Touches You

Sadly Over-hyped

Memorable, crazy movie

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

The original showed Val Kilmer's character drinking peyote before the scene in the middle with the fire. This has been poorly edited out because we don't want people to experience anything spiritual in this day and age. Now that whole scene makes no sense at all... Why is he freaking out in front of the fire and having visions? Why does the Indian Sheriff say 'I know you're scared' when Val Kilmer pulls his gun out... Is he afraid of the dark? Is he afraid of the fire? No, they just edited out the whole point of the movie in that he couldn't solve the crime using just his logical brain, he had to step out of the normal state of mind and seek help from his ancestors and the spirit world through the use of OMG! DRUGS!.. But of course we can't allow that in this technical nightmare of a world that is coming... So, remember why peyote is illegal in the first place to keep people from communicating with the other realms... So better enjoy the digital realm because the real world is turning into hell quicker than you can say 'Why did they edit that out?'... Very disappointing and now the movie and that whole scene makes much less sense.

This film is more than the crime drama it appears to be on the surface. It's also an indictment of the American Indian reservation system. This really is a fascinating film.And then there's Val Kilmer at his slim, handsome best. And I do mean best. He is superb in this film. Filmed in 1992, this was near the beginning of Kilmer's hot career period, which pretty much ended a decade later when he began looking not at all like the handsome leading man he had been.Sam Shepard is also quite good as a fellow FBI agent, although seriously -- get your teeth fixed. I'm not joking, he would have had a better career if he had had some decent dental work. I've noticed it in other films, as well.Graham Greene is also wonderful here as a tribal police officer. And that is another factor about this film that is refreshing. So many of the cast members are American Indian actors. Most interesting is the very old Ted Thin Elk.Filmed mostly on location, some of the photography of the Badlands is quite stunning. This movie has a real feel to it. And, unfortunately, the movie makes me sad about life on Indian reservations. Recommended. A very strong 7.

Val Kilmer plays a gung-ho FBI rookie and half-breed Sioux Indian who rediscovers his cultural heritage in the Badlands of South Dakota, while investigating a series of inter-tribal murders. The film is a well-meant but heavy-handed crowd-pleaser with a message, delivered by director Michael Apted with all the glossy, heartfelt sincerity of a sledgehammer blow. John Fusco's busy screenplay all but apologizes for every injustice against Native Americans dating back to the first voyage of Columbus, but 500 years of grievances can't be resolved in a single, two-hour melodrama and still leave time for all the car chases. The film as a result wavers between being an obvious social studies lesson (from which Apted could have made an interesting documentary) and pure Hollywood claptrap, complete with routine doses of gunplay and arcane Indian mysticism. Saving graces include natural performances by Sam Shepard and Graham Greene, and Roger Deakins' beautiful cinematography, showing just why the South Dakota landscape is sacred to the native Sioux.

In 1992, director Michael Apted released two accounts of the American Indian Movement: there was the documentary "Incident at Oglala" about Leonard Peltier, and the feature film "Thunderheart", loosely based on the Leonard Peltier case. This one features the ancestrally Indian Val Kilmer as an ancestrally Indian FBI agent investigating events in Pine Ridge in the 1970s and getting more interested in his own indigenous heritage.If absolutely nothing else, this movie should call to mind the history of Native Americans. They discovered America, but we don't admit it because they didn't colonize the Americas for another country. The Indians have gallantly fought against terrorism since October 12, 1492, while we act as if terrorism only emanates from the Middle East. They're reduced to running casinos to stay alive. For the record, at least some Indians don't like the word "tribe", preferring "nation".All in all, I really recommend this movie. Also starring Sam Shepard, Graham Greene, Fred Ward, John Trudell and presidential candidate Fred Thompson (I would never expect a creep like him to star in a movie like this, but he did, and later starred in "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee").