Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
While confronting the disapproving father of his girlfriend Lola, Native American man Willie Boy kills the man in self-defense, triggering a massive manhunt, led by Deputy Sheriff Christopher Cooper.
-
- Cast:
- Robert Redford , Katharine Ross , Robert Blake , Susan Clark , Barry Sullivan , John Vernon , Charles Aidman
Similar titles
Reviews
Please don't spend money on this.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.
This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Here is the true account of this story as told by posse member Law-man Ben de Crevecoeur in 1941.Willie Boy was a 25 or 26 year old Paiute Indian. Isoleta Boniface was a 15 year old Paiute Indian girl. Isoleta's father, Old Mike Boniface was a Paiute Indian.Willie Boy had an unrequited interest in Isoleta. Her father didn't like Willie Boy. Willie Boy kidnapped Isoleta the first time from the family's camp at Twenty-nine Palms, Ca. Her father found them, took her back and told Willie Boy that if he came near her again he would kill Willie Boy.Some days later, after drinking with a White friend, Willie Boy went to the Gillman Ranch, near Banning Ca., where the Boniface family was working and crept up on Old Mike, his wife and their 7 children where they were sleeping under a Cottonwood tree. Willie Boy shot Old Mike in the head as he slept.Willie Boy kidnapped Isoleta again and headed into the desert. He used her as a pack animal to carry whatever supplies he had. The posse, some of which were Paiute Indians, came upon a message scrawled in the dirt from Isoleta that read, "My heart is almost gone, I will be dead soon". When she couldn't go any further, Willie Boy shot her in the back and killed her.Lawman Ben Crevecouer said, "The sight of that girl's body was something a person would want to forget, but couldn't. We came on it while it was still warm. Her clothes were just rags, she was welts and bruises all over, and there were cactus spines in her flesh. She had worn through her thin little shoes and her feet were raw and bloody".The posse eventually discovered Willie Boy's body after chasing him for 11 days and 500 to 600 miles in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties in Ca.. Willie Boy killed himself with his last bullet.Willie Boy was just a scumbag who murdered two of his own people but ,of course, this director, Abe Polonsky, turns the story into another anti-White Hollywood propaganda film.Info from interview of Ben de Crevecouer in "Desert Magazine", Nov. 1941.
I love this film since the plot is so moving. This is really a love story between the boy and girl. However it is HOW their love is portrayed that makes the plot so strong. The white girl's father never approved of his daughter's love for the boy just because of his American Indian heritage! I believe the father died from his own stupidity because of his hatred against the boy. He had every right to defend himself from the father who couldn't help it that the boy fell in love with his daughter. Obviously love doesn't stop happening if both parties come from different races. All the father had to do was simply understand the boy's background and his culture as a proud American Indian and everything would have probably been fine. If he made the effort in trying to get along with the boy, none of these problems would have ensued.Anyways, as with any film, there needs to be a good plot in order for it to be a good story. So that's why I gave this one a 9 out of 10.
Bad movie due to below average production and editing.The message regarding the Native American plight was good but wasted on this movie effort.Too bad bacause the actors gave good performances.The last 20 minutes was the best part but nothing you can't miss.Flows like a slow TV movie.Thank God Redford is preety.Still worth a look if you are a fan of pro Native American Western action drama or a big fan of the lead actors......
An excellent, small, telling film, ahead of it's time. Well acted and directed, a taste too of turn of the century Southern California, with mention of Riverside, Morongo, Victorville, San Bernadino, etc. Blake is excellent and Redford is rough and empathetic. The final scene between the two of them has several solid images and powerfully evokes the situation and the environment.