If any of you out there have heard of the Man Called Horse series but don't know where to start, it's not with the 1983 installment. Start with 1970's A Man Called Horse. Each of the three movies has text information at the start and end that give you context on the true story, but the last of the three is a real letdown; so don't let it be your first impression.
While the second installment had beautiful music, the opening credits of the third roll over a cheesy 1980s song that makes you laugh rather than get swept up in the environment. However, if you really love the series, you'll want to see it through. In the grand tradition of these movies, an elderly Caucasian actress is made up to look and act like an old Sioux crone. There's no more Judith Anderson or Gale Sondergaard, but instead we can see Anne Seymour transform with a white stringy wig and dark makeup.
As we know from the first two movies, an English gentleman in the 1800s was captured by the Sioux Indians and then voluntary returned to join them. Even though we learned through the text explanation that he eventually died, I certainly didn't expect the franchise to kill of Richard Harris in the first half hour of the film. How rude! He was the heart and soul of these movies, and you felt his real-life love of nature coming through the character.
No one cares about Michael Beck's character, Richard's son. His acting, and that of his love interest, Ana De Sade, will make you cringe. The plot falls flat when Michael took the reins to try and save the Sioux from evil white men's attacks. Clearly, the shift was an attempt to create new sex appeal with new scantily clad characters. But there was no reason why they couldn't continue with Richard Harris; in 1983 he still had a great body and lots of appeal. If the end of the franchise was planned, the titular character could have been killed off at the very end, not in the beginning. I'm sure everyone else was as disappointed as I was. I didn't even make it through the rest of the movie.
