GERONIMO
US, 1962, 101 minutes, Colour.
Chuck Connors, Kamala Devi, Pat Conway, Armando Silvestre, Adam West, Lawrence Dobkin, John Anderson, Ross Martin, Denver Pyle.
Directed by Arnold Laven.
While Geronimo might have been a B-movie from MGM in the early 1960s, in many ways it stands up quite well. And this despite Chuck Connors and his blue eyes not seeming particularly Native American – but he carries of the role with some dignity. Indian actress Kamala Devi, whom he was to marry, is his studious wife. There are a number of character actors in support, including future Batman, Adam West, as a soldier with a conscience, Ross Martin as Geronimo’s loyal follower, John Anderson as a corrupt reservation administrator and Denver Pyle as a senator.
The film was made in Cinemascope and some Mexican locations were used – the area where Geronimo fled after the Apaches were rounded up for the San Carlos reservation and where there were fights and in the mountains.
The film is set in 1880, the treaty with the Apaches, the hostile military taking them to the reservation in Arizona, promises of land, yet corrupt officials buying up the land for their own purposes, leading to the humiliation of the Apaches and Geronimo’s decision to leave.
The Apaches fight against the military in the mountains but, eventually, President Cleveland offers a treaty and Geronimo decides to accept. A historical note: Geronimo died in 1909 and in later years was at sideshows available for the public to have their photo taken with him.
1. Audience interest in the Apaches, Geronimo, the conquering of the Indians by the Americans, treaties and promises, the breaking of promises, the setting up of the reservations, the decline of the Native Americans and their loss of dignity?
2. Colour photography, Mexican locations, authentic feel? Musical score?
3. The background of Geronimo, the conquering of the Indians in the West, the white settlers, taking over the land, the reservations? The picture of the military, the commanders and the despising of the Native Americans, the role of the generals and administration, the managers of the reservations, Bible in hand yet still open to corrupt sales of land and the exploitation? The role of the American politicians, the nature of the treaties, the final treaty with Geronimo, offering dignity, Geronimo accepting?
4. The character of Geronimo, leading the Indians, strongman, the warriors around him? The confrontation with the military, accepting the treaty, being guided to the reservation, allotted land? The meeting with Magnus? Marriage, child, cultivating the land, Geronimo wanting his wife to work? Geronimo despising books? His interest in the young woman, others urging him to marry her? Her teaching classes, defying Geronimo, his taking her away, marriage, pregnancy, her urging him finally to surrender?
5. Life on the reservation, the humiliations? Geronimo and his decision to leave, persuading Magnus, their riding out into the mountains, the pursuit by the military, hardships, lack of ammunition, lack of food? The skirmishes and the visualising of battles?
6. The military, those who despised the Indians, the officer with a conscience? The buyer coming in, wanting to buy the land for grazing and for the cattle industry, persuading the administrator to sign? Geronimo and Magnus coming in, confronting the administrator and his wife, finding the documents?
7. General Crook, administration, his dilemmas?
8. The Senator, the new treaty, going into the mountains, Geronimo willing to hear him, his wife urging him to accept, coming down from the mountains and into a further reservation?
9. The 1960s and the perceptions of civil rights at the time, the story of Native Americans and Geronimo told in this period?
