The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)

The English gentleman known as Horse, returns to the American west to save his adopted Indian tribe from extinction.

Director:

Irvin Kershner

Writers:

Jack DeWitt, Dorothy M. Johnson (based upon a character from "A Man Called Horse" by)

Stars:

Richard Harris, Gale Sondergaard, Geoffrey Lewis

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Richard Harris	...	John Morgan
Gale Sondergaard	...	Elk Woman
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Zenas
William Lucking	...	Tom Gryce (as Bill Lucking)
Jorge Luke	...	Running Bull
Jorge Russek	...	Blacksmith
Claudio Brook	...	Chemin De Fer (as Claudio Brooke)
Enrique Lucero	...	Raven
Regino Herrera	...	Lame Wolf
Pedro Damián	...	Standing Bear (as Pedro Damian)
Humberto López	...	Thin Dog (as Humberto Lopez)
Alberto Mariscal	...	Red Cloud
Eugenia Dolores	...	Brown Dove
Patricia Reyes Spíndola	...	Gray Thorn
Ana De Sade	...	Moon Star

Storyline

In the 1840s, trappers with government backing push the Yellow Hands Sioux off their sacred land; they retreat into an apocalyptic spirituality, passively waiting for supernatural wrath to descend on their usurpers. Meanwhile, in England, Lord John Morgan feels his spirit weaken, so he returns to America to live again with the Yellow Hand. Finding them dispirited, he invigorates them as well as himself through self-imposed torture and other rituals. Once he convinces the clan to take direct action, Horse must devise a strategy to take the trappers' fort. The clan's women and boys take on special assignments to aid the assault to regain the sacred land.

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Plot Keywords:

sequel | revisionist western | second part | spaghetti western | horse | 

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Taglines:

The all-new adventures of the English Lord with the soul of an Indian.

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Genres:

Drama | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

Mexico USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 August 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

El regreso de un hombre llamado Caballo

Filming Locations:

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Estudios Churubusco Azteca S.A., Sandy Howard Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Mono 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Color:

Color (DeLuxe) Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Luise Rainer was considered by Executive Producer Sandy Howard for a part in this film.

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Goofs

During the sun ceremony, John Morgan (Richard Harris) didn't have any scarring from the first time he underwent the ritual from five years earlier in the original film "A Man Called Horse".

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Alternate Versions

Original UK cinema and video versions suffered identical cuts (1 min 46 secs) to the buffalo hunt and shots of horsefalls in order to secure a lower rating. The BBFC waived some of these for the 2005 DVD release though 17 seconds of horsefalls remain edited.

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Connections

Follows A Man Called Horse (1970)

User Reviews

Not quite as interesting and more conventional, but also more fun than the first movie

The first sequel to A Man Called Horse {there was another one a few years later which turned out to be something of a disappointment} is a much more conventional adventure movie. This does not mean it's bad,not at all,in fact it's probably more enjoyable. There's more English language dialogue,The Sioux dialogue is subtitled instead of just being incomprehensible to those who don't know Sioux,and it follows a familiar action movie structure and scenario. It just lacks the originality and edge of the original,where we were exploring an unfamiliar culture and weren't sure all the time if we liked everything about it. Disappontingly,none of the Sioux in the first film appear to return.

Well directed by Irvin Kershner,generally a journeyman director who occasionally excelled himself {i.e.The Empire Strikes Back},it has a fantastic cut early on from violence in the wild west to fox hunting in England,a different kind of savagery. The early scenes do a really good job of showing the film's hero,again well played by Richard Harris,as a man who appears to have everything-a title,a big house,a wife,etc} but inside is empty because he was only truly himself when he was with the Sioux. The first half of the film is leisurely,and has a re-run of the Sun Vow ritual of the first film,but longer and more graphic. But it's essential to the film,especially the vision Harris has of meeting himself as an old man.

The film's second half is mostly conventional if well staged action fare,although Harris looks out of place riding with the Sioux in western clothes-surely he would have dressed like one of them? Laurence Rosenthal's soaring score is wonderful and,in contrast with the more authentic sounding music of the first film,is more evidence that the filmmakers were generally going for a more romanticised approach. On that level,this sometimes rousing follow up works well.