The Actuality of History (I Will Fight No More Forever)

The actuality of history

S. Cartwright "Bearracing"

This film should be reviewed in two parts; The first for its subject matter, and the second; for its cinematic qualities. The latter being irrelevant, due to the nature of its historical content.

American western films often portrayed the Native American Indians as the enemy or as uncivilized savages, but that all changed in 1970, with the release of "Little Big Man" (starring Dustin Hoffman in the title role). In each year previous, dozens and dozens of western movies had been released each year, but after 1970 and the release of Little Big Man, Hollywood decided that either it wasn't economically viable to continue making western films, in its prior traditional format, or it was more trouble than its worth to try and depict the Old West as it really was. The end result was that Hollywood has released few westerns after Little Big Man, but the majority of those that have been released, are often far more sympathetic to the reality of the west, as it actually was, during the 19th century.

Those Indian tribes of the Northwest, referred to as the Nez Pearce, was a name coined by the early French trappers (Nez Pearce meaning Pearced Noses), but the tribes, those that followed Chief Joseph and others, called themselves the Wallowa Indians.

Chief Joseph the younger (his father was also Chief Joseph), was more than just a tribal Chief, that fought the US Army, but in reality was truly an American Hero that has never really been correctly depicted in our schools and history books.

In 1873, Chief Joseph had negotiated a peace with the Army, allowing them (the Wallowas) to stay on their ancestral lands (the Wallowa mountains and Wallowa Valley of northeastern Oregon and southeastern Washington), but in the year following the Battle of the Little Big Horn (June 25th, 1876), and the defeat of Colonel Custer and 245 members of the Army's 7th Calvary, many of the US Government's former policies changed....