Mark Roberts

The greatest Christmas film— ever. Yes it’s profane. But the ultimate message is a tonic for what this holiday has become—a consumer capitalist orgy of envy and guilt and greed. True fact. Look around. Tell me if I’m wrong.

I loved this series and am just getting back to it on DVD. Extremely well written and acted, with wonderfully convoluted characters. I will not fall into the trap of comparing the various series. Each one served its purpose and served well. At this point in our history, which looks to be about ending, resistance is.... oh, well. You know.

This is a flat out wonderful movie. Yes, it's a road picture -- and there is much along the way. It is also a film of both a spiritual and a secular quest. It is very funny and very wise, with not a flawed scene. The acting is uniformly fine-- but the real standout is Gary Farmer as Philbert a large, lumbering bear of a man, gentle to the core, a dreamer and although seeming to be simple, actually visionary in the old traditions of his people. His foil is his best friend, Buddy Red Bow, a man very much of this time, angered by the never-ending injustice inflicted upon his people by the whites, prone to hotheaded outbursts and grilling with inner demons. The deepening of their friendship is the movie's emotional core. Along with that journey, you will find much Cheyenne history and wisdom as well. I have probably seen this film forty times. We watched it with a great number of classes I taught over the years, as it is filled with rich themes to write about. Plus it is funny. My students adored it, I've never tired of it, and I never fail to catch new brilliant details. Most highly recommended. It's not flashy, but it is exciting, emotional and very satisfying. A great film. Oh and by the way, it was produced by George Harrison's Handmade Films, if I recall correctly. Knowing of Mr Harrison's deep religious convictions, one is not much surprised.

I must have watched this film forty times, more. I showed it in my university writing classes as a way of discussing the issues of difference, prejudice, the ways we create alternative families out of disparate personalities, the value of friendship and love and any number of other things. This film is one of the few I never tire of. (Pow Wow Highway is another.) At every moment when things could get mucked up, go soft or (perhaps justifiably) hard, it goes its own honest way. I've seldom seen a film su consistently true to the human condition. Not all masterpieces are grandiose. I cannot recommend it too highly for he script, direction, acting, cinematography, editing, sound. A jewel.