Retro Film Review: Tecumseh: The Last Warrior (1995)

Brief renaissance of western in the era of "political correctness" resulted in quite few films that redefined the legend of American West from American Indian (or Native American) point of view. Yet those films told only the last and rather predictable chapter in the long and tragic history of Indians during white colonisation of North American continent. Legend of leaders and warriors like Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and Geronimo pales in comparison with the legend of another great Indian leader who had misfortune to live few decades before the period usually associated with the word "western". Ted Turner, whose film company Turner Pictures specialised for dealing with lesser known chapters of American history, paid homage to this historical figure in Tecumseh: The Last Warrior, 1995 television biopic directed by Larry Elikann.

Protagonist of the film is Tecumseh (1768-1813), Shawnee chief and arguably the greatest leader of all American Indians. His road to history books was paved when he tried to unite all surviving Indian tribes of North American continent into single nation, able to resist constant pressure from white colonies at the Atlantic coast (and used British-American rivalry in order to achieve that goal). Story of Tecumseh's life and his impact on American history and culture is really fascinating. Unfortunately, script Paul F. Edwards takes the familiar approach of American biopics and desperately tries to stuff decades of important and complex events into 90 minutes format. So, Tecumseh: The Last Warrior is reduced to dry depiction of few crucial events in the life of Tecumseh (played by Jesse Borego). Elikann's direction is so lifeless that the legend of Tecumseh look deconstructed. To make things even worse, scriptwriters artificially try to make some drama by over-emphasising the importance of Tecumseh's rival – Ohio governor and future US president William Henry Harrison (played by David Clennon). Because of that, Harrison is much more interesting character than Tecumseh, but, unfortunately, appears too briefly to improve the general impression of this film.

RATING: 2/10 (-)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on December 3rd 2002)

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