Windwalker (1980) on Netflix
PG19801h 48mAdventureDramaWestern
Windwalker, an aged Cheyenne warrior, lost his wife and one of his twin sons to Crow raiders. After his death the Great Spirit brings him back to protect his family.
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- Netflix3.4/5
- IMDb6.7/101,341 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Windwalker is an aged Cheyenne warrior in the pre-colonial Intermountain West. As a young husband and father he watched Crow raiders kill his wife, Tashina, and take one of his twin sons, and he searched for the boy for many years without success. In the winter of 1797 he dies. After his funeral, his surviving son, Smiling Wolf, leads the family south to rejoin their tribe, and Crow warriors attack them on the trail, wounding Smiling Wolf badly; the family hides. The Great Spirit reawakens Windwalker, and despite his frailty he rejoins his family. He treats Smiling Wolf's wounds with Cheyenne medicine and leads them to a sacred hiding cave.
Cast
- Nick Ramusas Smiling Wolf / Crow Brother / Narrator
- Dusty McCreaas Dancing Moon
- Emerson Johnas Spotted Deer
- Roberta Deherreraas Happy Wind
- Ivan Naranjoas Crooked Leg
- Chief Tug Smithas Tashina's father
- Fredelia Smithas Tashina's mother
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Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Windwalker (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Because Windwalker's dialogue is in non-English languages, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences could count it as a foreign language film, but Oscar eligibility required nomination by the country where the language originated, and no such country existed. Some Native Americans were upset that their languages would be considered foreign.
- Chief Dan George was favored to play the aged Cheyenne warrior Windwalker but became ill, so director Kieth Merrill cast English actor Trevor Howard in the role, while James Remar played the young Windwalker; both were white actors in a film that used Native American languages for authenticity.
- Director Kieth Merrill said his producer denied him the total creative control they had agreed on, adding "jazzy TV-adventure music" and "an embarrassing number of tom-toms" to Windwalker's score in scenes where he wanted silence or other effects.
- Artist Gail Tremblay wove physical film from Windwalker into artworks including How Old Stereotypes Never Die and When There Is No Category for a Film in a Native American Language on Oscar Night, Clearly It Is in a League of Its Own (both 2021), seeing the film as typical of Hollywood's stereotypical portrayal of Native American tribes.
- While the Screen Actor's Guild was on strike during production, Windwalker was granted an exception because it was almost complete.
- Pacific International had agreed not to distribute Windwalker in Utah until production costs were paid, but in December 1980 director Kieth Merrill said he and other production members were still owed money.
