Floyd "Red Crow" Westerman Movies

A walk by the seashore takes a girl on the first step of an amazing journey in this family-friendly drama. When her father loses his job and money gets tight, 14-year-old Julie Kimbell (Suzanne Marie Doyon) leaves her California home and moves with her family to Manzanita, a small town on the coast of Oregon. Julie, her parents, Robert (Brian McNamara) and Kathryn (Julia Campbell), and her bother, Jimmy (Brian Thompson), settle in with her grandpa Kimbell (Max Gail), who knows more than a little about local legends and history. When Julie has an unexpected encounter with an elk while taking a walk on the beach, she discovers an ancient gold coin. After telling her grandpa and his friend Standing Elk (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) about her experience, they tell Julie about the fabled Tillamook Treasure, a fortune in gold supposedly hidden in Manzanita in the 16th century by Spanish sailors who used nefarious means to protect their treasure from the natives. As Julie learns more of the lore of Manzanita's Native American tribes, she begins experiencing some of the magic of their people, and sees the friendly elk as a spirit link to the fabled events of four centuries before. The Tillamook Treasure took the prize as the Best Family Feature at the 2006 Newport Beach Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

All My Children of the Sun narrates the recognition and growth of Cajun, zydeco, Tejano, and Native American music from the 1960s to the present. Inspired by a warm reception at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, Dewey Balfa returned to Louisiana determined to revitalize Cajun music. The steady pulse of Cajun music, intended for dancing, also spread to the African-American community. There, musicians like Clifton Chenier added new rhythms to create a hybrid called zydeco. Many contemporary artists added experimental touches to traditional music. Dakota Sioux Floyd Westerman employed country music to protest the mistreatment of Native Americans, while Robert Mirabal underscores his compositions with ritualistic drama. Other musicians draw freely from multiple roots genres. Banjoist Bela Fleck merges bluegrass with jazz and rock, while singer Gillian Welch fuses old-timey music, gospel, and country blues. All My Children of the Sun includes footage of Native American dancing, and interviews with Robbie Robertson, Flaco Jimenez, and Edwin Hawkins. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Movie Guide

For over thirty years, American Indian rock outfit XIT has been spreading a positive message of unity and truth the Indian population of North America, and with this concert staged at Minnesota's Mystic Lake Casino in May of 2000, the band celebrates their thirtieth anniversary by offering a rousing concert showcasing such inspirational hits as "Reservation of Education", "Cement Prairie", and "Color Nature Gone". ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Connecticut's Mashantucket tribe financed this Native American drama about three sisters who enter the business world by selling Naturally Native, a homegrown line of cosmetics based on traditional tribal remedies. Married to a Native American, Vickie (Valerie Red-Horse) believes strongly in Indian traditions. She needs backers for her cosmetics line, and her two younger sisters, Tanya (Irene Bedard of Pocahontas) and accountant-in-training Karen (Kimberly Norris Guerrero) join her enterprise, but when they team to manufacture and market Naturally Native cosmetics, they encounter racist, patronizing attitudes. Numerous Native American issues are raised in this film, shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In this action adventure, a former hit woman comes out of retirement to rescue her daughter from kidnappers. The child's abductors demand that the ex-killer retrieve a highly classified document. They give the woman 24 hours to succeed. If she fails, her daughter will die. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A star-studded cast appears in this made-for-television movie about Calamity Jane and her cohorts. Anjelica Huston stars as the infamous cowgirl Calamity Jane, a colorful Western character who, among other things, starred in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. The movie explores her unconventional lifestyle and friendship with brothel madame Dora DuFran (Melanie Griffith). Sam Elliott stars as Wild Bill Hickok, one of Jane's lovers, and country singer Reba McEntire appears as Annie Oakley. The film was nominated for many Emmy Awards (but won only one) and co-stars Elliott and Griffith picked up Golden Globe nominations. ~ Bernadette McCallion, All Movie Guide

With a nod to Sergio Leone, this film, bills itself the first "borscht Western," It was photographed in Russia with a cast of Russians, Italians, and Americans. The story follows the past and present life of Jonathan. When he was only six, Jonathan watched while thieves killed his parents. The orphan found a playful friend in a bear-cub. He was then found and adopted by an Indian chief who preferred Jonathon to his own son, Chatow. The rivalry between the boys continued into adulthood. The adult, Jonathan became a legend for his prowess with the bow and arrow and his gallant rescues. He still searches for his parent's killers. Fred Goodwin leads a gang of greedy oil-claim jumpers who terrorize a town. When Goodwin finds oil in the Indian burial ground where the chief lies buried, a vicious war begins. Jonathan comes to town trailing a captured Indian maiden and ends up being crucified by Goodwin. He is saved by a former member of the gang. Jonathan exacts his bloody revenge. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Hosted by Kevin Costner and narrated by Gregory Harrison, the historical documentary 500 Nations, Volume 4: Invasion of the Coast - The First English Settlements portrays America's original inhabitants before and after the Europeans arrived. The film begins in the Arctic where the Inuit culture -- during the search for the Northwest Passage -- is examined. Also featured in the film are the stories of Pocahontas, the Pilgrims, Samoset, Captain John Smith, and the Powhatans. Other episodes in the 500 Nations series include 500 Nations: Removal, 500 Nations: Clash of Cultures, 500 Nations: Attack on Culture, 500 Nations: Cauldron of War, 500 Nations: Roads Across the Plains, and 500 Nations: Mexico. ~ Kathleen Wildasin, All Movie Guide

Introduced as a two-hour TV movie, the long-running modern Western Walker, Texas Ranger was given a three-week trial run in the spring of 1993 -- which, one supposes, qualifies as the series' first season. In the movie-length pilot, the partner of taciturn Texas Ranger Cord Walker (Chuck Norris) is killed in a bank robbery. As he tracks down the murderers to exact his own special brand of vengeance (which is generally dispensed with karate chops and kicks), Walker learns that the robbery was only a rehearsal for a more ambitious scheme to knock over four banks simultaneously. The series' extremely short debut season not only establishes the character of Walker, but also that of his new partner, Ranger Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). A former football pro whose knee has gone bad, Trivette may have grown up in the mean streets of Baltimore, but he prefers more scientific and court-approved peacekeeping methods than Walker, who if not reigned in by his sagacious Native American uncle Roy Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman) would just as soon exercise the old Scriptural prerogative of "an eye for an eye." Also introduced in the three earliest episodes is Dallas assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), who is very fond of Walker, but not of his methods. Rounding out the regulars is Walker's best buddy, ex-Ranger C.D. Parker, played by Gailard Sartain in the pilot and by Noble Willingham thereafter. Having retired from the service after getting a bullet in the knee, C.D. has opened up his own restaurant/bar, which will serve as the favorite gathering place for Walker, Trivette, and Alex for the balance of the series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Karate-champion-turned-movie-star Chuck Norris was ideally cast as the title character in the contemporary Western series, Walker, Texas Ranger. Introduced as a two-hour TV movie on April 21, 1983, the weekly, hour-long CBS series starred Norris as Cordell Walker, who worked out of the Dallas office of the Texas Rangers with his youthful partner, Baltimore-born former football pro Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.). While Jimmy, like his superiors, preferred to rely upon modern crime fighting techniques -- computers, forensic science, strict adherence to civil liberties and due process -- the impassive, taciturn Walker was generally of the opinion that criminals were subhuman scum, worthy only of a slug in the face or a kick in the groin. Kicking, in fact, was a Walker specialty, notably whenever he came within close proximity of a locked door or bolted window. Though she didn't always approve of his methods, Walker's off-and-on girlfriend, assistant D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson), admired his strong sense of justice and fair play, especially when protecting those weaker than himself. Too, Alex found Walker extremely handy whenever she got kidnapped, which seemed to happen at the rate of once every other week! Despite his loyalty to his friends, those close to Walker remained so at their own risk, inasmuch as the bad guys were not above hurting them to get to him. Others within Walker's orbit included his old pal C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham), a former Ranger who, after being invalidated out of the service, opened up a restaurant; Uncle Ray Firewalker (Floyd Red Crow Westerman), the sagacious old Native American who raised Walker from childhood and had taught him the value of restraint and contemplation -- unless of course, violence was absolutely called for; Carlos Sandoval (Marco Sanchez), an undercover detective who owed his life to Walker; and Walker's former martial arts student Trent Malloy (James Wlcek), who owned a karate school (and who, teamed with Carlos Sandoval, was briefly spun off into his own TV series, Sons of Thunder). During the series' final seasons, undercover Rangers Francis Gage (Judson Mills) and Sydney Cooke (Nia Peeples) linked up with Walker's team. In the course of events, Uncle Ray Firewalker passed away; C.D. Parker was killed by a band of elusive assassins who intended to work their way up to Walker in their efforts to knock off every Texas Ranger in Dallas; and in the series' seventh season, Walker and Alex became engaged, with wedding bells ringing at the end of season eight and the birth of a baby daughter in the final episode. After ending its CBS run on July 28, 2001, Walker, Texas Ranger launched what was apparently an endless rerun cycle in syndication and on cable. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Val Kilmer delivers what was considered one of 1991's best performances as Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone's hallucinatory bio-pic of the seminal 1960s rock group The Doors. Stone cuts a jagged swath through Morrison's life, starting with a childhood memory where Morrison sees an elderly Indian dying by the roadside. It picks up with Morrison's arrival in California and his assimilation into the Venice Beach culture, followed by his film school days at UCLA; his introduction to his girlfriend Pamela Courson (Meg Ryan); his first encounters with Ray Manzarek (Kyle MacLachlan); and the origin of The Doors -- made up of Manzarek, Robby Kreiger (Frank Whaley), and John Densmore (Kevin Dillon). As the fame of The Doors grows, Morrison's obsession with death increases. The band grows weary of Morrison's missed recording sessions and no-shows at concerts. Morrison, meanwhile, sinks deeper into a drug-induced haze, having mystical sexual encounters with Patricia Kennealy (Kathleen Quinlan), an older rock journalist involved with sadomasochism and witchcraft. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The road movie gets a smart update with this seriocomic tale of two Cheyenne men traveling from their reservation in Montana to New Mexico. For one of them, Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez), a quick-tempered activist, the journey is a practical one; his sister has been arrested and he is the only family member who can help her out. Buddy has no transportation, so he's forced to ride with Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer), a phlegmatic hulk of a man who is using his 1964 Buick as a vehicle for a spiritual journey of his own. Philbert's easygoing ways and insistence on frequent stops to meditate prove irritating at first to Buddy, but the men reach an accommodation as the trip wears on. Buddy comes to see that blaming the white man and what he sees as system rigged against Native Americans is distracting him from his true mission: to better understand himself and his place in the world. ~ Tom Wiener, All Movie Guide