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Birthday gitft
Comment: This is a bithday present for my husband his b0dat is in Oct. so he has not recieved the movie as of now. But he has watch it on cable and told me he wish he could watch the whole thing. He seems just to get in a little bit here and there. He loved the parts he saw so I am sure he will relly love the whole movie.
Thanks,
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great movie!
Comment: Geronimo is a truly enjoyable movie; Amazon was prompt with shipping and the DVD arrived in perfect condition.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The forgotten players
Comment: From a cinematic point of view, this movie was a fine work of art. I was taken by the landscape and by the performances of Wes Studi as Geronimo and Gene Hackman as "Nantan Lupan." But what this fan appreciated most about this movie was the appearance on an unsung military officer by the name of Charles Gatewood - it was past time for the part he played in the "Apache Wars" to be acknowledged. Gatewood was apparently an individual of some integrity and appeared to be able to carry out his orders with dignity and compassion. For readers interested in discovering more about this officer, I would suggest that they read the excellent material on him written by the historian Louis Kraft. Gatewood was rewarded for his exemplary service to our nation by becoming the victim of the pettiness and selfish self-centeredness of Nelson Miles, the officer commanding the Apache campaign at the time of Gatewood's service. I wish there was a way to commend Gatewood, and censure Miles. While this movie fictionalizes some key points in the chain of events and does little to honor the Apache people, it succeeds in bringing to light the labors of good human being attempting to be of service to his fellow man - regardless of skin color, rank or station.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: American History
Comment: This is an interesting movie and once again one that doesn't paint a very glowing report of the American governments handling of Indian affairs. The events depicted show a sad history lesson of a proud nations demise, and the hopeless course of events that led to their eventual downfall. The film is well acted by all the leading stars and the reality and authenticity of the movie are professionally portrayed. This is a movie that all should see and appreciate the struggle that unfortunate people have for equal rights. Geronimo is a legend and his name will never be forgotten.
Customer Rating:
Summary: ...a stunningly well told epic possessing a timeless message...
Comment: From the moment that Matt Damon as 2nd Lt. Britton Davis commenced a narration of this sensitive and fascinating account of events relating to America's campaign against the Chiricahua-Apache and, in particular, Geronimo's role in that conflict, it became evident that this film possessed a rare and special quality. Indeed, I have never viewed a more compassionate and engaging rendering of the American western experience. For this I remain full of admiration for Walter Hill's eminently successful endeavor to portray the painful realities of US policy towards native Americans in the west with insight and fairness. The cast is marvelous - Jason Patric as 1st Lt. Charles B. Greenwood, Gene Hackman as General George Crook, Robert Duvall as Chief of Scouts, Al Sieber, and the compelling Cherokee actor Wes Studi playing Geronimo together with a strong supporting cast, all deliver memorable performances that seem perfectly suited to the fascinating lives they depict.
Geronimo was released just three years after Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves (1990) an epic that brought a fresh and greatly needed interpretation of the western experience by examining the particulars of America's conquest of lands inhabited by the Lakota - the westernmost of three Sioux groups occupying lands in both North and South Dakota. Dances With Wolves is an excellent film, but to my mind, Geronimo stands as a superior work. Sadly as Geronimo was made for television in 1993, the film would be deprived of Academy Award consideration. It should be remembered that John Houston's The Man Who Would Be King, also eluded acclaim during the Oscar ceremonies of 1975, then steadily secured a special niche reserved for greatness in the minds of legions of film goers. There is no higher honor that I can accord Geronimo than to compare it with The Man Who Would Be King.
In Geronimo, we are able to observe the fusion of a brilliant script by an exceedingly talented screenplay writer, John Milius, Hill's wonderful direction, the majestic cinematography of Lloyd Ahern, a beautiful musical score by Ry Cooder, and first rate performances from a stellar cast. It should be noted that all of this was achieved without the inclusion of a love story. The title might certainly have been improved. And there are historical inaccuracies in this film to be sure, indeed quite a few of them. Nonetheless, the film captures the historical essence of the subject in a masterly fashion. Here we have a stunningly well told epic possessing a timeless message that contains an eerie relevancy to the politics of our contemporary world.
An additional asset commending this film is the manner in which we are able to draw analogies between the stark and brutal nature of America's policies against the Apache in 1886 with the basic attitude and approach found today among numerous Washington-based policymakers. Insensitive, arrogant, often loutish proponents of "neo-con" philosophy today demonstrate a consistent inability or unwillingness to comprehend the nuances of other cultures. As in 1886, too many such people continue to exercise a determinant role in formulating Washington policies and have, through racist inclination or in the interest of corporate profit, brought about unnecessary and horrendous destruction worldwide. Lt. Charles B. Gatewood's character, expertly played by Jason Patric, possesses innate good sense and decisiveness. His daring, fluency with the Apache language, delicate feeling for the ways of the Chiricahua people and successful effort to persuade Geronimo to stand down, ended the desperate Chiricahua Apache warrior's struggle to maintain his freedom. Gatewood's talents and accomplishments are rewarded with punishment. Gatewood will be posted in Wyoming and forced to serve the rest of his military career in oblivion.
The symbolism employed in this film is particularly effective, and we see this in a pronounced way at the very close of the film as Geronimo and his followers are carried by a train from their home in Arizona/New Mexico to Florida.In the new mechanized "iron-horse" dominated world in which Geronimo found himself after his surrender, the cruel nature of a Washington-based policy of land grab that crushed a time-honored nomadic way of life is plainly revealed. A mis-leading impression created here is that Geronimo lived out his final twenty-two years in exile in Florida which he did not. The details of this last phase of his life are quite understandably omitted as they do not fit into the romanticized image of the warrior that Hill so artfully projects.
For the record, Geronimo would be sent to Fort Pickens, Florida while his family was transported to Fort Marion in St. Augustine. In 1887, all were reunited following their transfer to the Mount Vernon Barracks in Alabama where they would remain for the next five years. Geronimo and his family were moved again in 1894 to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Geronimo never stopped asking to be returned to his native land. Many Apache people would die of tuberculosis and other diseases in Florida. In time, Geronimo would participate in Wild West Shows, the Omaha Exposition of 1898, the 1901 Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, and the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair where he took advantage of his legendary reputation as a warrior to sell souvenirs. To his credit, Teddy Roosevelt asked Geronimo to participate in his Inaugural Parade of 1905. Four years later in 1909, Geronimo died of pneumonia and the great Chiricahua /Apache warrior was buried in the Apache burial ground at Fort Sill.
The story does not end here. The great grandson of Geronimo 59 year old Harlyn Geronimo of Mascalero, New Mexico has asked President Bush to investigate the theft of Geronimo's skull and femur which he believes was stolen by the President's grandfather Prescott Bush in 1918 from the burial grounds of Fort Sill, Oklahoma. There is some evidence to suggest that Prescott brought these skeletal remains to the headquarters of the Skull and Crossbone Society in New Haven Connecticut to be used for bizarre rituals including an initiation rite that is said by some to involve kissing a skull, referred to as "Geronimo" that is contained in a glass case. President Bush is a member of the ultra secret and powerful Skull and Bones Society and this explains his refusal to comment upon this issue.
Thus ninety eight years after his death, the cycle of life and the painful legacy of betrayal and infamy surrounding Geronimo that accompanies it continues. In the meantime, additional analogies can be drawn to the perilous and too often futile efforts of oppressed people everywhere including the Chiricahua- Apache to secure, amid hostile forces aligned against them, a life characterized by justice, security, human dignity and freedom.
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