Thunderheart movie storyline. During the early 1970s, FBI agent Ray Levoi is assigned to aid in the investigation of a political murder, that of tribal council member Leo Fast Elk (Allan R.J. Joseph), on a Native American reservation in South Dakota.
Agent William Dawes, Ray’s superior, has chosen him for the task due to his mixed Sioux heritage, which might assist in the inquiry as they interview local townspeople. Ray is partnered with agent Frank “Cooch” Coutelle, who has diligently worked on the probe looking to apprehend a prime suspect: Aboriginal Rights Movement radical Jimmy Looks Twice. While helping Cooch track down the suspect, Ray gradually becomes sensitized to Indian issues, partially from his attraction to Maggie Eagle Bear, a Native American political activist and schoolteacher.
Mocked and ridiculed by the locals (being called a “Washington Redskin”), including tribal police officer Walter Crow Horse, Ray finds that he has an unaccountable standing with some of the tribal elders such as Grandpa Sam Reaches. The natives recognize Ray as “Thunderheart”, a Native American hero slain at the Wounded Knee Massacre in the past, and now reincarnated to deliver them from their current troubles.
Thunderheart is a 1992 contemporary western mystery film directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by John Fusco. The film is a loosely based fictional portrayal of events relating to the Wounded Knee incident in 1973. Followers of the American Indian Movement seized the South Dakota town of Wounded Knee in protest against federal government policy regarding Native Americans.
Incorporated in the plot is the character of Ray Levoi, played by actor Val Kilmer, as an FBI agent with Sioux heritage investigating a murder on a Native American reservation. Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, Fred Ward and Sheila Tousey star in principal supporting roles. Also in 1992, Apted had previously directed a documentary surrounding a Native American activist episode involving the murder of FBI agents titled Incident at Oglala. The documentary depicts the indictment of activist Leonard Peltier during a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
Thunderheart (1992)
Directed by: Michael Apted
Starring: Val Kilmer, Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, Fred Ward, Fred Dalton Thompson, Sheila Tousey, Ted Thin Elk, Julius Drum, Sarah Brave, John Trudell
Screenplay by: John Fusco
Production Design by: Dan Bishop
Cinematography by: Roger Deakins
Film Editing by: Ian Crafford
Costume Design by: Susan Lyall
Set Decoration by: Dianna Freas
Art Direction by: Bill Ballou
Music by: James Horner
MPAA Rating: R for language, and for some areas of violence.
Distributed by: TriStar Pictures
Release Date: April 3, 1992
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