Prepared by Violaine Merrien, Dara Houdek and Rebecca Brinning
Released in 1980 by Pacific International Enterprises, INC Ruru-Ling Time:
108 minutes
A Sante Fe International Production
Based on the novel by Blaine M. Yorgason
Screenplay: Ray Goldrup
Producer: Arthur R. Dubs, Thomas E. Ballard
Associate Producer: Douglas G. Johnson
Film Editors: Janice Hampton, Steve Johnson, Peter L. McCrea
Music: Merrill B. Jenson
Director: Keith Merrill
Production Designer: Thomas Pratt
Cinematographer: Reed Smoot
| Windwalker | Trevor Howard |
| Smiling Wolf/ Crow Brother | Nick Ramus |
| Windwalker (young man) | James Remar |
| Tashina | Serene Hedin |
| Dancing Moon | Dusty Iron Wing McCrea |
| Little Feather | Silvana Gallardo |
| Spotted Deer | Emerson John |
| Horse That Follows | Jason Stevens |
| Happy Wind | Roberta Deherrera |
| Crooked Leg | Ivan Naranjo |
| Tashina's Father | Chief Tug Smith |
| Tashina's Mother | Fredelia Smith |
| Windwalker (age 5) | Wamni-Omni-Ska Robideau |
| Tashina (age 5) | Dominique Gallegos |
| Smiling Wolf (age 2) | Benjamin Huber |
| Crow Brother (age 2) | David Huber |
| Crow Eyes | Rudy Diaz |
| Crow Scout | Billy Drago |
| Crow Hair | Harold Goss-Coyote |
| Young Crow Eyes | Marvin Takes Horse |
Wounded Crow Renegade Crow |
Roy J. Cohoe Curtis Powers |
"In the winter of 1797, illness forced a band of Cheyenne to migrate south, leaving behind those who were too weak or sick to travel." This is how the movie Windwalker begins. The setting opens with the aging Windwalker's (Trevor Howard) family remaining in the winter camp as the rest of the band leaves. Windwalker is on his deathbed, with his grandsons taking care of hi-in, when he starts recalling his past.
The movie switches to a flashback of Windwalker (James Remar) and Tashina (Serene Hedin) together as a young boy and girl of about five years old. Tashina gives him a feather, as she does again in the next scene as a teenager. Windwalker begins to court Tashina and plays a flute to win her heart as was typical of a young Cheyenne male. She's obviously falling for him as we see in the few next shot-reverse-shots in which they exchange loving glances. Later Windwalker approaches Tashina's father with two horses as an offering of marriage to his daughter. But Crooked Leg (Ivan Naranjo) has beat him to it with horses of his own. Crooked Leg is denied by Tashina's father, turns to leave, and laughs at Windwalker's poor horses. His pride hurt, Windwalker decides to steal horses from a Crow's camp to offer for Tashina. He wins dad over and takes off with the girl, and in the process makes an enemy of Crooked Leg.
Tashina gives birth to twin boys and they all live a happy life until Crooked Leg returns to avenge himself. The family is playing near a river when they are attacked by a small group of Crow, the Cheyenne's worst enemy. Apparently Crooked Leg had joined the Crow Tribe when he was no longer welcome among the Cheyenne. Crooked Leg kills Tashina when he tries to steal her and is in turn killed by Windwalker. Crow Eyes (Rudy Diaz) takes off with one of the twins.
Windwalker, devastated at the loss of his wife and son, takes off on his own in search of "the lost one." After many years of searching, he finds the boy in a Crow camp far to the south. He attempts to steal his son back, but fails. In the process, Windwalker was able to give to the boy the beaded emblem he wears around his neck. He tries telling the boy who understands only Crow, that he is Cheyenne, Windwalker's son.
The flashback ends and the old Windwalker tells his grandsons (the sons of the remaining twin) that he is done searching; "it is a good day to die" he says and closes his eyes. Windwalker is taken by his son Smiling Wolf (Nick Ramus) and his family (Smiling Wolf's two wives, the two boys, and his little girl) to the burial grounds where he is placed on a scaffold adorned with his shield, arrows, flute, and other belongings. The family mourns for the grandfather's death and then start heading back to their camp. We hear chimes in the background, a little foreshadowing of the mysterious return of Windwalker.
On the way back, Smiling Wolf and his family are attacked by a small group of Crow, led by Crow Eyes. Smiling Wolf is injured, but the rest of the family is able to fend off the Crow. One of the Crow warriors comes across the family huddled in the trees. Instead of attacking them, he spares them when he sees their pleading looks. Even though he has lots of war paint on, have we not seen this man before? The two boys find one of the horses and the family gets Smiling Wolf back to the camp.
The scene goes back to Windwalker's grave where we see him opening his eyes and asking the Great Spirit (which he calls Grandfather) why he hasn't gone to the land of the Sky People. He sees a vision of Tashina, dressed in white amid the blowing clouds, hands outstretched to him. He wonders why this joke is being played on him. He falls off the scaffold and begins a series of encounters with wolves and a grizzly bear. Pure luck seems to enable him to survive. Smiling Wolf's mysterious white horse shows up bathed in white glowing light. When he sees the horse, Windwalker understands why he has been sent back. He rides him back to the camp. Windwalker shows up at the tipi, to the surprise of the family. He assures them he's not a spirit and gets to work trying to heal his son. He applies a poultice to Smiling Wolf's wound and bathes him in smoke.
The scene switches to the group of Crow planning a strategy where we see the familiar looking warrior bathing himself in smoke from the fire. They disagree about what to do. Crow Eyes wants the mysterious white stallion, one guy wants one of the wives, and the familiar looking Crow thinks it is dishonorable to fight women and children for a single horse.
Back at the tipi, Windwalker is answering questions from the curious grandchildren. While the little ones want to hear of his adventures, the oldest boy, already thinking like a little warrior, is concerned with the return of the Crow.
Later on, the Crow attack the tipi, only to find they have been tricked. The family has already gone. The familiar looking Crow is disgusted with the others' desire to continue to pursue the family which has outsmarted them, and he leaves the group to set out on his own.
Windwalker takes the family to a cave which appears to have been previously inhabited. The walls are decorated with paintings. Windwalker is fulfilling the grandfather's role in the teaching of the two boys. He tells them that although they are young, they must fight to become warriors. They proceed to set traps for the approaching Crow.
The familiar looking Crow happens to be trapped by the boys and their grandfather. One wife wants to kill him, but Windwalker prevents her after he exchanges a mysterious look of recognition with the Crow. Two of the other Crows become victims of the traps.
In the cave, the familiar looking Crow wakes and recognizes himself in Smiling Wolf. He makes the connection between the emblem Smiling Wolf is tying around his son's neck and the one which was given to him by the man which tried to capture him from the Crow camp long ago. Windwalker realizes that his long lost son has been returned to Ms family and truly understands why he was sent back from the land of the Sky People. Windwalker goes to meet Crow Eyes, who is annoyed that the great warrior who rides the white stallion would not appear. Instead, he is challenged by an old man. Smiling Wolf's twin, riding the white horse, steps in to confront Crow Eyes with the truth. He wishes for Crow Eyes to leave in peace, but instead they fight. The twin defeats Crow Eyes but lets him go instead of killing him.
Windwalker, content that his family is reunited, hears the music of the courting flute and takes off on the white stallion to die on a snow covered mountain. He meets Tashina, clad in white amid the shining trees in the Land of the Sky People, and is happily embraced by her (now transformed to the young, beautiful Windwalker, of course).
Windwalker is an extremely unique film because all the characters are Indians. The absence of white characters is not surprising because the Cheyenne have had little to no contact with whites in the late 18th century. Although an exact account of all the actors could not be found, we think all the cast is Native American with the notable exception of Trevor Howard who is "sadly miscast as the title character" and perhaps James Remar as the young Windwalker. Almost every review we read praised the film for many reasons but criticized the casting of Howard. His voice (the English narration) was dubbed over by James Remus to cover his British accent. Many of the reviews expressed that the part should have been played by a Native American such as Chief Dan George to really complete the authenticity of the film. The fact that the majority of the dialogue is spoken in Crow and Cheyenne with English subtitles also makes this movie unique and authentic. The only English we hear is during the flashbacks and when Windwalker is thinking.
The ethnographic validity of Windwalker is quite impressive (apart from the fact that the Cheyenne were probably living in Montana and the movie was filmed in Utah). The opening scene of the Cheyenne village shows tipis and earthlodges. Both of these dwellings were used by the Cheyenne, although they would probably only have had lodges during the late 1700's. The marriage proposal scene in Windwalker's flashback is relatively accurate although the young men usually send messengers with the horses as a proposal. Stealing horses from an enemy for a marriage gift is the highest compliment that could be paid to her and her family. A story extremely similar to Windwalker's actually took place in the mid-eighteen hundreds and is remembered to this day (Grinnell, 143).
The burial of Windwalker is also a good depiction of how the Cheyenne would take care of their dead. The scaffold, erected a distance out of camp and adorned with his belongings, is typical. The burial bundle was transported by travois, the usual transportation method of the time. The Cheyenne believed that upon death, the person's spirit, the tasoom, leaves the body and travels to Heammawihio (a place which corresponds closely to Windwalker's Land of the Sky People) where all the Cheyenne of the past live. It's not unusual for someone to fan into a coma before death, during which they later believe themselves to have visited the villages of those who are really dead. They are sent back to earth by the Spirit People. Thus the plot of Windwalker which we think is so unique, really was not unheard of among the Cheyenne. What seems unusual, though, is the visual image of Tashina among the clouds. If this is the mental image of Windwalker's Land of the Sky People, why does it resemble so closely the images of a White person's Heaven?
One image in particular, which stands out, comes from the several shots of melting ice. The only time in which we see Windwalker with his family all together is in the summer. As the movie progresses, and the family is about to be reunited with the lost "twin" the winter is turning back into spring and the family will find harmony once again and Windwalker will be able to die peacefully.
Although there are no Indian/White interactions in this film, we do see interactions between the Crow and Cheyenne. The Crow are depicted as the typical "bad Indians" who only want to steal the horses, kill the warrior, rape the women, and steal the children. The only good Crow turns out to be a Cheyenne! Although the Crow were, indeed, historical enemies of the Cheyenne, their relentlessness appears to be their only trait which is not the case with the Cheyenne.
We believe that one of the most powerful aspects of this film lies in its portrayal of Native Americans as real people with loving families, endearing old grandfathers, cute kids, warriors that get hurt, and wives that play an important role. As is true in Cheyenne culture, the children are always being taught by a loving grandfather who passes the tribal lore and myths to his descendants. Yet the children are very rounded characters; they are curious, playful, and try to be brave and important like all little kids.
The combination of the ethnographic validity and the portrayal of Indians as real people with just enough humor thrown in (mostly on the part of old Windwalker), makes this film appealing to Native American as well as White audiences.