Authors and After Words

The Lone Ranger and Tonto are surrounded by Indians who are whooping it up and pointing bows, arrows, tomahawks, and rifles at them. The Lone Ranger says, “How do we get out of this one, Tonto?” Tonto looks at the Lone Ranger, smiles and says, “What do you mean ‘we,’ White Man?”

The relations between the indigenous North Americans and the European settlers as depicted in Hollywood films up to about 1965 are notoriously embarrassing. Imagine Errol Flynn playing George Armstrong Custer in They Died with their Boots On (1941) and tell me who you think comes off better, braver, and prettier – the Cavalry or the Indians? In all fairness, we know that the pressures of American Expansion produced atrocities on both sides and the federal government was notoriously relaxed about treaty agreements. But it was not until the revisionist westerns appeared in the 1960’s that the Anglo role was clearly represented on the silver screen. Geronimo (1962) revealed a bit of the Native American’s side, though the title character was played by Chuck Conners, of all people. Cheyenne Autumn (1964) was John Ford’s attempt to make amends for his previous treatment of Native Americans, but the top Indian roles still went to non-Indian actors. Occasionally more sympathetic portrayals of Native Americans appeared, but the presence of Chief Dan George in a supporting role was big news for Little Big Man (1970). Director Arthur Penn’s film is not only a comment on our shared history with the American Indian but it is directed against the Vietnam conflict as well, standing as a powerful reminder of the cost of war in insanity, genocide, and holocaust.

Revisionist westerns continued throughout the next two decades but it was Kevin Costner who made it his personal business to change our perception of Native Americans once and for all in Dances with Wolves (1990). It was not enough for Costner to iterate the values of a culture he deemed more in harmony with the land and spirit of the west. His character, Lt. John Dunbar, actually turns his back on his Anglo-European heritage to live the indigenous wisdom of the people of the land.

Though Dances with Wolves was a huge popular success, winning seven Oscars and a plethora of other honors, a small independent film appeared a year earlier that treats essentially the same issues but from the Native American point of view and in a way that cuts directly to the soul of things. It’s called Powwow Highway (1989). The difference between Powwow Highway and Dances with Wolves is setting. The latter film is historical; the former is contemporary. That difference underscores the continuing irony that the more things change the more they remain the same. While Little Big Man and Dances with Wolves reflect anti-war feelings through symbolic references, Powwow Highway deals directly with the impact of the Vietnam War on Native American veterans. Buddy Red Bow is a child of his time, having soldiered in Vietnam where he earned a Purple Heart. But the country he served still covets the hidden wealth of the same land in Wyoming that it ceded to the Native Americans a hundred years earlier. As an activist standing against the further exploitation of his reservation, the powers that covet the minerals trick him away from the res in order to rescue his sister who is being held on trumped up drug charges in Arizona. The problem is that Buddy has no way of getting from Wyoming to Arizona – until he discovers that Philbert Bono, an old school fellow, has just acquired an old junker. Philbert agrees to take the trip; it is just what he’s looking to do for that junker he just bought for a pint of whisky and a bag of grass is his modern war pony he calls “Protector.” Protector will take him on the wisdom quest for good medicine power that will help him earn his warrior name, Whirlwind Dreamer. What follows is a classic vision quest, complete with sweat lodge and animal guides. But Philbert Bono is himself a Trickster who turns the world upside down in order to re-align it in the ways of harmony, justice and wisdom. This is the work of all Native American Tricksters whether they are called Coyote, Saynday, Wihio or Philbert Bono.

Powwow Highway is based on David Seals’ novel and captures its essential medicine power thanks to the remarkable performances of A. Martinez as Buddy Red Bow and Gary Farmer as Philbert Bono. Neither misses a nuance between the angry activist seeking immediate solutions and the mystic trying to find his way back to the source of his medicine power. More than once, Philbert confronts his friend’s frustration with the mantra, “We are Cheyenne” to which he adds, “We must keep our medicine good.”

Cultural anthropologists began publishing material relating to the Trickster traditions in the 1950s. Now Trickster elements appear frequently in the fiction of Tony Hillerman, David Seals, Sherman Alexei and others. If we are frustrated by the anger coming from people of more traditional cultures, we should learn more about the ancient wisdom traditions of our own soil. In doing so, however, I was once chastised by a Native American writer for re-working ancient Mayan stories from the Popul Vuh. He said that those tales were pretty strong medicine for an Anglo and I’d better watch my step! I agreed; they had taken me into a whole other world. There just are times when anyone who breathes wants to dance with the wolves and we all need good Trickster medicine from time to time. If characters like Buddy Red Bow and Philbert Bono help us to understand those things, so be it. Why else do we tell our stories?