Geronimo - An American Legend

Geronimo is yet another of the commendable rewritings of the stories of the Wild West, of which the Hollywood factory spat out quite a number a couple of years ago. Geronimo, however, is less about the Apache warrior than about the American soldiers who captured and negotiated with him. The film's narrator is the green Lieutenant Britton Davis, who comes under the wing of the experienced and well-liked Lieutenant Charles Gatewood. Gatewood has an almost friendly relationship with Geronimo, whom he nevertheless ends up deceiving when, at General Miles's urging, he offers Geronimo and his warriors a deal that the Americans never intend to honour.

The cavalry has an ambiguous function in relation to the Indians, for the cavalry is the spearhead of the white race's expansion, yet at the same time the cavalry protects the Indians from abuse by white fortune hunters who receive money from Mexico for scalps. Most often this scalp hunting hits more peaceful tribes than the Apaches. The scout Al Sieber and the commanding officer George Crook are, like Charles Gatewood, not entirely happy with their role in the Indian Wars, which indeed ends with both men's departure.

Geronimo was produced with noble motives, but unfortunately that cannot make up for the film's sluggishness. Dramatically, it is simply not very exciting. The narrator has such a small role that he cannot possibly become the point of identification, but the other characters offer no greater opportunity for identification either.