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DVD Powwow Highway
Gary Farmer (Smoke Signals) is the standout in a fine film by Jonathan Wacks about an oversized Cheyenne man-child (Farmer) who decides to go on a spiritual quest, while simultaneously giving a ride to his lifelong Indian activist friend (A. Martinez). The film takes us through some pretty desolate Indian communities, but while Wacks makes a point of revealing harsher aspects of life on some reservations, the emphasis is on Farmer's delightful performance. A bonus: among the cast are Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves) and Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans), neither of whom were well-known in 1989, the year this film was released. --Tom Keogh
This movie is a true classic. It is a must see for those who really want to see what Indian movies are about. Better than Dances with Who? or Black Robe. This movie should be seen by everyone. It has many underlying issues of what is happening in Indian country today.
My pony flipped me!
Not my usual film fare, I happened to bump into this film by accident and I'm glad I did. While my knowledge about Native American culture is anything but comprehensive, I found myself swept along 'Pow Wow Highway.' A touching and funny peek into the reservation blues that are part and parcel of the American 'Indian' experience, this film touches all who take a chance on it.
This could have another been another Smoke Signals, poignant and light-hearted, but this film has more meat to it. The reason: the very meaty and lovable Gary Farmer. Farmer's heart-warming performance as Philbert Bono---overweight warrior on his own vision quest---is reason enough to watch this film. Farmer's character doesn't say much nor does he need to. Every stare, twinkle in the eye, and puckish smile tells us everything we need to know.
The beauty of this film is that is goes far beyond social history. Pow Wow Highway shows the wide range of 'types' in the Native American community from assimilated 'collaborator' selling tribal land to mining companies to the tortured and lost Vietnam veteran (brilliantly played by Graham Greene). So wide and rich is the film's parade of characters that we forget that this is supposed to be a 'Native American' film. We see friends and family in these characters and yes, eventually ourselves. And this I think was director Wack's goal: to break down the borders set up by our labels, Native American or otherwise.
While the ending is a bit too predictable and some characters never really get to fly (Red Bow's sister, the fellow AIM activist), Pow Wow Highway is well worth the watching. Follow Nightcloud Whirlwind as he proves the adage: its the quiet ones you need to watch out for.
The Journey
The journey on the powwow highway will entertain you and pull at the heart strings. Aspects of contemporary Native American culture come shining through as we follow the story of Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez), a committed AIM activist and Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer), a determined "spiritual warrior".
Buddy and Philbert are of the Cheyenne tribe of Lame Deer, Montana. They both live on the reservation, but have very different views of the Cheyenne and of life itself.
The two pair up and set out on a mission to get Buddy's estranged sister out of jail in New Mexico. Even though they travel together in Philbert's rusted-out car ("war pony"), they take their separate paths and conflicting attitudes with them on the trip.
Join the pair on their journey together on this crazy road trip. As you gather insights on contemporary Native American culture, learn what guides these two men and how their "separate paths" finally meet on the powwow highway.
You won't want to miss Gary Farmer's outstanding performance in his portrayal of the sweet, oversized, man-child, Philbert, who looks to the "old ones", sacred totems and visions to find the past and future of the Cheyenne.
Also starring Graham Greene (Dances With Wolves), Wes Studi (The Last of the Mohicans), and Amanda Wyss. Directed by Jonathan Wacks. Winner of the Filmmakers Trophy-Sundance Film Festival 1989. -- Comedy/Drama
While it doesn't hold together as a three-hour TV drama, Dreamkeeper should prove enthralling to anyone interested in Native American myths and legends. A variety of tribal folklore provides the episodic thrust of this typical Hallmark production, which relies too heavily on digital effects--and the plodding direction of Hallmark regular Steve Barron--in telling the story of a resentful Lakota teenager (Eddie Spears) who reluctantly agrees to drive his wise old grandfather (August Schellenberg) from their South Dakota "rez" to an All-Nations Powwow in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Along the way, the tradition-bound elder serves as tribal "dreamkeeper" for his initially resistant grandson, who gradually realizes that his grandfather's stories--visualized through effects-laden... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Steve Barron DVD Release Date: Released the 16 March 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Based on a couple of short stories (from The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven) by Sherman Alexie, Smoke Signals is a lean and assured feature that speaks well of its lengthy, rich evolution, including a development stint at Sundance. The first feature made by a Native American crew and creative team, the film concerns two young Idaho men with radically different memories of one Arnold Joseph (Gary Farmer), a former resident of the reservation who split years before and has just died in Phoenix. Arnold's strapping, popular son, Victor (Adam Beach), remembers him best as an alcoholic, occasionally abusive father who drove off one day and never came back. By contrast, Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams), whom Arnold had saved from certain death years earlier, has... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Adam Beach - Evan Adams Director(s): Chris Eyre DVD Release Date: Released the 02 October 2001 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A dark and moving tale of bitter helplessness turned to vigilante rage, Skins is the second feature film directed by Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals). As with the previous movie, Skins concerns two very different and determined protagonists who have grown up together: a cop, Rudy Yellow Lodge (Eric Schweig), on the Lakota reservation's police force, and his older brother Mogie (Graham Greene), an unrepentant drunk. Frustrated by Mogie's self-destruction and outraged by rampant alcoholism throughout the rez (with the disease's concomitant social violence and general hell-raising at an all-time high), Rudy resorts to off-duty, anonymous jungle justice--beating suspects and torching a Nebraska border-town liquor store--with tragic consequences. Eyre's unflinching eye for... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Eric Schweig - Graham Greene (II) Director(s): Chris Eyre DVD Release Date: Released the 25 March 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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A splendid adventure for family viewing, Windwalker has the distinction of being named the #1 anthropological film of all time in an early 1990s poll of the American Anthropological Association. It's not particularly distinguished in terms of its filmmaking, but this authentic Native American tale is told with exciting vitality and careful attention to details of culture, language, costuming, and age-old traditions. The title character (convincingly played by British actor Trevor Howard) is an aged and dying Cheyenne warrior who, as a young husband and father (played by James Remar in flashbacks), watched helplessly as his wife was killed and one twin son kidnapped by Crow invaders. On his deathbed, he is spiritually revived to solve the mystery of his missing son, and in doing so... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Trevor Howard Director(s): Kieth Merrill DVD Release Date: Released the 25 November 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Robert Redford is the executive producer (and narrator) of this fine, eye-opening documentary about the violent events that took place in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Indian activists ended up in an extended standoff with FBI agents, and the result was several deaths, including two federal men whose killing (according to many people) was never clearly attributed to a specific gunman. Nevertheless, the government laid blame for the tragedy on Leonard Peltier, a Sioux political leader who has long been a focus for supporters believing he took the fall, possibly heroically, for others. Peltier has spent many years in prison, and Apted's film, which is hardly ambiguous in its commitment toward Peltier's hoped-for freedom, is persuasive in both its detail... More Info about this DVD Director(s): Michael Apted DVD Release Date: Released the 20 April 2004 Usually ships in 24 hours
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