George Clutesi Movies

1986  
PG  
Toby McTeague (Yannick Bisson) is a teen-aged boy, living in a flyspeck town in Northern Canada with his father and younger brother. Toby's thriving livelihood, raising and training sled dogs, is threatened by a dip in the local economy. His problems are intensified by the ongoing hostilities between Toby and his dad (Winston Reckert). Running away from home, Toby makes the acquaintance of elderly Indian chief George Wild Dog (George Clutesi), who years earlier had been "shaman," or spiritual advisor, to Toby's father. It is Chief Wild Dog who mystically brings father and son together at the film's climax, in addition to rescuing Toby's sled-dog business in a near-miraculous fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Yannick BissonWinston Rekert, (more)
 
1984  
 
In this children's movie, a young boy, the son of a loutish, irresponsible hockey player and a Canadian Indian woman is adopted by a Jewish storekeeper who wants to raise the boy as a Jew. The poor lad, trapped between three different cultures, gets confused and then rebellious. He soon finds himself constantly defending himself against a family of bullies. During one fight, he beats the tar out of one of the kids. Their family gets even by torching his step-father's store. This angers the boy who grabs a gun and takes a young girl hostage. The leads to a reconciliation between the troubled youth and his real father. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Lou JacobiWilliam Korbut, (more)
 
1983  
PG  
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In the case of this dramatized story about a Native American who thrilled the world when he won the 10,000 meter run in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, the subject is far nobler than the script, the dialogue, and the acting. Billy Mills (Robby Benson), a member of the Sioux tribe from South Dakota, ran track at the University of Kansas under a hard-nosed coach and competed successfully for a spot in the Tokyo Olympics. His extraordinary feat of beating out a field of world-famous, championship runners stands in stark contrast to the clichéd characters that are portrayed here as an important part of his personal world. Issues of discrimination and alienation are sidestepped as well, leaving a watered-down version of a life that must have been a considerable challenge when the running shoes were off. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

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Starring:
Robby BensonPat Hingle, (more)
 
1982  
 
Raquel Welch stars in this made-for-TV film about a 19th-century Native American woman who avenges her husband's death at the hands of the white man. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi

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Starring:
Raquel WelchBradford Dillman, (more)
 
1981  
 
After the relationship between a young girl and her stepfather does not work out, she leaves city life for her real father in Alaska. ~ Rovi

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Starring:
Robert LoganTwyla-Dawn Vokins, (more)
 
1979  
PG  
Set in the rugged but beautiful Alaskan wilds, this fact-based outdoor adventure chronicles the struggles of a family to survive and for a young boy to overcome a physical disability to win a dog-sled race. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Pius SavageChief Dan George, (more)
 
1979  
PG  
In this chiller, a trio of heroes must enter a black Southwestern cave and destroy an entire colony of plague-bearing bats, vampire bats. The story is based on a novel by Martin Cruz Smith. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

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Starring:
Nick MancusoDavid Warner, (more)
 
1979  
PG  
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This schlock horror classic from the 1970s is a product of the career ebb experienced by director John Frankenheimer. Robert Foxworth stars as Dr. Robert Verne, an inner-city physician renowned for his compassion and fairness. So he's asked by the EPA to mediate a dispute between Native American tribes and a polluting paper mill in isolated northern Maine. Accompanied by his pregnant wife Maggie (Talia Shire), a classical musician, Robert journeys to the deep woods, where he meets the tribal leader, John Hawks (Armand Assante) and a representative of the mill, Mr. Isley (Richard Dysart). It turns out that the mill is indeed poisoning the local water supply with mercury, causing illness among tribe members and some mutated local wildlife. The Native Americans and the paper mill point fingers at each other for a rash of recent disappearances in the area, but Robert believes that something more ominous is responsible when he observes a huge salmon eat a duck. He's proved right when he encounters an enormous, mutated grizzly bear with a taste for human flesh. Unfortunately for Robert and Maggie, he has taken one of the creature's cubs back to camp, leading an angry mother bear to his tent flap. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi

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Starring:
Talia ShireRobert Foxworth, (more)
 
1977  
 
Dreamspeaker was one of several TV movie projects directed by Claude Jutra after his first flush of success with Mon Oncle Antoine (1971). As with most Jutra films, the story involves an emotionally fragile young boy, unable to cope with the cruelties of the world. The lad achieves inner peace through the help of Dreamspeaker, an Indian shaman (or "medicine man"). It would be nice to relate that the central character's self-discovery was reflected in Jutra's own life. Unfortunately, at the time Dreamspeaker was filmed, Jutra was undergoing another of his periodic bouts of depression; perhaps he'd hoped that this film would serve as therapy. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1974  
 
Telecast April 17, 1974, Nakia was the pilot film for the shortlived ABC drama series of the same name. In the tradition of Billy Jack, Native American deputy sheriff Nakia Parker (Robert Fortier) tries to protect his people from the machinations of villainous whites. In this instance, Nakia stands up against an insensitive city council which plans to sell a historic mission to an evil land developer (is there any other kind on TV?) Nakia was filmed on location in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as was the weekly series itself, which ran from September 21 to December 28, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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1973  
 

Made for television, I Heard the Owl Call My Name is set in an isolated Indian village in British Columbia. Tom Courtenay plays a naive young Anglican priest who is caught unawares by the primitiveness and poverty of his new parishioners. Bishop Dean Jagger, who's seen it all (and looks it!), uses alternating doses of toughness and tenderness to help Courtenay reach his flock. To do this, Courtenay must first reach within himself. Exquisitely adapted from the novel by Margaret Craven, I Heard the Owl Call My Name was first presented December 18, 1973. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

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Starring:
Tom CourtenayDean Jagger, (more)