アメリカ・インディアンのスー族と生活をともにしたイギリス貴族の特異な体験を描いた作品。製作はサンディ・ハワード、監督は「キャット・パルー」のエリオット・シルヴァースタイン。「リバティ・バランスを射った男」のドロシー・Ｍ・ジョンソンの原作を、アメリカ・インディアンの研究家でもあるジャック・デ・ウィットが脚色。撮影はロバート・ハウザー、美術はフィル・バーバー、音楽は「宇宙大征服」のレナード・ローゼンマンがそれぞれ担当。出演は「キャメロット」のリチャード・ハリス、「おしゃれスパイ危機連発」のコリンナ・ソペイ、イギリス演劇界の名女優ジュディス・アンダーソン、「ハワイ」のマヌ・ツポウ、カナダ演劇界の大者ジャン・ガスコン。他にエドワード・リトル・スカイ、リーナ・マリンなど。テクニカラー、パナビジョン。1969年作品。
AIが作品の魅力を深く読み解いています
I'm not a bloody horse! This is the story of Lord John Morgan, an honest earthy person who is captured by the Sioux in 1825. Abused and treated as an animal he comes to adapt to his life in order to survive. Enduring torture and oppression he must earn their respect in order to be accepted as part of their tribe. The white man as part of a Sioux tribe story was given a major shot in the arm with Kevin Costner's Oscar bagger, Dances With Wolves in 1990. This picture came out some twenty years before Costner's stylish picture but the two films couldn't be further apart in terms of story telling. Here in Elliot Silverstein's picture, the scenery and scope is certainly lush, but the niceties stop there for this is a harsh, at times painful, story with realism dripping from each frame. Silverstein wanted to get as close as he could to the facts of the Sioux way of life, even bringing in a Sioux historian to oversee the production. The Sioux are painted on both sides of the canvas, on one side we are shown them to be violent, even sadistic, but Silverstein also portrays them as an intelligent race driven on by intense loyalty to their ways and culture. Richard Harris plays our main protagonist and has a clear license to act with immense verve and vigour, it's a memorable turn that lingers long after the credits roll. Hurting the film is a twee romance between Morgan and the Chiefs daughter (Judith Anderson) and Jean Gascon's fluctuating accents start to grate entering the film's last quarter. But really the plus points far outweigh the little irritants in the piece. The editing from Philip W. Anderson & Michael Kahn is like a whirling paean to hallucinations, and some scenes are from the top draw, most notably the Vow To The Sun ritual that literally is painful to watch. A Man Called Horse may well be of its time, but it's certainly a very interesting and highly intelligent film. 7/10
