On P List of Movie Reviews
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Powwow Highway (1989)
Rate:
8
Viewed:
7/25
7/25:
Anybody who gushed over Smoke Signals and thought it was original
obviously hasn't seen Powwow Highway.
Adam Beach is A Martinez, and Evan Adams is Gary Farmer. The former is practical while the latter is
traditional. Instead of going from Montana to New Mexico, they're in Idaho and take a road trip to Arizona.
On the way, they talk, touch the usual Indian stuff, and get into situations that are similar to
Planes, Trains & Automobiles. After coming terms with what
happened in the past and accomplishing a lot, the two guys realize how special their friendship is.
That's why I'm convinced Sherman Alexie stole the basic structure from David Seals by either reading the 1979
novel Powwow Highway or watching the film and redressed it a great deal for
Smoke Signals to avoid too much of the similarities. Even Gary Farmer
and John Trudell appear in both. I wonder if they felt weird about it. The major difference is that lead actors
in Powwow Highway were fully mature to take the clichéd Indian topics to another level.
Anyway, Gary Farmer makes the strongest case why
he got robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Without him, there's no movie, period, just like John
Candy for Planes, Trains & Automobiles. Unfortunately,
almost nobody saw it in 1989 which resulted in a profit of $283,747 at the box office, but four guys ended
up in Dances With Wolves the following year with significant roles:
Graham Greene, Rodney A. Grant, Wes Studi, and Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman.
All in all, when it comes to the core of American Indian movies, people tend to think of
Dances With Wolves,
The Last of the Mohicans, and
Little Big Man, but a fourth one is missing: Powwow Highway.