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Thunderheart
A young mixed-blood FBI agent is assigned to work with a cynical veteran investigator on a murder on a poverty-stricken Sioux reservation.
1992 · Directed by Michael Apted · 119 min · Crime · Mystery · Thriller · Screenplay in the scene database · 19 frames
Tagline
Two men from different worlds. Two cops after the same killer. Together they must uncover the secrets. Together they must discover the truth.
Plot
Set in the late 1970s or possibly 1980, Leo Fast Elk, a tribal council member of a Native American reservation in South Dakota, is murdered. FBI Agent Ray Levoi is assigned on the case for his mixed Sioux heritage, which might assist in the inquiry as they interview residents of the reservation. Agent Frank "Cooch" Coutelle narrows down the suspect list to Maggie Eagle Bear, a peaceful Native American political activist and schoolteacher, and Jimmy Looks Twice, leader of the radical Aboriginal Rights Movement (ARM).
Jimmy Looks Twice is the prime suspect, and Frank has been working with tribal council president Jack Milton to apprehend him. Jack has hired an unofficial militia to protect the reservation from Jimmy and the ARM, who oppose the tribal council's efforts to modernize the reservation. Jimmy is eventually taken into custody, but escapes after a gunfight with the FBI and tribal police.
When tribal police officer Walter Crow Horse mentions that the murder took place on Maggie's property, Ray goes to collect evidence and finds bullet casings but is told to leave by Maggie. Ray nonetheless returns to Maggie's to question her grandmother. While Ray is visiting, Maggie's son is shot in the arm by Jack's militia, who claim the shooting was committed by the ARM. Ray drives Maggie and her son to the hospital, getting into a fight with Jack's men in the process.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: John Fusco
- Cinematography: Roger Deakins
- Edited by: Ian Crafford
- Music: James Horner
- Production design: Dan Bishop
- Produced by: John Fusco, Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal
Cast
- Val Kilmer as Ray Levoi
- Sam Shepard as Frank Coutelle
- Graham Greene as Walter Crow Horse
- Fred Ward as Jack Milton
- Fred Thompson as William Dawes
- Sheila Tousey as Maggie Eagle Bear
- Ted Thin Elk as Grandpa Sam Reaches
- John Trudell as Jimmy Looks Twice
- Julius Drum as Richard Yellow Hawk
- Sarah Brave as Maisy Blue Legs
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: TriStar Pictures
- Themes: fbi, native american, past, sioux, native american reservation
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