I Will Fight No More Forever

Hollywood's change of heart toward Native Americans—a byproduct of the cultural realignment that followed the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s—made possible Richard T. Heffron's moving and generally accurate film depicting a notorious event in frontier history. In 1877, Chief Joseph (Ned Romero), respected leader of the Nez Perce Indians and initial advocate of peaceful coexistence with the white man, elected to resist the government's order to surrender Oregon's Wallowa Valley to white settlers. After being given orders to relocate to a reservation 1,700 miles away, Joseph set out with his people, but then led the Army on a merry chase—until, sick and starving, he and his tribe were forced to surrender (during which Joseph made his famous speech that included the vow, “from where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever”). James Whitmore plays General Oliver Howard, the sympathetic commander duty-bound to obey orders he knows to be unfair, while a boyish Sam Elliott plays his aide, Captain Wood. Beautifully photographed and smartly directed, I Will Fight No More Forever is a powerful re-imagining of an ignominious chapter in American history. Recommended. (E. Hulse)