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Film & History, Vol. XXIII, No's. 1-4, 19937 Absurd Reality: Hollywood Goes to the Indians... Ted Jojola, When McMurphy (actor Jack Nicholson), in the five Academy Award winning movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), prodded a mute Indian Chief (played by Indian actor Will Sampson) into pronouncing "ahh juicyfruit," what the audience heard was far removed from the stereotypical "hows," "ughs", and "kemosabes" of tinsel moviedom. "Well goddamn, Chief," countered McMurphy. "And they all think you're deaf and dumb. Jesus Christ, you fooled them Chief, you fooled them. . .you fooled'em all!" In that simple and fleeting scene, a new generation of hope and anticipation was heralded among Native American moviegoers. Long the downtrodden victims of escapist shoot 'urn and bang 'urn up westerns, Native Americans were ready for a new cinematic treatment—one which was real and contemporary. Native Americans had grown accustomed to the warpaint and warbonnets languishing in the 1950' s sunset. The John Wayne images droned in the psyche like a festering toothache. The only remedy from such images was the comic relief of knowing that the portrayals were too surreal and too removed from the reservation or urban Indian experience. And in the face of the exotic and primitive, non-Indians had drawn on their own preconceptions and experiences to selectively appropriate elements of the "Indian." The consequent image was a subjective interpretation, the purpose of which was to corroborate the outsider's viewpoint. This process is called revisionism and it, more often than not, entailed remaking Native Americans apart and separate from their own social and community realities. However, beginning in 1968 with the establishment of the American Indian Movement (AIM) much of this misrepresentation was to change. The occupation of Alcatraz Prison in 1969, the Bureau of Indian Affairs headquarters in 1972, and Wounded Knee, SD in 1973, followed in rapid succession. These were bloody struggles which were every bit as profound as the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the destruction of the Berlin Wall. They served to bring the attention of the modern Native American's plight to mainstream Americans. Such activism did not escape the big screen. Hollywood's script writers jumped onto the bandwagon with such epics as Tell Them Willie Boy is Here (1969, starring Robert Blake), Soldier Blue (1970), A Man Called Horse (1970, starring Richard Harris), Return of a Man Called Horse (1976), Triumphs of a Man Called Horse (1982) and Little Big Man (1971, starring Dustin Hoffman). The latter, in fact, established a milestone in Hollywood cinema as the result of its three-dimensional character portrayal of Sioux people including what is perhaps one of the finest acting roles ever performed by an Ted Jojola is Director of Native American Studies at the University of New Mexico. He is currently completing a manuscript entitled Indian Stereotypes for the institute of American Indian Arts. 8 Jojola / Absurd Reality Indian actor, Chief Dan George, playing the old Cheyenne Chief Old Lodge Skins. Indian activism, however, was subtly transformed toward unmitigated militancy with the production of Vietnam-war based movies. Movies such as Flap or Nobody Loves a Drunken Indian (1970, starring Anthony Quinn) , Journey Through Rosebud (1971, starring Robert Foster), Billie Jack (1971, starring Tom Laughlin) , The Trial of Billie Jack (1974), and Billie Jack Goes to Washington (1977) revised the message of Indian activism to an even more bizarre level. Native Americans were portrayed as ex-Vietnam veterans whose anti-American behavior despoiled their commonsense. Herein was the ultimate blend of aboriginal nitro and glycerin. But, in spite of their attempts to "correct the record," these movies all had one thing in common— "Indians" in the leading role were played by non-Indians. On the other hand, a few films like House Made of Dawn (1972, starring Pueblo Indian actor Larry Littlebird playing a Pueblo Indian), When the Legends Die (1972, featuring "the Ute tribe"), The White Dawn (1975, featuring "the Eskimo People"), eked out the most meager receipts. This, in turn, guaranteed that a movie cast by and about Native Americans was an investment to be regulated out of the backstage set. As a matter of fact, the Cuckoo's...

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