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Sacheen Littlefeather has received an apology from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for the abuse she endured over her 1973 Oscars speech.

The actor and activist graced the stage on Marlon Brando’s behalf after he was awarded Best Actor for his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

In a powerful speech, she rejected the award as part of Brando’s protest of Hollywood’s depictions of Native American people. The gesture also intended to highlight the events at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where a massacre of Native Americans took place in 1890, and where protests were ongoing.

At the time, her remarks were met with some sounds of support, as well as boos from those who disagreed with her taking a political stand at the ceremony.

According to the actor, someone who took particular offence to her stance was Western film star John Wayne. In many of his pictures,...

Sacheen Littlefeather has received an apology from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for the abuse she endured over her 1973 Oscars speech.

The actor and activist graced the stage on Marlon Brando’s behalf after he was awarded Best Actor for his portrayal of Vito Corleone in The Godfather.

In a powerful speech, she rejected the award as part of Brando’s protest of Hollywood’s depictions of Native American people. The gesture also intended to highlight the events at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, where a massacre of Native Americans took place in 1890, and where protests were ongoing.

At the time, her remarks were met with some sounds of support, as well as boos from those who disagreed with her taking a political stand at the ceremony.

According to the actor, someone who took particular offence to her stance was Western film star John Wayne. In many of his pictures,...

Kino resurrects an odd curio with Shoot the Sun Down, a counter-culture Western from 1978, notable for headlining Christopher Walken just prior to his Oscar win for The Deer Hunter and Margot Kidder before she was that year’s Lois Lane in Superman. Of further note, director David Leeds, who financed with his own production company, would never again lend his name to another film in any capacity. The film, which is obviously modeled after Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name series, considering it’s mysterious protagonist, has all the makings of a subversive genre entry, it’s stance on violence guided by an incredibly idiosyncratic score (that’s not Ennio Morricone) and Michael Chapman’s beautifully photographed landscapes (with plenty shots of rising/setting suns for its grand motif). However, muddled plotting and a comatosely constructed climax peg the film as rather forgettable, which is unfortunate considering its strange ambience.