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Val Kilmer, Graham Greene (II), Sam Shepard, Sheila Tousey, Fred Ward ... see more see more... , John Trudell , Chief Ted Thin Elk , Fred Dalton Thompson , Dennis J. Banks , Robin Black Bird , Lewis C. Bradshaw , Sarah Brave , Duane Brewer , Floyd Charging Crow , David Crosby , Elroy Cross , Julius Drum , Terry Graber , Candy Hamilton , Jerry Allan Hietala , Allan R.J. Joseph , Tom M. LeBeau , Rex Linn , Jerome Mack , Patrick Massett , Carlin Orville Morrison , Brian A. O'Meara , George Patterson , Verland Theodore Phelps , Sylvan Pumpkin Seed , Buddy Red Bow , Calvin Timothy Red Elk Sr. , Ernest Red Elk , Kenneth J. Richards , Robin J. Saderup , Bridgit P. Schock , Tim Owen Taggart , Melvin David Young Bear , Severt Young Bear Sr. , Charles Davis , Lisa Clarkson , Sam Adams

Actor Robert De Niro started a production company to make films just like this one: stories which were unpopular with the establishment and which are unlikely to make a big splash at the box-office. E... read more read more...ven so, this is a first-class production, and the filmmakers were the first to receive permission to film on the Pine Ridge (Sioux) Reservation in South Dakota, likely due to director Michael Apted's having previously made an accurate and sensitive documentary about Indian political prisoner Leonard Peltier's case, Incident at Oglala. The film did exactly as well as expected at the box-office but has since assumed greater importance as one of the tiny number of "mainstream" movies which faithfully and respectfully illuminate Native American issues. In the story, loosely based on the earlier documentary, Ray Levoi (Val Kilmer) is an ambitious up-and-coming FBI agent in the 1970s with great career prospects. The one thing he will not tolerate is any reference to his half-Indian heritage. As far as he is concerned, his loyalties and culture identify him with the government and his white mother. He is extremely touchy about anything to do with his father, who was an alcoholic full-blooded Sioux. However, the FBI wants to take advantage of his half-Indian blood to mend fences in a politically sensitive murder investigation, and it sends him exactly where he doesn't want to go. Further, he is widely advertised as being Indian, though he knows virtually nothing about his heritage and has renounced it to the best of his ability. Once on the reservation, he becomes deeply involved in a truly messy state of affairs and is drawn into situations where he is forced to confront his background, native spirituality, and the duplicity of the government and its allies within the tribe. Despite his consistent prickliness about his heritage, his heart is in the right place, and the reservation's sheriff (Graham Greene) and a wise spiritual elder (Chief Ted Thin Elk) patiently lead their unwilling FBI pupil on a soul-wrenching wild goose chase which paradoxically takes him straight to the heart of the matter. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Flixster Users

69% liked it

11,552 ratings

Critics

87% liked it

15 critics

R, 2 hr. 2 min.

Directed by: Michael Apted

Release Date: April 1, 1992

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DVD Release Date: November 7, 2000

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Flixster Reviews (500)

  • binky013
    September 15, 2011
    binky013
    No dead horse should be continually beaten (not to mention that anyone who beats a live horse should be shot). I believe this. But, EVERY time I see this movie I remember that Kilmer is probably most celebrated for his Doc Holliday performance in Tombstone, and I do agre... read moree that his performance is stunning, there. But I tell you true, Kilmer's BEST acting job is right here. I never get tired of watching him grow in this role.

    Previously: I've been on Flixster for a good little while, so what with my age and all, I'm sometimes very unsure about whether I've commented on a particular movie. I just watched this one for probably at least the tenth time -- although my gut tells me it's more like twenty times -- and I just had to check Flixster to see if I'd actually ever said anything about it.

    Amazing! I have never said a word about it. I'm sincerely surprised.

    Even with a favorite movie, you probably understand well that it's sometimes hard to watch it TOO many times, right? I mean it is very interesting, even with some of my very favorite movies, that I'll sometimes start watching them and say to myself something along the lines of, "Ah, maybe not tonight."

    With Thunderheart, it is never that way for me. I can watch it, and watch it, and then even put up with commercial interruptions, like tonight, to watch it again.

    I'm not sure how well I can explain all the reasons why I love this movie, but you know me -- I'll give it a shot : )

    Val Kilmer is superior as Doc Holliiday in Tombstone, I think some of you might agree. But the beauty of that work, for me, takes a second seat to his performance in this movie. There is something about his difficulty with delivering some of the lines here with conviction -- "I'm sorry I dragged your family into this," for instance -- that is never a problem he has with his world-weary Doc Holliday.

    You are, I'm sure, very familiar with the hackneyed term "coming of age." Doc Holliday, thanks to Kilmer's performance, you know darn well came of age looong before the events chronicled in Tombstone. That performance of a man who has lived life to the fullest, seen it all, done it all, is perfection.

    Ray Levoi, on the other hand, is coming of age right before your very eyes. I love the less polished performance here because it lends itself -- almost as if he intended it to be that way -- to the way he is discovering himself, who he is, how he should live, how he should act.

    Okay, I was going to go into a whole list of reasons why I love this movie, but I'm sure very few people have even read this far.

    Bottom line: This movie is so good that I'm adding it to my Top 100 list right now, and I'm going to be curious to see what movie I decide to drop from that list in order to make place for Thunderheart. If you've not watched this before, please give it a try. Me? I don't think I will ever get tired of watching it.
  • hunterjt13
    July 26, 2011
    hunterjt13
    An FBI agent investigates a murder on a Lakota reservation.
    Thunderheart is a textbook example of how a skilled filmmaker can use a familiar genre to attempt to make a political point. The mystery and the message are interwoven expertly. However, as much as the film atte... read morempts to show Native life as it was, and still is in many places, (people living in near squalor with high incidents of alcoholism and violence), the last shot summarizes the feel I got through other parts of the film. I'm not giving anything away when I say that in the final moment, we see a busy highway that is far removed from the Res. It is as though Natives are still unwelcome in modernity, separated radically from it, even though thoroughly modern lives either are or can be lived by the people we just met. The film's heart is in the right place, exposing the degradation to which many of these people are subjected, but there is still something of a "noble savage" feel to how the film treats Natives. Add to this the fact that Fred Ward plays in a character in "red face," as the saying goes, and we can see how Natives are still subjects to some degree.
    Also, I wondered about why Sam Shepard's character, Cooch, constantly sent Val Kilmer's character, Ray, to advance the investigation alone. It seemed unrealistic.
    The performances are all fine; though, I think Val Kilmer was too stoic. If we are to buy the fact that a grizzled FBI veteran so quickly recovers his Native roots, I think more work needs to be done by the actor to make this transition obvious.
    Overall, Thunderheart is a well-told story even with a few relatively minor flaws.
  • FilmFanatik
    December 21, 2009
    FilmFanatik
    Not that great.
  • garyX
    July 3, 2007
    garyX
    People talk about the "politically charged" story and Val Kilmer's "outstanding" performance, and I wonder if I was watching the same film, because all I saw was yet another glossy cop thriller. The reservation makes an interesting cultural backdrop to an otherwise run of the mil... read morel plot about corrupt land deals, unfortunately often resorting to the usual new age "noble savage" perception of native americans that seems distinctly patronizing. Graham Greene makes a great foil to Kilmer's earnest FBI agent, otherwise an entertaining but superficial diversion, and nothing more.
  • deano
    December 11, 2006
    deano
    A superb thriller on one level, the depiction of third-world life in a first-world nation is also fascinating. The story grips throughout while the performances are wonderful, particularly from Graham Greene as the Indian cop who makes Sherlock Holmes look thick.
  • xxdebxx
    March 17, 2011
    xxdebxx
    Val Kilmer plays a FBI rookie and half-breed Sioux Indian who is asked to assist in collaring a murder suspect on an Indian reservation. During the investigation Val finds himself coming to terms with his heritage; rejecting the tactics of his fellow agents, who want to cover up ... read morerather than solve the crime. Along the way, he meets a sarcastic but savvy, local lawman, Walter Crow Horse (Graham Greene) and a fiery, pacifistic activist in Maggie Eagle Bear (Sheila Tousey). Good portrait of the conflict that Val Kilmer's character is faced with and Chief Ted Thin Elk, the old wise man has an instant appeal to the viewer. Both Kilmer and Greene give wonderful performances backed up by the incomparable Sam Shepard.
  • fb511192930
    March 17, 2011
    fb511192930
    This is a really good movie the only thing is that all the story's main feuds remain unresolved. I recommend it but it is annoying as hell having no resolve.
  • ileo
    December 16, 2007
    ileo
    Great movie!
  • fb1017355736
    December 18, 2011
    fb1017355736
    it's good, the actors played their roles well, especially loved Kilmer's native american "sidekick" character. the ending was a bit too hollywood maybe but it's a good movie.
  • Peaceandsuffering216
    July 10, 2011
    Peaceandsuffering216
    This was a suprisingly wonderful movie. Val Kilmer was average but Graham Greene, Ted Thin Elk, and John Trudell absolutely stole the show.

View All Thunderheart Reviews

Critic Reviews

Sean Axmaker
May 23, 2010
Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Online

Behind the fiction... is a very real history of conflict between Indian activists and the FBI, which culminated in the Wounded Knee siege of 1973... Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
May 21, 2010
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

A fascinating murder mystery story that at the same time brings to our attention the plight of the modern Indians living on the reservation. Full Review

Steve Crum
October 16, 2008
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com

Unique film set on Native American reservation and featuring Val Kilmer.

Clint Morris
July 23, 2008
Clint Morris, Moviehole

One of the best films Val Kilmer has done

Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
August 29, 2002
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

Enables us to ponder the validity of both the seen and the unseen powers in this world. Full Review

March 26, 2009
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Peter Travers
May 12, 2001
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

No review available.

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Click to read the article Full Review

April 1, 1992
Entertainment Weekly

Click to read the article Full Review

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