bkoganbing
Against A Crooked Sky tells the story of a young boy's efforts to save his sister who has been kidnapped by a mysterious Indian tribe that no one seems to have heard of. From the look of them they seem to be surviving Aztecs although the film never specifically says so.Young Stewart Petersen sees his sister Jewel Branch kidnapped by this group of Indians who in the intervening years since Cortes have learned to ride horses. Although his parents certainly disapprove because they don't want to lose their surviving child either, Petersen goes on a mission to rescue Branch. Along the way he picks up a cantankerous old trapper who likes to pop a jug cork every now and then played by Richard Boone. Of course Boone just steals the film.Boone and Petersen also pick up Henry Wilcoxon an old Indian who was living with the Cheyenne and who is known as Cut Tongue because his was cut out lest he reveal secrets of the lost tribe of which he was one. He guides them to their location where Petersen has to pass a warrior ritual to save his sister's life though it may cost him his own.Against A Crooked Sky is a nice family film, small and unpretentious but filled with good values. The location shooting in Arizona and Utah is really superb. Petersen is an earnest and winning young performer and Boone just chews the scenery to beat the band, but that's his kind of character.The film holds up well and I recommend it for family audiences.
whpratt1
This is a cute story about a pioneer family who have a girl and a boy and the girl is a few years older than her brother. The girl is religious and reads a scripture to her brother about a person giving his own life for a friend is the greatest show of love, this bit of advice stays with this young man. One day the girl encounters a different tribe of Indians who wore a gold head piece around his head and they kidnapped the young girl. The father goes out hunting for his daughter and then the son decides to put his life on the line for his sister and he devotes himself to finding her. There are many twists and turns to this film and Richard Boone plays the role as a drunken prospector and scout who knows all the Indians and speaks their many languages. This is a very entertaining film with many great film locations in the West. Enjoy.
Pooua
I watched this movie on TV so many years ago that I cannot now be certain of all the details, such as how many times I have seen it. I still remember the theme song (that's how I found the movie, again, on IMDb).There is nothing profound in this movie, but it is a respectable (if slightly cheesy) story about family devotion as a boy transforms into a young man. An Indian (sorry, Native American), sees the boy's sister rising from her bath in a creek, and kidnaps her. That's about as much nudity as this movie contains (we only get obscure views), which is the reason that I mention it specifically. The boy spends most of the rest of the movie trying to rescue his sister, aided only by a crotchety, old drunk, a task that overwhelms both of them. Someone must die, and the brother is determined to rescue his sister, even at the cost of his own life.
helpless_dancer
Cornball, super low budget film with amateur performances by all...and that includes Rich Boone. Actually, Boone gives his standard act, which seems to be basically all he cares to deliver. I suppose he has his bit down pat and doesn't care to deviate. The best performance of all came from his mutt, Bar Killer, who totally outshone all of his human counterparts. The tired old 'indian takes a white slave' story has been done to death by Hollywood and this picture merely trods over the same old turf as the gritty little brother goes after his abducted sister with the "help" of a pusgutted wino and a dying redskin. The whole production was grade B and totally predictable all the way. I must say the scenes of Arches Monument were excellent and captured the rocky beauty of the southwestern U.S. nicely.
AD
