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:

Even more incredible...even more shocking than "A Man Called Horse."

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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

Mexican filming locations were used, because the Mexican terrain resembles that of South Dakota, but has a milder climate.

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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

German VHS version was cut in the scene where Harris makes a fire on the man who followed him.

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Connections

Followed by Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1983)

User Reviews

Introspective but fails to ignite

This is a weak sequel: it lacks the interest and light touch of the magnificent "Man Called Horse" in nearly every aspect and when compared to each other they hardly seem to be the same genre.

The Return is almost a parody of the first and tries to evoke different Indian ceremonies but comes across as trying way too hard to bottle the magic of the first. In this film the tribe is lost and abandoned, having lost their homelands, modern life has encroached on paradise and they are living in abject misery and poverty. Perhaps this is the point: the first film took us to a place where we would want to be, a simpler time. This takes us to broken Indians in a miserable world and the White Man is the hero and savior which rather negates the whole idea of the film.

The beauty of the first lay in the fact that the white man learnt and discovered that real civilization lies in values rather than western materialism. In the second film this is all but lacking and so we end up with a weak film.

A huge disappointment.