Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) ** 1/2 (out of 4)The Apache Indians aren't willing to accept the U.S. Goverments offer of living on reservations. Leading their resistance is Geronimo (Wes Studi) so Lt. Gatewood (Jason Patric) is assigned to try and talk him into surrendering.I'm pretty sure I'm the only person out there that had a negative reaction to GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND when it was originally released to theaters. While the film wasn't a box office success, it was a major hit with critics who really praised the Walter Hill movie. I didn't like it at the time that it was released so I decided to revisit it and I must say that it still didn't work for me.My biggest issue with the film was the actual story structure as well as the lead performance by Patric. I personally thought there were a lot of very interesting characters in the film but they weren't the lead. I thought the lead character was rather boring and since he was the least interesting character the film just seemed to drag when he was on screen. You've got Gene Hackman playing a General and Robert Duvall playing an Indian hunter. Both of the actors give great performances and both of their characters are a lot more interesting.It doesn't end there because the Geronimo character is also a lot more interesting. I think the film would have been a much better picture had one of those three been the lead and the story revolving around them. Patric's performance is just so laid back that it becomes boring and there's just never any sort of spark when he's on the screen. He's a more than capable actor but it just doesn't work here.Technically speaking the film is certainly beautiful to look at as Hill does a great job at building up the locations as you really do feel as if you're back in the era that this was showing. The music score was another major plus as was the cinematography. As you'd expect, Hill does a great job with the battle sequences as they are certainly the greatest thing about the picture. GERONIMO: AN AMERICAN LEGEND has quite a few things that work but a few too many flaws that keeps me from enjoying it even more.

This movie is about Geronimo, Apache chief, who chooses to rescue and save his tribe instead pointless battle against the superior fire-armed USA cavalry. The majestic music and scenic photography combine perfectly to compliment the stunning performances of Wes Studi as Geronimo. This masterpiece describes a true colo(u)r of Indian suffer. His secrifice still echoes in. In the present Geronimo's caput ( head ) has a high purpouse. Secret society The Sculls has preserved his scull as the ritual reliquiae which presents the symbol and pledge of their brotherhood. This is the most powerful secret society in USA. A several Ex-american presidents were the members of this cult. For example George Bush Senior, George Bush Junior and others. On the bottom of line. Sincerelly, yours Dushan Petrovic from Belgrade, Serbia

This movie is enthralling. I have always enjoyed well-done narration during a movie and this narration done by Gatewood, was excellent. It was not filled with emotion and yet the emotion was there without being evident.His voice is powerful and he reads extremely well. He also acts extremely well. The entire cast is equal to Hackman and THAT is an accomplishment. I remember when I became addicted to his breakthrough movie Bonnie and Clyde. I loved the movie and I had NEVER seen acting like Hackman's. Though I loved what he did I also did not want him to walk away with the movie. HE didn't Warren Beaty and Faye did not let this happen nor did the man who played "CW" In Real life there was a character that went by his initials and the betrayal actually did take place I do not know why they changed the initials of the man whose father betrayed Bonnie and Clyde.I did not mean to get off track and that movie is my favorite of all time.The legend of Geronimo is absolutely in the top five movies of my life. It is so well done that you can HEAR the crack and moaning of the saddles and they are mounted and the arrows hit home. The acting is superb by all who played in this movie-- it seemed like a docu. but it was not.IF you fail to watch this movie- you have missed out.The saddest part is that Geronimo lives another 20 + years and dies of pnemonia from lying in a ditch about a mile from the bar where he got drunk. He just died on the side of the road. A man who sent a chill into each whiteman's heart and a rush into every warriors heart- died in a drainage ditch. They may have brought his dying body to the hospital and I believe he made piece and spiritually died in that ditch. Fitting for what happened to the Natives of this land called America.I find it absurd that the settlers who came here from Europe were called Americans and the indigenous people who had been here long long before are called INdians--because of the stupidity of the settlers who seized what they wanted and called THEMSELVES Americans and called the spiritual people who did not suffer from much disease until the arrival of the Europeans-- Indians. The Indians were the Americans. The people who slaughtered their food supply and simply out-numbered and used superior technology to displace them were European invaders and should have been called such. Geronimo would have been a great man to share a few drinks. Just to meet him would have been an experience of a life time. He was NOT a savage--not more than WE would be if some superior force began to creep across our great country that we stole from the Americans.Warren E. Justice

I write about the Apache in the Desert Exposure newspaper, and I hike Apacheria in New Mexico. While there are many other Native American groups in both AZ and NM, the Jicarilla, Mescalero, and Eastern Chiricahua are the dominant of the Apacheans. This a film represented a tremendous opportunity, with such a fine actor as Wes Studi, to allow the story to be told through Geronimo's eyes. It missed that chance. Studi gives an excellent performance as Geronimo. He certainly best resembles Geronimo among Native actors that I can think of. Geronimo was likely a sociopath. He killed remorselessly. He was a gas bag,impressed with himself. He was, the most vigilant of all the Apache. Within New Mexico, just west of the Rio Grande, and east of the Arizona line, we had: Chihuahua; Geronimo; Loco; Lozen (the woman warrior); Mangas Coloradas; Nana; Victorio; Ulzana (Jolsany). The country around Moab isn't New Mexico. Moab represented a view of the West Hollywood wanted to perpetuate. Also,Moab had amenities that no southern New Mexican towns would have offered. Silver City, where I am, has hosted most recently, "North Country." There is plenty of desert, but also, high mountains, to given the most realistic view of where Geronimo was from & where he fought, since he was born & raised in the Gila Wilderness, north of Silver City.He mostly fought the latter years in the Chiricahuas, & in Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. Studi would have given Geronimo the understanding the man had with having lost his entire family to the Mexicans & the intense hatred he had for them from then on. Geronimo isn't universally loved on the Mescalero & Ft. Sill Reservations, because many Chiricahua Apachewanted to give up the struggle before he did.Gene Hackman plays a superb Gen. Crook, as a no-nonsense general. He'd chased many less truculent Apaches, and put them on reservations. He was a born cavalryman, was unassuming, & was the first to understand that only Apache could find other Apache. Until then, and afterwards, when Gen. Nelson Miles took command of the campaign against Geronimo, failed to find him, and resorted to using Lt. Charles Gatewood and two principle Apaches (Martine and Kayetah), did he find Geronimo.Gatewood was a very decent man. He was respected by the Apache, since he'd been on reservation with them, & also, been in the Victorio Campaigns, among others. He was so trusted by them that Geronimo asked him, @ Canyon Embudos, in Chihuahua, in March, 1886, "What would you do?"("Would you surrender?"). Gatewood told them he would.Britton (Braa ton) Davis (played by Matt Damon), by the 1885-1886 period, was no longer centrally involved in the final chase. He was at Ft. Apache when Geronimo left. Al Sieber, played by Robert Duval, was so drunk that when Britton Davis received word that the Apaches were making "tizwin" (tiz ween), acquivalent to 3.2 beer, and asked for advice, Sieber told him to not worry about it.Geronimo and Sieber both were negatively affected by alcohol. Geronimo, died on a drunk, in 1909, @ Ft. Sill, OK. He made many bad choices because of booze. Sieber may have made more than his share, too. As far as the characters they played, I think Studi, Hackman, the guy who plays Nelson Miles, Damon, Patric, and Duvall are all solid. Patric is weakest as Gatewood. Gatewood was tall, thin,stoic, and taciturn. He was very down to earth, and for some reason, the affected southern drawl displayed by Patric seemed too affected.Gatewood, Martine and Kayitah were the ones who went in to find Geronimo. They were the last to surrender because as a group, they were hypervigilent and the toughest the Apache had.Walking and Hiking Apacheria, in temperatures up to 106º just this week, I can attest to the incredible physical prowess the Apache had. I hike with lots of gear, often alone. They lived, rode and walked with a minimum amount of gear, and were confidently self-reliant in this country. To think of even running (as they did) 75 miles, or break it down, to deduct for exaggeration, 25 miles, in that heat, in this country, where one small cañon can be incredibly rugged, steep, full of cacti, severe heights, cliffs, all kinds of problems with rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantulas, spiders, no water to speak of ... to even go 25 miles is incredible to grasp, once you try it.They were the Spartans of Native Americans.Having been many places where they were, I can say: I love NM enough to understand why they didn't want to leave. To roam alone in this country is an awesome experience. If someone had given Wes Studi some opportunity to display even a few minutes of that aloneness in a vast emptiness, they might have gotten a great performance.This is revisionist history, for sure.But, the film's worth watching more than once.I've become far too involved with the details, now, to tolerate the entire film being shot in Utah. It's too bad Millius, Hill, etc., didn't allow the narrative to be from Geronimo's point of view, rather than Davis'. Put a protractor point on Silver City, NM, scale the device to measure out 150 miles, & draw a circle, you'll see the country where the last couple of years of the Geronimo Wars were fought. Fly over it at 1000 feet, you can grasp how rugged the country is, and how it was such a part of the entire "Legend," of Geronimo.