MovieChat Forums > When the Legends Die (1972) Discussion > I Have a Question

I Have a Question

posted 19 years ago by 80334080
6 replies | jump to latest

This is an interesting story and very well acted by Richard Widmark. However since I know next to nothing about either rodeo or Ute Indian life I would very much like to hear an opinion about this movie from someone who has experience in either area. For too many years Hollywood has gotten away with stories and casting that are way off the mark and I would like to know how accurate this movie is from someone who knows ! For example, do riders actually kill horses they ride in rodeos (Tom is supposed to have killed four) and are the accents of the native american actors accurate?

[–] Amry0217 19 years ago

It seems to me if a rodeo rider kills four horses, he no longer will be allowed to ride in future rodeos - these horses are valuable. He'd probably be banned before he even got around to killing four.
I've heard repeatedly riding horses or bulls until they can't fight anymore, ruins them for bucking in the future as they soon realize if they don't fight the cowboy will get off.

[–] rickyfan3956 18 years ago

I read the book and it was my understanding that he didn't actually kill the horses. Like, he didn't get off the horse and stab them with a sword or blow their heads off or anything like that. He simply rode them long and hard and, at some point, their hearts burst from all the exhertion and they died. But don't quote me on that. Also, the rodeos back then did not have all the restraints on them that there are today. Nobody really cared if the animals were mistreated because, to them, it was all part of the game. It was also part of the winning, at least in their eyes, to triumph over the big bad horse or bull.

[–] William_H_Bonnie 16 years ago

The movie is very accurate. I know cuz i grew up like tom blackbull. In the old days you couldv'e gotten away with killin a horse. the accents is real and tomas whould have spoken like that cuz he learned english as a kid and nothing else.

[–] crowboy505 15 years ago

accents? ... u mean like "ugh, me smoke'em me tobacco"?..lol ignorance is bliss..
accents? .. yes and no.. what most non-native people think of as an accent is mistaken for mixed slang and english... mostly slang.. its funny that at one time in the mid 20th century native children were more educated and enrolled in school than non-native kids, statistic wise.. lol
canada.. yes there are some accents but there normal canandian accents.
i gotta go, my generator next to my tee-pee needs more go-juice so i can use this pc..ugh

"if u want the book, read the book,... now shut your popcorn hole b4 i beat $9.75 out of you!"-me

[–] jayhawker-2 15 years ago

Well, "The Accents" or languages the Native Americans spoke were wrong in the beginning of this movie, like in Cheyenne Autumn, where all the Cheyenne people are speaking Navajo (and quite amuzing to the Navajo, they were often making jokes about fellow actors and just clowning around in their language during their "Cheyenne". The old man who took him to the boarding school in the beginning was speaking Lakota (Sioux) rather than Ute. I didn't recognize whether the young Tom Black Bull was speaking, but I imagine since it was filmed in the Southern Ute area, he was probably cast from local area and did speak Ute, and to quote Joe Pesci in "My Cousin Vinny" not "Youth" after he corrected his New York accent ;)
The Cheyenne Autumn story comes from Tony Hillerman, the Author of the Navajo Tribal Policeman books, who is quite familiar with the Navajo and their sense of humor.

[–] rmborst 9 years ago

Im from that area. Lived in Ignacio since I was ten. Some of those people in the film are my relatives. My stepmother remembers when it was filmed. Yes. Those are real accents. Aye.