Geronimo: An American Legend

Walter Hill's "Geronimo," a film of great beauty and considerable intelligence, covers the same ground as many other movies about Indians, but in a new way. Read full review

Walter Hill is the living director closest to the great film-makers of Hollywood's Golden Age such as Raoul Walsh, John Ford and Howard Hawks, and Geronimo is his finest movie to date. Certainly it is his most humane. [16 Oct 1994, p.9]

In the end, GERONIMO is a welcome contribution to a revitalized genre, filled with interesting representations of both the Apache and the pursuing army. Read full review

It's a handsomely crafted revisionist Western that effectively destigmatizes the legendary Apache raider, reveling as much in political correctness as in its sunset-tinted red sandstone. [10 Dec 1993, p.53]

What we get with Geronimo, is very good action long on Western flavor and not especially compelling in the historical sense. [01 Apr 1994, p.C16]

Though the director is Walter Hill, the dominant personality is John Milius, who wrote the story and collaborated on the script with Larry Gross, and despite some narrative stodginess in spots, Milius’s sense of warrior nobility and his talent for writing juicy parts for actors serve the picture well. Read full review

The action goes beyond conventional excitement to achieve a tragic grandeur. Read full review

A handsome and respectful Western that wants to simultaneously echo and modernize the myths of the past, it is an impressive piece of work that, perhaps inevitably, ends up being more than a little cold around the heart. [10 Dec 1993, p.F8]

Relentlessly driven by fashionable revisionism and good intentions, Geronimo: An American Legend-which deals with "days of bravery and cruelty, heroism and deceit"-is so politically correct it often is dramatically inert. [10 Dec 1993, p.C]

Geronimo: An American Legend offers both sides of the protracted battle between the U.S. Army and Chiricahua Apaches in 1885-86, which means that the film's most abject villains are Jason Patric's vacant performance and Matt Damon's droning voice-over. [10 Dec 1993, p.9D]

Patric gives the character dignity and righteousness, but he and the narrator end up drowning the finale in noble speeches. [10 Dec 1993, p.G30]

Walter Hill proves unexpectedly reluctant to force the story, but he makes the red earth of the Moab desert burn with blood and shame. Read full review

Neatly turning longstanding genre conventions upside down while working squarely within them, director Walter Hill has fashioned a physically impressive, well-acted picture whose slightly stodgy literary quality holds it back from an even greater level of impact. Read full review

While the movie's visuals are complex and suggestive, the plotting and dialogue are merely congested and muddled. Hill and the writers get caught between political correctness, historical fidelity, dramatic license and simple movie nostalgia. [11 Dec 1993, p.E1]

The real flavor of Davis's account, and of the ferocity that earned Geronimo his place in history, is nowhere evident on screen. Read full review

For the most part, its characterizations are so weak and ambivalent that the audience finds it difficult to develop much sympathy for anyone, regardless of whether they're white or Native American. Read full review

Geronimo: An American Legend is noble but hopelessly bland. [10 Dec 1993, p.G4]

All in all, Geronimo is a well-intentioned disappointment; the film chronicles the struggle not of the Apaches, but of the filmmakers. [13 Dec 1993, p.D05]

Saddled by Milius and Larry Gross's leaden script and Hill's somnambulant pace, "Geronimo" is hardly better than Ted Turner's recent fiasco. Read full review

A film about Geronimo and about the great feared Chiricahua Apaches would offend, should offend our sensibilities. We should be forced to confront and understand a different way of thinking. This is a more civilized movie, a more noble movie, a remarkably and consistently boring movie. Read full review

There's a deep, touching tale to relate about the man who went from Apache chieftain to circus has-been, selling his autographs for money. But don't look for stirring, touching or anything in "Geronimo: An American Legend." Look for the exit sign. Read full review

As written by John Milius and Larry Gross and directed by Walter Hill, "Geronimo: An American Legend" makes interesting characters dull as dirt, makes a great story confusing (while taking predictable liberties with the truth) and, worst of all, trivializes the subject matter it tries to splendidly mount. [06 Dec 1993]