Thunderheart

1992 "Two men from different worlds. Two cops after the same killer. Together they must uncover the secrets. Together they must discover the truth."
6.8| 1h59m| R| en| More Info
Released: 03 April 1992 Released
Producted By: TriStar Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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An FBI man with Sioux background is sent to a reservation to help with a murder investigation, where he has to come to terms with his heritage.

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Director

Michael Apted

Production Companies

TriStar Pictures

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Thunderheart Audience Reviews

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
BeSummers Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.
Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.
Dern Vader 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.
runamokprods 'Thunderheart' occasionally Hollywoodizes the Native American story in shallow, obvious ways, but overall it's a solid political thriller, with probably my favorite, most vulnerable performance by Val Kilmer, along with a great supporting turn by Graham Greene. While some of the bad guys are a little too obviously evil in a Snidely Whiplash, mustache- twirling way, and Kilmer's conversion from straight down the middle FBI man to sensitive, spiritual 'real' Sioux is a little quick and facile, the film still has more than it's share of tense, moving, and thought provoking moments. One of those ever more rare big Hollywood films that's still about something. Great photography by Roger Deakins.
drystyx I recall that even when the movie was made, it was a hodge podge of every contrived and stereotypical movie scene acceptable, taking absolutely no chances. It is supposed to be an action think piece, but fails on all counts. The action is slow, which isn't as bad as the plot being predictable to every detail. It would be nice if the movie just took one bit of risk, but this is about as risk free as you can get. A movie that takes no chances. It just puts together every mundane acceptable situation in films. One gets the feeling that the team making this film just threw in some dialog and said "Lets make a movie". Total lack of originality and total lack of inspiration. Total bomb.
Lee Eisenberg 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").