Thunderheart
An FBI man with Sioux background is sent to a reservation to help with a murder investigation, where he has to come to terms with his heritage…
- Director:Michael Apted
- Genre:Crime / Mystery / Thriller / Western
- Runtime:119 minutes
Cast
Val Kilmer : Ray Levoi
Sam Shepard : Frank Coutelle
Graham Greene : Walter Crow Horse
Fred Ward : Jack Milton
Fred Dalton Thompson : William Dawes
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Ray Levoi (Val Kilmer) is an ambitious up-and-coming FBI agent in the 1970s with great career prospects. The one thing he will not tolerate is any reference to his half-Sioux heritage.
As far as he is concerned, his loyalties and culture identify him with the government and his white mother. He is extremely touchy about anything to do with his father, who was an alcoholic half-blooded Sioux.
Precisely because he’s a token Indian, he’s sent to aid in the investigation of a possibly political murder on a reservation. Levoi was chosen for the job because Levoi’s cynical supervisor, William Dawes (Fred Dalton Thompson), is looking for public relations mileage from Levoi’s mixed blood.
Tough local agent Frank “Cooch” Coutelle (Sam Shepard) seems to have the case wrapped up before Levoi even arrives, with only the apprehension of the suspect, American Indian Movement radical Jimmy Looks Twice (John Trudell), left to be done.
While helping Coutelle track down the suspect, Levoi gradually becomes sensitized to Indian issues, partially from his attraction to Maggie Eagle Bear (Sheila Tousey), an earthy, politically active schoolteacher.
Mockingly referred to by some — including gruff, savvy local cop Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene) — as the “Washington Redskin,” Levoi finds that he has an unaccountable standing with some of the tribal elders; according to one of the film’s more mystical subplots, they “recognize” Levoi as Thunderheart, an Indian hero slain at the Wounded Knee massacre and now reincarnated to deliver them from their current troubles.
As more killings take place, and as Walter provides him with some telling leads, Levoi comes to suspect — much to Coutelle’s anger — that the case is not as cut and dried as the veteran agent would have him believe.
Levoi discovers that a government-sponsored plan to mine uranium on the reservation is at the root of the killings. The mining is polluting the water supply and fueling a bloody conflict between the American Indian activists and the reservation’s pro-government ruling council who, led by Jack Milton (Fred Ward), are not above using violence to further their aims. Read more
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