Geronimo

I should admit that I have no idea how accurate this biopic is of the legendary Native American called Geronimo. It's probably just loosely based on the real events surrounding him, so I probably should judge the movie on its entertainment level. I thought for the most part it was an okay western. While I would have preferred a real Native American to play the title role, I have to admit Chuck Connors did well, giving his character an intensity and charisma that keeps you watching and interested despite the script problems. The script problems include the movie not really going deep in his character, and ending at a point that will make you wonder what happened in real life to Geronimo afterwards. But despite these and other script problems, I have to admit that I was never bored, so I'll give this movie a pass.

Well meaning but wooden story of how Geronimo, with fifty Apaches, came to stand off the U.S. Army. Chuck Conners gives a creditable performance as a wooden Indian, and his soon-to-be real life wife plays the woman who loves him. Most amusing for Ross Martin as a wise-cracking sidekick and Adam West, four years before he became a wooden Batman, as a sympathetic army officer.

The film begins with Geronimo (Chuck Connors) "surrendering" by agreeing on a treaty that gives his Apaches land on a reservation in Arizona. However, things quickly go wrong while on the reservation. Geronimo leaves with a band of warriors and declares war on the United States. The majority of the film is the story of this war, told from Geronimo's perspective.

While the script and direction are fairly pedestrian here (with the exception of a few fantastic shots of sunsets and landscapes), Geronimo works because of a number of excellent performances, including Connors, Ross Martin (as Mangus), Kamala Devi (as Teela), Pat Conway (as Captain William Maynard), and Adam West (as Delahay).

The film is also surprisingly complex in terms of sociological subtexts. With one clear exception (having to do with a subversive sale of land), there are no clear "bad guys" and "good guys" here. Rather, the conflicts of the film are portrayed as resulting from cultural dispositions, duty and necessity. Each character or group of characters is responsible for some behavior that is a fairly serious crime (legal or moral) in the eyes of other characters, and each is seeking an improvement of their lot, mostly with a desire that the other parties understand their position better.

However, there's no need to expect heavy-handed intellectualism from the film. On the surface, this is a quality western with a great deal of suspense, although perhaps too lacking in big battle scenes for some western fans. There are a number of smaller battles, but the focus is always on the strategy behind them rather than the battle itself, and in my eyes, that makes them interesting and suspenseful in a way that more clichéd action scenes wouldn't achieve. Geronimo is much more about a clash of cultures, and successfully spends a lot of time on Geronimo's relationships with Mangus and Teela. An 8 out of 10 for me.

On the Arizona-Mexico border in 1883, Apache warrior Geronimo surrenders himself and his tribe to the US Calvary in exchange for food and shelter on government land; naturally, the villainous, despicable whites sell the ground out from underneath the Indians after a greedy land baron sees they have turned the hard dirt into fertile soil for farming, leading to an unwinnable war between the fading Apaches and the Americans. Mixing "fact and legend", screenwriter Pat Fielder shamefully reduces history to textbook eye-for-an-eye business. Western-adventure from United Artists is further hurt by a TV cast and budget. Chuck Connors' Geronimo wages war on the Cavalrymen, though from what we can see it's really just Pat Conway's smirking Captain who's against him. Conway, decked out with an ostentatious neckerchief, unmercifully struts his way through this thing like a smug peacock...but, at least he wasn't forced to wear a ratty black wig like most of his co-stars. Some good scenes, such as an impromptu chicken dinner at the house of a strict widow, almost makes up for the general lack of story and character development. ** from ****

That's what the star Chuck Connors brings to this movie i.e. a respect for his character called Geronimo and he pulls it off quite nicely. You want to see a no nonsense leader who was forged by living off the land and does not fear life or death lead his people with dignity. You get that here. There is also an array of bad guys to hate and they really go all out to get you to do it. The hypocrisy, unfair treatment of Indians and the famous "fork tongue" of the white man all displayed very well here. Burt Lancaster took on a similar role in a movie called Apache just as entertaining too. However white men playing in non-white roles only takes us so far. Rock Hudson even tried it as did Charles Bronson and many others. Hey, it was a paycheck! There is some love relief, lots of horse-back riding, Calvary to make it a decent way to pass the time. Snack away, have a tasty drink and enjoy the Rifleman before he became Lucas McCain as Geronimo