Thunderheart (1992)

"Thunderheart" finds Val Kilmer following his desert wandering Native American spirit in "The Doors" into a scarcely remembered early 1990s Indian reservation crime drama. In an exciting moment for any Washington, DC resident, the film begins by following Val Kilmer cruising around town in a red convertible. This trip takes him right past your author's office building and into the FBI headquarters where lazy failed presidential candidate, and moral dirtbag, Fred Thompson (my god those are fun to dig up!) gives our hero a new assignment. In a sadly plausible bit of identity politics shaping public policy, Fred Thompson decides that because agent Kilmer is like 1/4 Native American, he should be tasked with helping out in a cycle of violence taking place at the Sioux (Lakota presumably) Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Kilmer jumps right into the action by helping his FBI-legend partner to track down a murder suspect. There's an unintentionally hilarious part of this chase scene where the FBI legend gets his hand gnawed by a strategically placed beaver. Kilmer plays "Ray Levoi" as an uptight asshole who's totally repressing his drunken Sioux father. Thanks to some interaction with a medicine man, Agent Levoi gets deep into his Sioux side. He has a hallucinatory "spirit walk" which plays a big role at the movie's climax. Surprisingly, Agent Levoi does not seem to be at all concerned about whether the sudden occurrence of waking hallucinations could possibly jeopardize his security clearance (which for those of us who have had them know is a totally burdensome process).

So anyway, tensions are running high between the Traditionalists who are trying to preserve their way of life and the government appointed tribal leader's goon squad. There's an inexplicable cameo by David Crosby as a bartender with one line (which has an incredibly incendiary racial slur). Seriously, there was no cause for that. Kilmer's character then starts showing the sort of outside the legal framework vigilantism for which he's most commonly known. He gets in some people's faces and uncovers a huge conspiracy. Then I think he loses his job. The End.

This movie was probably meant to soak up some of the shortly revived public fascination with Native Americans that was sweeping the country in the wake of 1990's "Dances With Wolves." Val Kilmer is partially Native American which probably played a big part in the decision to cast him for this role. Nonetheless, it's hard to find the idea of a fraction-blooded, city dwelling, career minded FBI agent being given even marginal credibility by the spiritual leadership of a tribe.